Holiness and the Missio Dei

Book excerpt: In Holiness and the Missio Dei, Andy Johnson takes the reader on a biblical journey that explores the question of what holiness or sanctification has to do with God's mission in the world. He refuses to relegate the idea of humans becoming holy to the realm of individual inward piety or legalism, on the one hand, or to the realm of the impossible prior to Christ's return, on the other. Using a missional lens to guide the reader into a theological engagement with Scripture, Johnson argues that God's primary means of making us holy is through our participation in his saving, reconciling mission to bring creation to its intended destiny. As we become and remain part of an ecclesia, we are corporately and personally shaped by the Spirit into the image of the cruciform Son through participation in the missio Dei, and thereby are being restored into the image of the holy God--the imago Dei. This book is written primarily for church leaders, for students, and for academics who are interested in missional readings of Scripture. It will challenge those who read it to re-articulate the church's becoming holy as being inseparably connected to its active participation in God's mission.