has always shone—“in the darkness”, and when he came “his own received him not”. It is always “through Jesus Christ” that men are elected for life with God, “for in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7; cf. Col 1:14). The mystery that lies at the heart of the entire creation is not only the universalization of salvation (stretching from the chosen Israel to the nonelect “Gentiles”); this takes place explicitly