Solomon Lecture Series: Lecture 20: The nature of the exchange

The following post contains some highlights from the twentieth lecture in the Solomon Lecture Series, presented by Dr. John Woodward. The entire lecture series is available, here, at Grace Fellowship International.

-       Not every exchange is “sensational,” as you may expect listening to testimonies. For many it is a gradual discovery.

-       The Exchanged Life centers on identification with Christ and His life.

-       The typical evangelical view of the Galatians 2:20 message is that identification in Christ is positional only and sanctification is progressive. They are suspicious of a spiritual breakthrough.

-       The exchanged life view believes that, because man has a separate spirit and soul, identification with Christ is spiritual, legal/positional and potentially experientially. The old man actually died with Christ (Rom 6:6).

-       Dr. Woodward states that man is not spiritually joined to Satan, man does have an independent self, and that Christ is in you but you are not Christ (unlike Grubb’s belief).

-       The first aspect of appropriation is we need to be convicted of our version of the flesh (old identity). Self is the main problem.

-       The second aspect of appropriation is that we need to be broken of self-will, self-sufficiency and pride. Our selfish independence needs to be broken to unleash the potential of Christ living in and through us. 

-       The third aspect of appropriation is that we must learn the truths of identification with Christ. We are not separate from Christ. We are united with Him in spirit. He is the vine and we are the branches. Our old man was crucified and buried with Christ. The new man has been raised with Christ and seated with Him.

-       The fourth aspect of appropriation is that the Holy Spirit must illumine us as to the personal reality and significance of identification with Christ. He wants to illumine our spirit as to the truth.

-       The final aspect of appropriation is that we must appropriate Christ as Life by faith. It’s like someone on the edge of the Jordan River looking to enter Canaan and waiting for the water to part. You need to step into the River. That’s faith expressed.

-       The believer’s focus should not be on the experience, but on the person of Christ as our Life.