the glorious exchange

Here’s the second post in my series on my systematic, P.R.A.I.R.I.E. Check out the original post (here), the post on the Providence of God (here), and the post on the Radical Corruption of Man (here). The “A” in the acronym stands for the Attainable Life, which is another aspect of Scripture that traditional Calvinism (of the TULIP variety) does not address. The attainable life refers to the teachings of Jesus and of Scripture that apply to this life now: our life as exiles on earth.

First of all, it is imperative that we note that the teachings of Jesus are indeed attainable. That is, they are able to be lived out, though not of our own volition. Jesus instructs us in Matthew 5:48:

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This quote is from the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest single soliloquy on morality in human history. We must remind ourselves that, as everything is a result of the grace of God, this is not an admonition to cover ourselves by laws and legality, but rather to embrace the grace of God as the only means to perfection. However, perfection by the grace of God through the person of Jesus is indeed attainable, and should be strived for in this life. Indeed, this is why Jesus came, as He addresses in John 10:10, which we should all be familiar with:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

If we, by the grace of God, obey our Lord Jesus, then our life will begin to be transformed, and conform to the life of Jesus (Romans 12:2), the perfect God-man who walked among us.