The Straw Man Gospel
No edge. No traps. Just thinking together.

The 15 Questions

This time there's no LGT voice and no debate. Just fifteen honest questions about words you already know — finished, perfect, vindication. Answer each one for yourself, then tap to compare notes. At the end, look at your own answers and see what they add up to.

Sam says Type your answer if you like (nothing is saved or sent anywhere — this all runs right on your device), or just answer in your head. Let the silence do its work, friend.
1 Whose righteousness?
Question 1

Whose righteousness saves you?

Look at the text Paul wanted to be found "not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ" (Philippians 3:9). He had more religious performance than anyone — and he counted it loss.
Question 2

Is the righteousness of Christ sufficient — or does it need to be completed by something we contribute?

Look at the text If anything must be added, then it wasn't sufficient — and "sufficient" is exactly the word at stake in this whole conversation. Hold that thought for Question 7.
Question 3

Paul called his own righteousness worthless. What does that make performance-based perfection worth?

Look at the text If the apostle's own law-righteousness was "loss" and "dung" (Phil. 3:8, KJV's word, not ours), a system built on developing our own qualifying righteousness is building with the very material Paul threw away.
2 Tetelestai — "It is finished"
τετέλεσται
tetelestai — the merchant's stamp on a paid-in-full debt. A receipt, not a promissory note. (John 19:30)
Question 4

When Jesus said "It is finished" — finished what, exactly?

Look at the text The Greek perfect tense means an action completed in the past with effects continuing forever. Not "phase one is finished." Not "the down payment is finished." Finished. Can something be finished and also incomplete? Can a race be finished with miles left to run?
Question 5

If a debt receipt reads tetelestai — does the debtor still owe anything to anyone?

Look at the text The word is commercial, legal, and final. If the creditor still expects another payment, the receipt was a lie. God is not waiting for you to finish what Jesus already finished.
Question 6

If the debt is paid in full at the cross — who is left to make additional payments? And what would those payments even be for?

Look at the text Any theology that quietly assigns the final generation a payment — a demonstration God still needs before His case can close — has reopened a closed account.
Question 7

Hebrews 10:14 — "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Is there anything left to add to that?

Look at the text ONE offering. FOREVER perfected. COMPLETE — no sequel. (Hebrews 10:14.) The verse even includes the growing believer: perfected forever while being sanctified. Standing and growth, both at once.
3 Who vindicates whom?
Question 8

In the great controversy — whose character is on trial: God's or ours?

Look at the text Most say "both." Fair. Now: which one does Satan most directly challenge? His accusations target God's justice, law, and love. The controversy is over who God is.
Question 9

Who answered that charge? Who vindicated God's character?

Look at the text a well-known Christian author, describing the cross: by His life and His death, Christ proved God's justice did not destroy His mercy — and Satan saw that his disguise was torn away, before the universe (The Desire of Ages, pp. 761–762). This only echoes what Jesus Himself said as the cross approached: "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12:31), and what Scripture declares accomplished there: "having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15). Torn away. Past tense. Before the universe. Already done.
Question 10

If Christ vindicated God's character at the cross — completely, before the universe — what is left for us to vindicate?

Look at the text We get to witness to a vindication that already happened. That's a very different job than supplying one that hasn't.
Question 11

If God's vindication depends on our perfection — what happens to His vindication every time one of us fails?

Look at the text This is the fragility problem. A God whose reputation rises and falls with human performance is a God perpetually one bad afternoon away from losing His case. And one more: can a defendant vindicate the judge? Or does vindication belong to the court itself?
4 What does "perfect" mean?
Question 12

If Christ is the Vine and we are branches grafted in — who supplies what to whom?

Look at the text "Without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). The branch never supplies anything to the vine. It receives, abides, and bears what the vine produces.
Question 13

Teleios — the Greek word for "perfect" — also means mature, fully grown, like ripened fruit. Does fruit ripen by trying harder?

Look at the text And look at Matthew 5 itself: what does the Father's perfection actually look like in that chapter? Loving enemies. Blessing those who curse you. Sun and rain on the just and unjust. The Father's perfection there is love — not flawless conduct scoring.
Question 14

Galatians 5 says the fruit of the Spirit is love. Can you manufacture fruit? Can you force it into existence by willpower?

Look at the text Fruit grows. Scripture chose the language of growth, not of moral manufacturing. And notice Paul wrote that chapter to people tempted to finish in the flesh what began in the Spirit — see the final question.
Question 15

Jude 24: Christ is "able to present you faultless." Who is doing the presenting — and who makes it possible?

Look at the text "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24). If we achieved it ourselves, why does Jude credit it entirely to Him? He is able. Not you. Him.
5 The reveal