A better title might have been, “The Never-To-Be Finished Work of Christ.”

I glory in “the finished work of Christ” and the fact that “the cross was enough” as much as any Evangelical. Yet, like any truth, removed from their proper context those statements can become not only fallacious and harmful but indeed heretical.

At the cross, Jesus finished the work of propitiating the wrath of God. He paid sin’s penalty in full. He endured the shame, rejection, abandonment, and disgrace that His people deserved. He completed the full active righteousness of the God-Man incarnate. As High Priest, He offered the final and ultimate once-for-all sacrifice. Insofar as those salvific acts are what we are talking about, yes, He rightly said, “It is finished.” Yes, there is no merit nor payment that could ever be added to the value of the cross.

And yes, those things are of “first importance” (1 Cor 15:3). But in the grand scheme of the universe there are also other things, indeed important things, indeed incredibly important things, regarding which the cross is not the end of the story. That’s why Christ not only died for sinners, but also resurrected, ascended, sat at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, ever lives to intercede (Hebrews 7:25), and is coming to rule and reign alongside His Bride. Even just the title of John Murray’s “Redemption Accomplished and Applied” points to the fact that Jesus continues working to apply that which was once-for-all accomplished at the cross.

So what we ultimately need is Jesus Himself, not just one particular work of Jesus, however central and infinitely glorious that one particular work may be. Indeed, we need more than the sum total of all the works of Jesus from eternity past, present, and into eternity future. What we need is union with the resurrected Christ. We never stop needing Him, the living Christ. No matter how many works He does for us, what we still ultimately need is: Him, Him, Him!

The problem I have with the phrase, “the finished work of Christ,” is that I sometimes get the impression that Christians are effectively OK with leaving Jesus Himself in the rear view mirror: “So long, and thanks for the Redemption!” If you absolutize and universalize “the cross was enough,” then Jesus is a really great Lord from the past who gave us a priceless gift, and as long as we have that gift we don’t need Him anymore. We can keep trucking along because of what He gave us, rather than because of Him. So goes the impression I get sometimes from the churches.

The reality is that the finished work of Christ is enough to bring us into union with Him, so that we can begin eternal life in Him and with Him in ongoing living dependence on Him. The finished work of Christ is glorious, in large part, precisely because it is the gateway to participating in the unfinished work of Christ: the eternally, ever increasing, endlessly enlarging and overflowing manifestation of the superabundance of life, light, love, and truth that is in the inexhaustible Christ.