We need God to save us, and this need points us to another grave failure of adoptionism. It distorts the good news of salvation, making it into a story about rewards earned in exchange for a life well lived. If Jesus is just one of us but lived in perfect obedience to the Father and so was adopted as God’s son, it would seem that the rest of us are called to do the same. The good news of Jesus as savior is replaced with impossible demands for us to imitate a good man. No human example, no matter how good or wise, can offer salvation. In adoptionism, the good news becomes brutal news; the
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