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P. Andrew Sandlin:

In Jesus + Nothing = Everything, Tullian Tchividjian opines:

“The gospel … transforms us precisely because it’s not itself a message about our internal transformation but about Christ’s external substitution” (p. 94).

Paul would have found this antithesis objectionable. In Romans 6 he explicitly grounds the transformation of sinners in Jesus’ substitution on the Cross and from the empty tomb.  John Calvin learned from this passage and many others that justification and sanctification are equally benefits of the union with Christ, which is the central benefit of the reception of the Gospel.

The Gospel is no less a message of holy transformation than legal substitution.

The Young, Restless Calvinists could learn a thing or two from the Old, Restful Calvin.

-P. Andrew Sandlin