The reality of the Incarnation and the accomplishments of the Incarnate God-man, Jesus the Son, are even more astonishing because His story brings to a climax the long-storied history of Israel, with all her divinely-inspired and prophetic Scriptures.
This is the key to understanding missions and preaching: It is His mission, His message. Christ commissions only His Kingdom of God message to be preached, period. You are not at liberty.
Paul argues that now as the Messiah has come and has achieved what the entire Hebrew Bible (i.e., the Old Testament) has been moving toward, the Scriptures can be read as an open book.
The lavish nature of God’s love is indicated by the fact that He, as Father, is the author of our being adopted as sons and daughters through Holy Baptism.
[Recall] the testimony of the martyrs. Hear the good news of St. Michael: Christ has conquered by His blood, and the Kingdom of God and His will shall, in fact, be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Indeed, baptism is life because resurrection is life. Nothing short of regeneration—renewal of life—is accomplished by God through sheer grace because of Christ Jesus.