Through the forgiveness of sins the gospel breaks through the compulsive acts of sinners which are the enemies of life, cutting sinners loose from sin, and creating the possibility of “conversion,” a turn to life. Through the justification of sinners, the gospel brings men and women who are closed in upon themselves into the open love of God. Through rebirth from the Spirit, it brings people who have been subject to death into touch with the eternal source of life, setting them in the closer framework of the rebirth of human community and against the wider horizon of the rebirth of the
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