Christ Condemned Sin in the Flesh: Thomas F. Torrance's Doctrine of Soteriology and Its Ecumenical Significance

Thomas F. Torance argues that St. Paul teaches that God has truly dealt with sin and guilt, and thus brought forth the new creation, by Christ coming in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. Thus, I argue that Torrance's soteriological doctrine of ontological healing provides the Church with a profound and radical way of understanding the biblical teaching that Christ condemned sin in the flesh, by making evident the intrinsic relationship between the incarnation and atonement. Furthermore, Torrance gives the Church a way of integrating central forensic aspects of salvation within the larger framework determined by participatio Christi and ontological healing. This move by Torrance has profound ecumenical significance in that it points toward a way of reconciling some historic Eastern Orthodox concerns with those of the Western tradition.