06 In Him We Have Redemption

Chapter Six IN HIM WE HAVE REDEMPTION When man sinned in the Garden, he not only yielded himself unto Satan and came under his dominion, he also broke GOD’s law as expressed in the commandment not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The penalty for breaking that law was death. "The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). That is always the penalty for breaking GOD’s law. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20) The death that entered by Adam’s sin has passed upon all men so that all men are under the penalty of the broken law "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). They are under the curse of the law.

While some reject the Bible teaching that all men are under the curse because of Adam’s sin, one need not go far to find proof thereof. Every funeral is evidence of that fact. By sin Adam became mortal (subject to physical death). When Adam begat a son "in his own image" he was born a mortal. Mortal man cannot beget immortal offspring. So all men are mortal and therefore under the curse, because Adam sinned. But that is not all. When Adam sinned he died spiritually. His spirit became separated from GOD. He lost spiritual contact with GOD. He who is spiritually dead cannot beget children that are spiritually alive. Therefore all who have descended from Adam are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1).

That, too, is a part of the curse of the law that has come upon man because Adam sinned. It is not true that there is a "divine spark" in every man. All, as quoted, are dead in trespasses and sins.

Furthermore, because of their sinful nature inherited from Adam, all men "have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Because of this the whole human race is guilty before GOD and under the condemnation of His broken law "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Romans 3:19). In salvation then, in addition to delivering from the power and dominion of Satan, GOD had to make a provision for setting man free from death, that is, from the curse of the law. As death came by sin, death being the penalty because of sin, it was also necessary that man be liberated or set free from sin. Both the penalty and the cause of it must be dealt with. This provision of GOD is called redemption.

According to Webster, to redeem means "to ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying a price or a ransom." There are two parts to redemption. First, to ransom or liberate from captivity or bondage, and second, to ransom from liability to suffer and to forfeit by the payment of a price. Both of these aspects of redemption are found in GOD’s work of salvation. Man is in bondage of sin and is under liability to suffer the death penalty demanded by the broken law. He must forfeit his life to satisfy the demands of justice. The only way to escape judgment is by redemption. As the penalty for the offense is death, it is impossible for man to redeem himself. His own life is greater than anything that he might offer as a redemption price. If the sentence had been an imprisonment for a term of years it might have been set aside by the payment of a given amount of good works or penance, but all the good works of a life cannot be a redemption price when the liability or obligation calls for payment by death, or the surrender of life itself. Surely there is nothing in man whereby he can redeem himself from under the curse of the law. Because all men are under the same condemnation no human help is available.

What is more, it is impossible for GOD, the JUDGE, to exercise leniency and set aside the judgment. He is infinite in all that He is and does. His righteousness is therefore also infinite. He cannot compromise in His judgments and in their execution. He cannot set aside the penalty of His Own holy law. It must be exacted.

Because man has not that wherewith to redeem himself and because GOD’s infinite justice prevents the penalty from being set aside, if man is to be saved there must be found a redeemer. There must be found one who is able to pay a price, or ransom, that is equal to the penalty demanded by the law. Redemption then, is a very vital part of salvation. There can be no salvation apart from redemption.

Necessarily, under these conditions GOD alone can find a redeemer. This He did in the person of His Own infinite Son. For that purpose He sent His Only begotten Son into the world to become a man. "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law" (Galatians 4:4-5). By His coming into the world and dying "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Yes, the infinite Son of GOD was appointed by GOD to become the REDEEMER of the world. The redemption price that He paid as a ransom for mankind had to be greater, not than the life of one man, but greater than the lives of all the members of the human race for all were under the condemnation of death. And so it was, for the ransom price that He paid was His own life. He said of Himself, ". . . the Son of man came . . . to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). He ". . . gave himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6). The sufficiency of this ransom price is due to three conditions.

(1) It was a human life. The broken law demanded that man should die. That is why the Son of GOD had to take upon Himself humanity.

(2) His life was sinless. He could say to the Jews, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" (John 8:46). He did not have to die because of any sin He had committed. He could therefore die for others.

(3) Being the Son of GOD He was infinite. His life was greater than the sum total of all finite human lives. That is why His life could be a ransom for all -- all mankind. The ransom price was greater than the sum total of all human sin.

It is important to notice that JESUS said that He had come to give His life as a ransom. He did not, as is so often claimed, die as a martyr for a cause. He gave His life. He said, "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself" (John 10:17-18). The death of JESUS was a voluntary giving of His life as a ransom price, to redeem the human race from under the death penalty of the law. In several Bible passages the blood of CHRIST is said to be the redemption price. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:18-19). The fact that redemption is by the blood of JESUS CHRIST is also taught in the following verses: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7), "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: . . . And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven" (Colossians 1:14; Colossians 1:20), and "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Revelation 5:9). There is no contradiction between the two statements that redemption is by the blood of JESUS CHRIST and that He gave His life as the ransom price. They mean the same thing because the life is in the blood: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Leviticus 17:11) and when the blood is shed the life is given. That is why the emphasis must be placed upon the shed blood as JESUS Himself did. When instituting the Lord’s Supper He took the cup of wine and said, ". . . this is my blood . . . which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28). It is therefore most definitely not by His life as He lived it that men are redeemed from the curse of the law. It is by the giving up of the life, by the shedding of blood and therefore by His death that man is redeemed. The meaning of all this is that man is guilty by the law and under the sentence of death. Man has not that wherewith he can redeem himself and escape execution of the sentence. The Son of GOD came to earth and became a man. He lived a perfectly righteous life in the sight of GOD’s law and could have returned to heaven and come into the presence of GOD because of His own righteousness. Instead of so doing He, the sinless one, died on behalf of the human race. He paid the death penalty on behalf of man.

Some teach that the blood of JESUS had as much value when it flowed in His veins as when it was shed upon the Cross. They also teach that salvation is by the life that He lived among men, going about teaching and doing good. This directly denies the Bible which teaches that man is redeemed by the blood of CHRIST, for the blood could be no redemption price, it could be no ransom paid out, as long as it was in His veins. Man’s unwillingness to confess himself a sinner is back of this teaching. To do away with the redemption price is to deny the need of it. To deny the need of it is to deny sin and the consequences of sin. His earthly life, as lived by JESUS never has and never can redeem a single man from the penalty of the law. It is expressly stated that He was "made under the law" (Galatians 4:4). That means that JESUS lived on earth subject to GOD’s law, including the Ten Commandments, just the same as any Israelite of His day and before. Therefore, by His perfect life He was Himself saved from the penalty of the law and had access to GOD, but most certainly no one else has such access by His earthly life.

There is, however, a value to mankind in His perfect earthly life. It is this. By being perfect He did not, as already mentioned, need to die because of sin committed by Himself. He could, therefore, die for others who were sinners and in so doing give His life a ransom for them. The death of CHRIST, then, is the very center of salvation. But there are those who will accept this statement and still deny the need for the death of CHRIST as a redemption price. They say that the death of JESUS is the supreme example of sacrifice for man to behold, and by seeing that and living sacrificial lives men will be saved. This cannot be so, for the Bible nowhere teaches that any moral influence goes out from the Cross that causes unsaved men to be good, or even better, and thereby become acceptable to GOD.

Redeemed From Under Law When GOD redeems man from the penalty, or curse, of the law He also redeems him from being under law. As already quoted, "God sent forth His Son . . . to redeem them that were under the law" (Galatians 4:4-5). It cannot be otherwise for where the penalty is done away the force of the law is also done away. The law is not law without the penalty. From the moment a person is redeemed GOD does not deal with him on the basis of law, but on an entirely different basis and that is according to grace. "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). The law has nothing more to say. It cannot declare the redeemed person guilty. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Redemption, then, results in an entirely different attitude on the part of GOD toward those who are redeemed.

Redemption is From Sin and the Power of Sin When GOD deals with man on the basis of grace He continues the work of redemption even to the extent of delivering from that for which the law imposed the penalty, namely sin. GOD’s purpose in redeeming man is not only that He might set him free from the penalty of sin but also from sin in his life. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:13-14). The apostle Paul said that he was "sold unto sin and that there was a law of sin in his body (Romans 7:14; Romans 7:23). JESUS said to the Jews, ". . .

Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (John 8:34). Man is surely in bondage under sin. Sin rules in his life but from that also is deliverance. This deliverance is by the power of GOD and because He acts in grace on behalf of everyone that is delivered from the penalty of sin (Romans 6:14). This is so because the SPIRIT of life in CHRIST JESUS sets free from the law of sin and death which is inherited from Adam (Romans 8:2).

Redemption of the Body The apostle Paul speaks of a still future redemption for which believers are now waiting. "And . . . even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body" (Romans 8:23). In the death of CHRIST there was redemption from the penalty of the broken law and part of that penalty was physical death. Man’s body became mortal, subject to death and corruption. In that it became subject to death, it became subject to sickness and disease. Man is afflicted with all kinds of ailments. For these there is healing in the death of CHRIST, but most emphatically, man has not yet entered into the enjoyment thereof. Paul says, ". . . we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for . . . the redemption of the body." That day is still in the future. It shall come, when by the trumpet of GOD, the dead are raised incorruptible and the living believers are changed. Then this corruptible shall take on incorruption and this mortal immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-54). Not until then shall the work of redemption be completed. Then there shall be complete restoration. The effect of Adam’s sin shall be entirely removed.

Redemption is Unto GOD

Redemption is not only from the penalty of the broken law it is also said to be unto GOD. ". . . thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood" (Revelation 5:9) is the song of praise to the LAMB that the redeemed shall sing in heaven.

All who are saved are not their own, they belong to CHRIST by right of redemption. "What? know ye not that . . . ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your Spirit, which are God’s" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The purpose of redemption, then, is that GOD might have a people for his own possession (Titus 2:14).

Redemption is Eternal

Just one more closing thought about redemption, because CHRIST is infinite and His blood, the redemption price, in incorruptible, redemption must be eternal and that is what GOD says of it (Hebrews 9:12). Therefore that which GOD does for the believer because of redemption must stand throughout all eternity.