What do I—and many in the early church—actually mean when we speak of “illusory separation.” It has nothing to do with denying sin, denying its consequences, or making the cross symbolic. It has everything to do with refusing to grant sin a metaphysical power the New Testament never gives it. “Illusion” Doesn’t Mean “Unreal. " It Means “Not Ultimate.” There’s a difference between something being experientially real and being ontologically true. Adam and Eve’s exile, the cur

N.T. Wright says of the first century Jews and Christians: "They were not understanding themselves as living in a narrative which said, 'All humans are sinful and will go to hell; maybe God will be gracious and let us go to heaven instead and dwell with Him'." The view of first century Jews and Christians is radically different than our modern, Western view. They did not see themselves as living in a world in which humanity was doomed to burn in the flames of God's wrath, un

Sin is certainly a reality and isn’t something to be ignored, but the western gospel of salvation places a great deal of focus on what it...