Loving the Christ-life!

By Tammy Lacock

This week, Warren Litzman focuses on the very possible reasons why God raised up only Paul to reveal the “mystery” of Christ living in him and to deliver this new gospel to us.

Paul was not a follower of Jesus of Nazareth like the apostles. He was not a member of the early church of the New Testament when God chose him for this mission. He knew about Jesus and believed to be doing God’s will by persecuting His followers, making Paul the meanest man on earth at the time. He was rank-and-file Judaic, as Warren simply puts it. He was extremely learned in the Torah and Moses’s Law.

God needed a special, bold voice to deliver His gospel of grace to a world inundated by fear, sin, and law. Christ knew that, by the help of the Holy Spirit, Paul would be the perfect man to deliver a new gospel, one that had been hidden since the world began, yet now revealed to him.

“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:25-27)

In John, chapter 14, Christ spoke of the “mystery,” this revelation knowledge, that would be revealed to believers by the Holy Spirit. He spoke of the Holy Spirit’s role as Comforter and Spirit of Truth. He spoke of going from a believing mind to a knowing mind. He tells us, only the Holy Spirit will reveal truth, new knowledge of Him, and He will speak only of Christ, not Himself.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (John 16:13)

“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” (John 15:26)

By this revelation knowledge, he tells us, we will be comforted and will know the truth, that is, knowing He lives in us and is now our very life. No separation. Christ sums it up in John 14:20, speaking of the Day of Pentecost, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”

We are one by Christ and we are one in Christ (John 17:21-23). He is joined to our spirits making us one spirit in Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, God’s grace poured out into humanity, and we are now freed from this world, a world of law, sin, and death. Christ made a way for us to live with our Heavenly Father. He made a way for us to come out of an old mindset corrupted by the sin-nature, passed down through Adam by the curse of Satan, and ushered us into a brand-new mindset of grace and love. He made a way, the only way, we could now live who God created us to be. In Christ, we are now complete. We are now free in Him. As our new life, He now comes through us. By Him we can bear His fruit.

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Christ raised up only Paul to deliver this revelation knowledge to humanity.

Throughout his epistles, Paul “suffered the loss of all things” for Christ. Nothing else mattered to him than to know Christ, the Person of Christ, living in him. He wanted nothing more than to reciprocate the love and grace that his Savior poured out on the cross for him, and now through him.

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians 3:8)

By Tammy Lacock

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” (Romans 16:25 )

This week Warren zeros in on the last part of Romans 16:25, “Which was kept secret since the world began.”

The Apostle Paul tells us here that his gospel is new knowledge; it has been kept hidden from us since before the world began. It wasn’t until Christ revealed it to him, that this knowledge was made available to us as well. The mystery has been revealed.

What’s the mystery?

The mystery is that, as believers, we have a brand-new life, one in which the person of Christ now literally lives in us as our new operator. The Holy Spirit uprooted our Satan nature (passed down by the curse of Adam) and planted the incorruptible Seed, Christ, within our spirits, joining us to Him making us one Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). Thus, we’ve been born again by His Seed.

“But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” (1 Corinthians 13:10 KJV)

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4 KJV)

Warren explains that this revelation knowledge given to Paul is an exchange of knowledge, removing old knowledge for new knowledge. In effect, we have an opportunity to move from third-dimensional thinking to fourth-dimensional thinking by the help of the Holy Spirit. We can now move from knowledge of good and evil, law thinking, and erroneous living to Christ-knowledge, the new life God planned for us before the foundation of the world. This revelation knowledge allows us now to finally live who God created us to be. Without our completion in Christ and our revelation of this new life, we would never move into fourth dimensional living.

Warren explains that on the Day of Pentecost, the ministry of the Holy Spirit radically changed from outer works to inner work in the minds (souls) of believers. This is what Paul calls a mind-renewal (Romans 12:2). Only the Holy Spirit can take us from focusing on the things outside of us, a law-mindset, to an inner relationship with the Christ Who now lives in us. Only by revelation can we understand our new life in Him.

Jesus said in John 14:20, “At that day [Pentecost] ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”

The first time Jesus talks about this revelation knowledge, fourth-dimensional thinking, was in his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3:3, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Still, this knowledge was very confusing to Nicodemus and people of that day because their minds weren’t ready for it. They had not yet been filled with the Holy Spirit. And more importantly, Christ had not yet fulfilled God’s plan to suffer and die on the cross. Without His death, God’s plan from “before the foundation of the world” could not be completed.

Most churches today still teach the work of the Holy Spirit as an outer ministry (signs and miracles, tongues and healings), yet on the Day of Pentecost, He moved from an outer ministry to inner ministry within the souls of human beings. As believers, we can ask the Holy Spirit to open up our minds and hearts to the revelation knowledge of Christ, just as He did for Paul, so that we can move into our new life in Christ and finally fulfill God’s plan for us, His plan since before the foundation of the world!

By Tammy Lacock

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” (Romans 16:25)

Warren now focuses on the Apostle Paul’s “preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery” in Romans 16:25, a mystery God had kept hidden since the beginning of the world. Christ revealed this mystery only to Paul, and he is passing it onto us.

From the time of his conversion on the way to Damascus to his experience in the Arabian desert (roughly three years), Paul preached Christ and him crucified as our means of salvation. Yet here in Romans, by revelation of the Holy Spirit, he takes his gospel of Jesus Christ a step further and shares with us the mystery within it. The mystery is this: Christ is now alive and well living in every believer. By Him living in us, the Word of God is fulfilled, and we are complete.

“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:25-27)

Paul knew that he must preach his gospel and his revelation of the mystery with great boldness because this was a gospel no one had ever heard before, not even the apostles and the early church. He came up against much resistance especially from the early church because they had been preaching the Kingdom message, preached by Jesus, commingled with Judaic law. And here Paul, who was previously persecuting Christians, is now raised up by Christ Himself to preach a new gospel of grace, that we are saved by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and nothing we do or don’t do. Adherence to the law is no longer required for salvation. And on top of that, Christ now lives in us! This was an extremely difficult truth to grasp back then, and it is still a problem for us today because churches today are commingling law and grace.

In 2 Corinthians 3:11-17, Paul tells us the law has been abolished by his gospel of grace, that Christ fulfills the law.

All we need is Christ, the Christ Who now lives in us. It’s no longer a mystery! May the Holy Spirit renew our minds to this revelation of Christ and our brand-new life in Him.

By Tammy Lacock

This week, Warren Litzman digs deeper into what the Apostle Paul means by “my gospel” in Romans 2:16, 16:25, and 2 Timothy 2:8.

Paul’s “my gospel” is meant to contrast his unique revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-16) from the other gospel centered in Christ, the Kingdom gospel, which was preached by Peter and the other apostles.

The Kingdom gospel, preached to only the Jews, centered on Christ’s Messiahship by his death and resurrection and an assurance of the kingdom to come. Peter and the apostles also commingled Judaic law within the kingdom gospel.

In contrast, Paul’s gospel of grace has no history of law. Whether Jew or Gentile, by simply believing in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we are saved, born-again new creations by the very life of Christ now living in us. This is the Body of Christ Paul talks about … a brand-new race of people.

In fact, Paul’s gospel of grace, although new to him and to the world, goes back to the beginning, before history was made. Paul calls his gospel a “mystery” many times because it was in God’s mind before the foundation of the world, yet now revealed to him (Ephesians 1:4; Romans 16:25). Christ entrusted only Paul to deliver this gospel of completion to both Jews and Gentiles alike.

“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.” (Colossians 1:25-26 KJV)

It was extremely difficult for Jews to accept Paul’s gospel of grace because of their history and background in law. Gentiles, however, had no godly history, nothing to hold onto, so they were eager to accept and embrace Paul’s gospel of grace.

Churches are still preaching a commingled gospel of law and grace. Paul tells us several times throughout his epistles, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1; 4:16; and Philippians 3:17). Similarly, he tells us many times that his gospel is from “me to you” (Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:26).

The gospel for today is Paul’s gospel of grace only. Simply put, we are saved by nothing we do or don’t do. By just believing, we are saved by Christ’s work — His death, burial, and resurrection. By Him, we are freed from the bondage of sin, death, and law. By Him, we are born again, making us brand-new creations, now bona fide sons and daughters of God. Our sin-natures have been uprooted, and God’s very seed, Christ, has been planted within us.

“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27 KJV)

By Tammy Lacock

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” (Romans 16:25)

This week, Warren Litzman further explains the Apostle Paul’s message to believers in Romans 16:25.

Paul uses the word “according” in Romans 16:25 to brings us back to the beginning, God’s original plan.

In Ephesians 1:4, Paul, once again, reveals God’s eternal plan to us when he uses the word “according”:

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”

By Christ’s death and resurrection, God uprooted our sin-nature and planted the incorruptible seed of His Son within our spirits (chosen in Him). By this we are born again and made brand-new creations. This is God’s original plan, the mystery kept hidden since the world began yet revealed to Paul. Paul calls this “my gospel” because it was given only to him. Moreover, the seed of Christ now in him, and in each one of us, comes forth through him and us uniquely and according to our knowledge of Him.

By each of our unique circumstances and situations of life, and moreover through our sufferings, God is establishing us in Christ, pushing us to Him, prompting our love affair with Him and preparing us, as His children, to live in His house. Now that we are established in Christ by His seed, God’s eternal plan, His plan from the beginning, can now be fulfilled. The circumstances and situations of our lives help us break the hull of Christ’s seed in us so that we no longer live by our old natures but allow Christ’s nature to come forth. By the help of the Holy Spirit, we can now learn of Christ and our new life in Him.

As we learn Christ as our new life, our old mindsets break down and our renewed minds now become subject to Him. Thus it is in our souls (where our minds reside) where our love affair with Him can begin. And this is God’s eternal plan for us: to be established in Christ, to know Him, and to fall in love with Him more and more every day.

By Tammy Lacock

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” (Romans 16:25 KJV)

This week, Warren Litzman dissects Romans 16:25, a mostly overlooked but loaded verse from the Apostle Paul that is for believers today.

Paul tells us in Romans 16:25 only God has the power to establish us according to his gospel. Only God has the power to reveal to us, help us understand, and to live Paul’s gospel, a gospel God kept secret since the beginning of the world, and now has been revealed only to Paul.

Warren explains that only through our circumstances and situations of life will God’s plan for us—to understand and live Paul’s gospel—become manifest. Paul’s gospel, the mystery kept hidden, is that by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we are saved from the bondage of sin and law. When Christ died, our old lives died, too. And when He arose, we arose to a new life in Him. By Christ’s death, God poured out His grace upon us by uprooting our sin-nature, the corruptible seed of Satan, and exchanging it with Christ’s nature, the incorruptible seed. To anyone who believes, this is literally what happened within us by the cross. We’re born again and now bona fide children of God by this unconditional act of love. God’s seed, Christ, in us is total and complete. The very situations and circumstances in our lives provide the environment and nourishment we need to now bring forth His fruit.

And now, only God, not religion or churchianity, establishes us in our new life in Christ by these circumstances and situations. He is not separate from these events but very much alive and well, working through these to bring us into closer relationship with Him through His Son now living in us. In Christ, God is now intimately intertwined in our choices so that we can finally live who He created us to be.

By Tammy Lacock

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” (Romans 16:25 KJV)

This week, Warren Litzman focuses on Romans 16:25 to demonstrate the intimate relationship between Jesus and Paul. Where Christ left off, He commissioned Paul to pick up and give us a new gospel, the true and final gospel for believers today. Paul tells us his gospel, although new to us, was actually God’s original gospel kept hidden since the world began. Christ finally revealed this “mystery” gospel to Paul, and Paul shares it with us throughout his epistles.

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4 KJV)

Paul’s gospel is this: Every single human being was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. As believers, by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we too have died to our old lives—our sin natures passed down through Adam by the curse of Satan. We have also been buried, and we arose with Christ to a brand-new life in Him. Our new life is Christ now living in every believer, literally. We are joined to Him in our spirits (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are in Him and He in us, never to leave us nor forsake us.

Christ chose Paul to deliver this final gospel because He knew Paul was the only man who had what it takes to step into the religious, law-bound world and preach grace. The problem Paul dealt with during his time, and is still a problem today in the church, is that there was a commingling of gospels. He tells us in 2 Timothy 2:15 (and to Israel in Hebrews 4:12) that we must rightly divide the word of truth.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV)

Here, Paul is saying we must rightly divide God’s Word by separating the gospels. The Kingdom gospel—salvation by law and works, preached by Christ while on earth and continued through the preaching of His disciples—is no longer the gospel. The first Pentecostal church received the Holy Spirit but retained Judaic law as its method of worship. They had no understanding of what really happened at the cross.

Christ, Himself, led Paul to go and preach a new gospel, that of salvation by God’s grace through His Son Jesus Christ. There was to be no commingling of grace and law. He makes it very clear that we are no longer saved by our works. We are saved by grace alone. Israel rejected this gospel, and so Christ told Paul to take it to the Gentiles—that is everyone else—where it was widely accepted. By just believing in Christ as our Savior we are saved.

The early church led by Peter and the disciples wrestled with Paul’s gospel because they knew Christ in the flesh, and they knew what He had told them to do, to go forward and preach that anyone who believes in Christ as their Savior is saved. Yet they commingled grace and law by preaching that one must obey the law to remain saved.

The relationship between Jesus and Paul is a glorious love affair, for which Paul gladly suffered unto death. Nothing and no one could stand in the way of his desire to spread the gospel of grace given to him by Christ Himself. He wanted nothing more than for everyone to know Christ and to fall in love with Him too.

By Tammy Lacock

“To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” (Galatians 1:16 KJV)

This week, Warren Litzman focuses on the very intimate relationship between Jesus and Paul so we can understand this same intimacy in our own relationship with Christ.

In Galatians 1:16, Paul tells us Christ revealed to him something that hasn’t been revealed to anyone before. Christ raised up only Paul to deliver to us a new gospel, the only gospel for us today. Warren singles out Paul’s words “in me” to explain this new gospel. These words “in me,” which Paul uses over and over in his epistles, tell us literally and not figuratively that Christ now lives in us. We are no longer to see Christ outside of us, as Jesus of Nazareth, but we are to see Him now as the resurrected Christ living in us. This is what a Christian is: one in whom Christ lives. The Son that was in the body of Jesus of Nazareth is the same Son that now lives in us as believers. His new body is the body of believers. We are the Body of Christ.

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12 KJV)

“So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (Romans 12:5)

Paul was given this revelation and tells us that only by revelation of the Holy Spirit can we also begin to understand our new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit—given to us by God on the Day of Pentecost—is our Comforter and Teacher of our new life. As human beings, it’s extremely difficult for us to accept a new life. The Holy Spirit helps us understand who we are now in Christ, that we don’t have a changed life, but have exchanged the old for a brand-new life. He helps us understand that we weren’t created to live this life on our own. Now that we are complete in Christ, we can begin to live who God created us to be, and that is to bring Him glory.

In Galatians 2:20, Paul tells us we were crucified with Christ on the cross. In order to understand our new life in Him, we must also understand our death with Him. Just as we are no longer to know Christ in the flesh, we are no longer to know our old lives. As we relationship with Christ in our daily lives and fall in love with Him more and more—knowing He is no longer outside of us but the very life we now live—we can die to our old lives and let Him come out of us just the way God intended from the beginning (Ephesians 1:4).

This is Paul’s gospel: by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we are now married to Him, one flesh with Him—He in us and we in Him (Ephesians 5:31-32; John 4:13).

By Tammy Lacock

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2: 9-10)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman dives deeper into the writings of the Apostle Paul to help us understand the true gospel for us today and to show us the intimate relationship between Christ and Paul.

Christ called Paul to bring humanity a new gospel, one that moves us from a law-based mindset, basing our salvation on outer works, to relying on the work of Christ in the inner man as our salvation. The Jews and the early church had a very difficult time accepting Paul’s gospel of grace, his gospel of completion by the very life of Christ within us, because all they knew and understood up until that time were their own outer workings and the outer workings and miracles of God. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, a new covenant was made, which Christ revealed to Paul, saying believers are to no longer know the outer Christ, Jesus of Nazareth (2 Corinthians 5:16). We are to know Him now in Spirit, now that we are joined to Him in spirit, making us one (1 Corinthians 6:17). The only way to now know God is through relationship with His Son, God’s incorruptible Seed, Christ, literally placed in each of us who believes. By God’s amazing grace, we are to know Him now as the resurrected Christ who is alive and well in us.

Christ said, “At that day [the Day of Pentecost] ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). The Jews and early church had no idea what this meant because they had always focused on the outer works of man. Jesus was saying an inner work took place: on that Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit delivered the Seed, Christ, into the believers, and we have been made brand-new creations by His life in us. For God, what we do or don’t do will no longer cut it. Only by Christ joined to our spirits are we made new (2 Corinthians 5:17); only by Christ in us are we reconciled to God, making us His bona fide children. We were literally born again. Out with the old man and sin nature and in with Christ as our very life.

In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, Paul tells us our relationship now with Christ cannot be heard, seen, or felt. Here he rules out anything outer in our new life in Christ. It is not an outer relationship, based on sense knowledge, but one that can only be revealed by the Holy Spirit in our soul-mind (where our emotions, intellect, and will reside). On that Day of Pentecost, not only did the Holy Spirit deliver into us the very seed of Christ, making us brand-new creations, but He also came into us as our comforter and teacher of our new life in Christ. We can ask the Holy Spirit for what Paul calls a constant mind-renewal so we can continually understand and grasp our new life in Christ. We are perfect in spirit, now joined to Christ; but our souls are continually perfecting (maturing) as we live in relationship with Christ by the Holy Spirit revealing this new life.

To help us understand the role of the Holy Spirit in our new life in Christ, Jesus tells us in John chapters 14, 15, and 16 exactly what that role is. The Holy Spirit will never speak of Himself but only of Christ. Only by revelation of the Holy Spirit will we ever move from focusing on outer things to an inner relationship with Christ who now lives in us, indeed the deeper things of God (John 14:26).

By Tammy Lacock

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman’s goal is to make clear that there is only one true gospel to us and for us today, although two gospels are currently circulating in the world.

Only Apostle Paul was raised up by the resurrected Christ to bring us the true gospel for today. Therefore, it’s important to dive into the Apostle Paul’s epistles to understand this gospel. There’s no better place to start than in Ephesians 1:4 where Paul says the gospel for us today was planned by God before the world was created, which also means before He began Israel and before Christ’s earthly ministry.

Paul’s gospel is one of grace. In fact, he coins the phrase “dispensation of grace” as the period of time we are living in now (Ephesians 3:2). Paul’s gospel of grace is simple. Before the foundation of the world, God’s plan was to have children—new creatures in Christ, by His Son’s death, burial, and resurrection. God chose every human to be in Christ. There is nothing we can do to be saved because Christ did the work on the cross. We need only to believe (Acts 16:31). There’s no gospel to Gentiles in the Old Testament or before Paul’s epistles. When Israel rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah, Christ told Paul to take this new gospel of grace to the Gentiles. However, man has commingled the gospel of law, given to Israel—referenced in four-fifths of the Bible—and Paul’s grace gospel. After Christ’s death and resurrection, Peter and the apostles were still preaching Christ’s kingdom message of salvation by faith and works, which Paul calls the gospel of circumcision. The same Christ Paul speaks of in God’s plan “before the foundation of the world” raised up Paul—and only Paul—to bring humanity a new gospel, that of uncircumcision. This gospel overrides the law gospel in this dispensation of grace.

By God’s grace, we were chosen to be in Christ. Warren Litzman’s purpose and calling has been to explain to believers exactly what the Apostle Paul means by this. The moment we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, by His death and resurrection, the sin-nature (passed down to us through the curse of Adam by Satan) has been literally uprooted within our spirits and replaced by God’s incorruptible Seed, Christ, making us one spirit in Him. This is what it means to be born again.

“But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Paul calls this the “revelation of the mystery” because until Christ revealed this new gospel to him, it was a mystery (Ephesians 3: 3-7). Yet, he tells us, it was in God’s plan before the foundation of the world. Let us not be confused. Christ literally living in every believer is the only gospel for today. This was the only way God would finally complete His plan to have His bona fide children, with His divine nature, living in His house and loving him back. Not by our works, but by the perfect love of His Son in us.

By His grace, His very life within us, we are saved and reconciled to Him.

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” (Romans 5:10-11).