In and through, not over and against!

Closely related is a striking passage in II Corinthians that begins: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself,” thereby nailing down the indispensable affirmation that the Father is acting, not over against the Son, but through and in the Son, whose will is the same as the Father’s. The awesome transaction is taking place within God.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 100 (emphasis original)