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Sunday, 13 July 2008

Pictures of Salvation

In our first two 'Going Deeper' evening services at St John's, where we have a more in-depth talk or presentation combined with discussion and questions and set within the context of worship, we have used paintings from different periods of church history to unpack different models for understanding the atonement.

The paintings we have considered ranged from a mosaic found in the Archiepiscopal Chapel in Ravenna of Christ stands on a Lion and a Serpent to Marc Chagall's White Crucifixion. The paintings have helped us consider the Christus Victor, Satisfaction, Moral Influence, Penal Substitution, Crucified God, Reconciliation and Scapegoat models.

The upshot has been to realise that the Bible uses many different images to describe what Jesus achieved for us through his death and resurrection. As a result, the salvation that Jesus has brought to us has a depth and a multiplicity of meanings and we can revel in, savour and explore the whole range of meanings that this one pivotal act can have for each one of us.

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Tribe of Judah - Suffering Servant.

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