Biblical exposition
Keller explains that the Gospel does not merely tell us to change our behaviour. It gives us a new understanding of ourselves through the work of Christ.
He refers to a movie review in The New York Times.
Illustration – A second chance to become a new person
There was a recent movie review in the New York Times and the movie reviewer was writing about a certain class of movie that is really cool…like It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Groundhog Day with Bill Murray…and he listed a bunch of them and called them “metaphysical second chance comedies.”
He said this about these metaphysical second chance comedies:
“(this is) …the kind of movie in which the laws of time and space are bent to give characters access to self-knowledge unavailable in ordinary circumstances”…so they can transform themselves.
A metaphysical second chance comedy in which the laws of time and space are bent so that characters that would otherwise be locked in their old selves get self-knowledge unavailable in ordinary circumstances…so they can change themselves.
Guess what? The Gospel is telling you…your life can become a metaphysical second chance comedy because God has sent Christ into the world to literally change, bend, and break the laws of time and space to bring you a knowledge and power that would otherwise be utterly unavailable to you.
Tim Keller in Christ, our Life
The illustration’s point
The Gospel gives us something ordinary self-improvement cannot provide: a new life and a new power through Jesus Christ. We are not imprisoned by our former identity.
…..………….
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