6 - Assessing God’s Gambit in Self-Sacrifice

Summary

This chapter acknowledges that Paul’s gospel of divine self-sacrifice may seem too good to be true, even a fairy tale, to some people. We need a reality check for it, and Paul’s injunction to “test everything,” including ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5), lends support to this cause. This chapter identifies Paul’s approach to the needed testing, and thereby clarifies the foundations of his perspective on human knowledge of God. Paul’s message of divine self-sacrifice rests on resources needed to commend that message as not just helpful but also true. According to this chapter, Paul’s message of self-sacrifice in Romans 12:1–2 itself holds the key to suitable assessment of his good news. A key consideration is that suitably apprehending divine righteousness in self-sacrifice will confirm God’s reality and redemptive will. Such apprehending enables one to experience firsthand the divine self-sacrifice in one’s own life, with its distinctive power to obey God. There is no circularity here, because the relevant experience is not the same as a message of divine self-sacrifice, but it can be a truth indicator, and thus evidence, for such a message. The chapter explains why Paul does not rely on arguments of natural theology.