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Beyond the Cross

Beyond the Cross

Geoffrey Bingham

by Rev. Geoffrey Bingham

Subject: Cross (Finality of the)

Book Code: 217

Pages: 115 pp, Book

Pub. Date: 1988

ISBN: 0 86408 104 9

PDF Download 464 kb

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Author's Preface

The title of this book is intended to catch the eye of two kinds of people, namely those who believe there is something—even much—beyond the Cross, and those who think that everything is in the Cross. This sentence just expressed may puzzle those who have never considered the matter: they may not understand the term 'the Cross', or they may never have thought about it.

For all three groups this book should be of interest The first two groups may seem to be at variance, but possibly their differing views may be more a matter of the use of words, rather than basic difference in ideas, I am sure that both groups hold to the power of God in Christ, and both worship God for what He has done in Christ through the work of the Cross and the Resurrection-both of which make the one work of the Atonement. If the differences only arise because each group is looking at the same matter from different vantage points, then there is no great problem.

If, however, one group sees the act of the Atonement (in the Cross and the Resurrection) as an act completed and simply effective for Christian conversion, after which the Cross as such is not the power of the Christian life because the Holy Spirit now operates—so to speak—under his own steam, then that view will lack what is great. Again, those who see the power of the Cross as an element divorced from the Holy Spirit-operating on its own-will also lack what is great in the outworking of their Christian practice and living.

This book seeks to show that what God is about in the Atonement is not just one thing of many He plans to do, but that the whole of His plan lies in the grace of the Cross, and is dependent upon it for its outworking. Some seem to think of conversion as a simple beginning, intended to lead to what are sometimes called 'the things beyond the Cross, the deep and active things of God'. By using this kind of language, a Christian is launched into a way of life which may greatly differ from that of the Christian who believes the power of the Cross—and not a different and solo power of the Spirit—is necessary for all effective Christian living.

For some this book will be an introduction into the dynamics of the Cross—and 'dynamics' they truly are! Those who separate the works of Christ in the Atonement (and both consequently and subsequently in history) from the works of the Spirit, will see the false division they have made, and, we trust, correct that misunderstanding, Likewise those who have concentrated solely on the Atonement, and have not seen that it is the Spirit who brings to us the revelation of the Cross and its outworkings in history, will find in this book the authentic pattern of history—the fulfilment of God's plan in and through His Son.

I am glad this small book is going out to men and women of faith, and to those who may come to be men and women of faith. The Cross has always been in the heart, mind and intention of God, and a man and a woman are only transformed when they see the love of God in the Son crucified and raised from the dead. This is the point where men and women can be born to true hope and new life.

In all the universe, as in all time and eternity, there is no other point to which a human being may come and have hope.

Geoffrey Bingham,

Coromandel, July 1987