Content area
Full text
Introduction
Thomas F. Torrance (1913-2007) is widely regarded as the most important British academic theologian of the 20th century. Many regard Torrance as the most outstanding Reformed theologian in the Anglo-Saxon world (Colyer 2001:15; McGrath 1999:xi; Molnar 2009:1). A steadily growing volume of secondary literature attests to Torrance’s importance for contemporary theology. In recent years, a number of published books have highlighted various aspects of Torrance’s theology.1
Union with Christ
Union with Christ is a heuristic, over-arching rubric for the discussion of many themes in Torrance’s soteriology, including incarnational reconciliation, the wonderful exchange, vicarious humanity, onto-relationality, faith, justification and sanctification. With the notable exception of Kye Won Lee’s work (2003), however, ‘union with Christ’ has not been a major topic in Torrance studies, for this important topic is usually discussed as an aspect of other topics of soteriology. For example, Purves (2015:124) embeds union with Christ ‘as one work within the magnificent exchange’, while Habets (2009:93) asserts that union with Christ is ‘underpinned’ and ‘informed by the more determinative doctrine of theosis’. Relegation of this important doctrine to the level of sub-heading is unwarranted, however, for, as Billings (2011:1) notes, ‘union with Christ’ is ‘theological shorthand’ for the gospel itself. Torrance (1992:66) attests to the importance of this doctrine by asserting that ‘union with God in and through Christ’ is the ‘goal and end’ of God’s reconciling act in Jesus Christ. In ‘union with Christ’, notes Torrance, we are reconciled to the Father, justified, sanctified and taken up by the Spirit into the communion of the holy Trinity.2
We begin our examination of Torrance’s doctrine of union with Christ with an overview of his discussion of incarnational reconciliation and vicarious humanity. According to Torrance, union with Christ is fully and objectively accomplished for all humanity in the incarnation of Jesus Christ and his ‘vicarious humanity’ as lived out through the course of his earthly life. Torrance’s objective soteriology does not go unchallenged, however. Critics argue that Torrance pays insufficient attention to the role of the Holy Spirit as well as the subjective (i.e. personal) response of faith in his soteriology. Torrance’s assertion of universal election also attracts charges of universalism. These criticisms are addressed in the ‘Critique’ below.
Incarnational reconciliation
According to Torrance...