by Earl L. Martin Chapter 3 Concerning Christ and His Redemptive Work… We have studied about God. We have studied about man and the severing of his proper relationship to God. This infinite and holy God has taken action in behalf of finite and sinful man by sending his Son into the world. This Son of God and Son of man has entered uniquely and decisively into human history for the purpose of accomplishing the redemption of the sinful human race. In Jesus Christ God has not only revealed himself but has poured into the stream of human life a new stream of Divine life. In Jesus Christ is a life-giving power. Christ himself is that power, and to as many as receive him, to them he gives “power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12). He gave himself on the cross, letting loose power for the changing of human life, taking away sin, and bringing man back into right relation with God and with his fellows. God still gives himself, his life, his power, his love, to raise man to the plane of sonship. This is not merely history; it is the continuing and present experience of those who believe. Christ is the central fact, the supreme Person, of the Christian Way. It is Christ whose name we bear, whose teaching we believe, whose life we share, and whose message we proclaim. It is Christ whom we follow and obey. It is Christ whose cause we serve by sharing with him in his work to save lost men. He is the One through whom God comes to man and through whom man comes to God. The study in this chapter will be based on the truth contained and involved in such Scripture passages as the following: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5). “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:1–3). “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The study will be built around three main centers of reference: (1) Christ’s Mission of Redemption; (2) Redemption by Reconciliation; and (3) Son of God and Son of Man. Christ’s Mission of Redemption… However we look at it, or whatever terms maybe used to express it, Christ’s purpose and work are redemptive. In the next chapter we shall deal with the work of salvation, which in meaning is almost synonymous with redemption. But we shall for our purpose here use “redemption” as referring to the part which Christ plays in the saving process by atoning for man’s sins, and “salvation” as referring to what Christ does in the hearts and lives of men by forgiving them, cleansing them, filling them with his presence, and so on. Redeemer and Redemption… “Redeemer” is a name used for both the Father and the Son over and over again in the Scriptures. “To redeem” is a verb found many times. “Redemption” is frequently found in the Bible and in all works of theology. It sums up God’s work in behalf of men. Redemption in the Old Testament. In Leviticus 25:47–52 the medium of “redemption” is money paid for the recovery of a man’s freedom. The consecration of the Levites to God redeems the first born (Num. 3:45–46). The word is frequently used in reference to the release of men and women from slavery (Exod. 6:6; Lev. 25:47–48). And it is many times used in association with great national deliverances such as from Egyptian slavery and the Babylonian Captivity. Even in the Old Testament the word is used to set forth deliverance from sin and return to God. Isaiah declares in a striking way that God is the Redeemer of his people from sin (59:20). See also Psalm 130:8. Redemption in the New Testament. Here the teaching is not only extensive but deep and rich. The price paid is Christ’s blood as in Acts 20:28 and I Peter 1:18–19. Redemption is by Christ’s sacrificial death and from sin by grace (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:15). It is final and complete deliverance from every effect of sin, even death itself (Luke 21:28; Rom. 8:19–23; I Cor. 15:24–26). Christianity is a religion of redemption. Religions may be thought of as religions of nature, of law, or of redemption. Christianity is a religion of redemption, for it sees man as needing something beyond what nature provides and something more than law to bring knowledge of what God requires. By nature man is enmeshed in sin and is lost, and law is powerless so far as bringing deliverance goes. Man cannot save himself. Since man cannot reach up to God, God must reach down to men. This he has done in Jesus Christ, his Son. Christ’s Work is Redemptive Work… All that Jesus did and does is redemptive, but the focus of his redemption is in the power of love revealed on the cross, and the power of life as revealed in his resurrection. All that he is now doing as mediator flows from his death and resurrection. Jesus regarded his mission as saving. It was clearly in the consciousness of Jesus that his mission was a saving mission—he came to save man. His gracious and glorious declaration in Luke 19:10 is the key to his purpose in coming into the world: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” There may be many ways of saying what the mission of Jesus was, but any way you say it, it turns out to be redemptive. If we say he came to set up his kingdom, that kingdom turns out to be redemptive, and the citizens of that kingdom are all who are redeemed by his blood, and it is entered only by a new birth. If we say it is to build his church, that church is “the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). In redeeming He humbled himself. What a sweeping statement is that in Philippians 2:6–11: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and … every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” In His mission he laid down his life. This he did both on behalf of men as his brethren and of God his Father. “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”; “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:11, 14–15). “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (15:13), but “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Thus we see that our Lord regarded himself as on a mission of redemption. This redemption could be accomplished only by Christ’s leaving his home in glory and coming in the body of his humiliation—by the self-sacrifice of himself on the cross. This is the gospel—the good news. This is what we believe. This is what we proclaim. Redemption By Reconciliation… The Good News in Christ… “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (II Cor. 5:19). This also we believe and this also we proclaim—because it is the only way for ourselves and for the world. We have this assertion on no less authority than that of Paul, the greatest proclaimer of the gospel that the world has ever known: “All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (5:18–20). The quotation has been given at length, for within the compass of this passage Paul has set forth fully just what the good news is and what we are to do about that good news. The theological term for this truth is the “doctrine of the atonement.” However, the Scripture term is “reconciliation.” The word “atonement” is used once in the New Testament (Rom. 5:11): “Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” The word “atonement” is rendered “reconciliation” in the margin, and is so translated in the American Standard Version and the Revised Standard Version. It is so translated in verse 10. Whichever word is used, the central idea is that by Christ men are reconciled, made “at-one,” with God. The need of all men is to “be … reconciled to God” (II Cor. 5:20). The deed of the one God revealed is: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (5:19). The fact of history is that “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:10). The experience of the Christian is described: “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). The work of the Christian is declared: “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (II Cor. 5:20). Theories of Atonement… During the Christian Era men have worked out many theories, setting forth in theological or philosophical terms the meaning of reconciliation or atonement. It is but natural that such should be done, but we are here dealing not with a theory but with the great fact of the Scripture and of Christian experience, namely that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” This is something God did. Atonement or reconciliation is God’s deed; it is God acting in human life and human history. The incarnation, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ are all events that stand or fall together, and reconciliation is the result of these great facts. However, it is well to understand some of the more prevalent theories which have been proposed as answers to the question: How does God save man? What part does the death of Christ play in God’s work of redemption? However, keep in mind that the death of Christ and its efficacy is of such tremendous meaning that no theory, nor all of them put together, can adequately explain the fact. It is not an understanding of any or all theories of the atonement that saves man—it is faith in God through the merits and power of that great deed of God. The full truth of the atonement is too big to be tucked away neatly in any simple theory. In looking at these theories we may remind ourselves that each of them at most can express but one or two aspects of the total meaning. At best no one of them can reflect more than certain elements of the total truth. The main theories fall in the following categories as set forth in The Wondrous Cross by the author of this present writing: “1. Those centering around the idea of sacrifice, with the sacrifice of an animal or bird as the symbol of that idea. “2. Those growing out of the idea of ransom, as that of a slave, with the crudest form being that Christ’s death was a ransom price paid to Satan. “3. Those involving government or law court procedures, which are forensic in their nature, and represent Jesus as our substitute, taking our place, or even paying the penalty for our sin. This theory has strikingly stated that Jesus, in those few hours on the cross, suffered as much as all the souls of men would have suffered in an eternal hell. “4. Those centering around such terms as ‘satisfaction,’ ‘expiation,’ and ‘propitiation,’ which represent God as propitiated because the price has been paid and justice has been satisfied. “5. Those centering around the idea that the value of Jesus’ death is in the influence of a good man who died rather than do evil, who loved truth and right enough to die for them. This example influences man to love God. “6. Those centering around the idea of Christ’s death being revelatory, expressing God’s love and holiness and judgment of sin.” Doubtless, there is some element of truth in each of these attempts to explain the significance of Christ’s death. But whether we think of it in terms of sacrifice, ransom, substitution, propitiation, governmental atonement, satisfaction, moral influence, or revelation, the fact is that God himself was the one who provided the sacrifice, paid the ransom, or made the propitiation. And a further fact is that it was for the purpose of reconciling man to God, for “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” Whatever truth each of these theories contains grows out of the fact that reconciliation is the work of a personal God for men, who are persons. Quoting again from The Wondrous Cross: “Possibly the one theory which comes nearest to stating a philosophy of the atonement, and which can be so stated as to include the truth of other theories is to be found in the ‘revelatory’ theory. It seems to come nearest to expressing what the death of Christ was to accomplish. The cross was God’s way of redeeming men, and out of its revelational value comes its redemptive value. The cross becomes the means of a personal revelation of a personal God in the person of his Son, to persons. This explanation puts the emphasis upon the personal, as over against the impersonal values of some of the other theories. This says most emphatically that redemption is personal, that Christ’s death is a redemptive power made operative in human life through this expression of divine love and divine judgment, and that it is redemptively creative in that it makes personal that mystical union of God with the believer in such a way that Christ’s poured—out life may be poured in, or imparted to, the believer. God redeems man by revealing his love and, paradoxical though it may be, reveals his love by redeeming.” Having said this, let us again say that atonement or redemption or reconciliation is something which God did and does. The deepest meaning of the cross is that the highest law of life is the law of self—giving love, and this was fully demonstrated on the cross. We need to see the whole of what God does in terms of the personal, rather than in abstractions such as “moral influence,” “governmental atonement,” and so on. The Fact of Atonement… In Christ God comes to man. In Christ man comes to God. God became man, that man might come to him. He gave his Son that we might become sons of God. Since man by his sin separated himself from God, and since sinful man could not reach up to God, God must come down to us. In Jesus Christ he has done just this. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). This is the very heart of the Christian faith, “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself” (Col. 1:19–20). Scripture could be piled text on text showing this fact. Many have already been cited, but here are a few more: “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28); “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Cor. 5:21); “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13); “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (I Pet. 2:24); “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold … but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1:18–19). With all this in mind, we can join the song of the eternally redeemed singing, “Thou art worthy … for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood” (Rev. 5:9). In Christ is atonement—in Christ is reconciliation, for in him and on his cross, “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps. 85:10). Son of God, Son of Man… To put some things into a simple statement is not easy, nor is it always easy to understand the simple statement after you have it. It is easy to say, “Jesus was a man.” It is simple to say, “Jesus was God.” They are not easy to understand when standing alone, but they become quite incomprehensible when they are put together, and we affirm that Jesus is Son of God and Son of man. “Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh” (I Tim. 3:16). And yet this the Bible affirms, and this we believe, and this we proclaim. It is one of those truths which may be to great for our minds but not for our hearts. Drink in the grandeur of it as you consider John 1:1–3, 14: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made … . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” The Word that was God and the Word that was flesh are not two realities to be set over against each other. Nor are they merely two separate facts to be set along side each other. They belong together and are necessary even to begin to explain Jesus Christ our Savior. They are two facts of the unique Person. Possibly this should not seem strange to us, for after all, are God and man at his best very far apart except in finiteness and infinity? Man was created in “the image of God” and Christ came to the world as “the express image of his person” (Heb. 1:3). Christ must have been divine because he was so perfectly human, and how can we talk of his perfection of humanity except on the basis of Divinity? That “Word” which was “with God” and which “was God” became incarnate in Jesus Christ who was truly God and truly man. Not for the purpose of separating them, but for analysis we will look at both aspects of this incarnation. In Him We Know God… In Jesus we see and know God as living, loving, redeeming Person. In him we know God as Savior. “They shall call his name Emmanuel … God with us,” and “Thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:23, 21). “The Word was God” and “the Word became flesh” so that in Him is the greatest—the full and final revelation of God. In Him we know what God is like. We see God revealed in all his fullness, power, wisdom, holiness, and love. The attributes we ascribe to God the Father are made personal in Jesus the Son. All these ethical attributes of the Father about which we have already studied we see manifest in Jesus—expressing themselves in the life and work of Jesus. Otherwise, we would have to try to think of them as abstractions; but in Jesus they are concretely expressed. Love is seen in action; holiness is seen in his life; forgiving grace is seen on the cross; power is seen at work healing men, helping men, saving men. We know God by what Jesus was. In his very nature he was like God. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). “He that seeth me, seeth him that sent me” (12:45). “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also” (8:19). “I and my Father are one” (10:30). “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent” (17:3). This is also brought out by what have been called the “I Am’s” of Jesus: “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). “I am in the Father” (14:10). “I am the living bread which came down from heaven” (6:51). “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6). “I am the light of the world” (8:12). “I am the true vine” (15:1). “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25). “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last” (Rev. 1:11). We know God by what Jesus said. His words are words of truth and they are words of authority. It were arrogance for anyone less than the Son of God to say, “Moses said unto you” thus and so, “but I say unto you” and then go on to give words to supersede the words of Moses as in Matthew 5:21–44. “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (6:63). “He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:29). We Know God by what others said of Jesus. Let us ask others concerning what they thought of Jesus. Judas, you who betrayed him, what do you think of him? “I have betrayed … innocent blood” (Matt. 27:4). Pilate, you who tried to wash the blood from your hands, what do you say? “I find no fault in him.” Centurion, you who helped drive the nails, what is your verdict? “Truly, this was the Son of God.” Demons, you who know his power, do you have a word? “This was the Son of God.” John, let us have your testimony. “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Martha, do you want to witness? “Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” John, the apostle, you leaned on his breast, what is your well-considered verdict? “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” Peter, you who once denied him, whom do you say that he is? “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Thomas you doubted—did you recover your faith? “My Lord and my God.” Paul, you persecuted him and his followers; what is your final conclusion? “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” Angels of heaven, what say you? “A Savior which is Christ the Lord.” And God, Jesus’ Father and ours, what dost thou declare? “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.” In Jesus We Know Man… There is little point in affirming the deity of our Lord without also affirming his humanity. He was a man with all that that means. He was the race man. He was the “Son of man.” That seems to have been the term which he most used in referring to himself. He came to show us what God is and what man may be by the grace of God. His humanity is not declared alone by his human birth and childhood during which he “grew in stature” but also by the fact that he grew “in wisdom, and in favor with God and man.” He was “tempted in all points like as we are” and in all things save sin “was made like unto his brethren.” This Son of man and Son of God is our actual Redeemer. Both his divinity and his humanity are authenticated by great facts of our own life and time. There is still the fact of Jesus, the fact of the church, the fact of Christian experience; there is the further fact of nearly twenty centuries of homage; his words, “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father” have proved true countless millions of times in the lives of “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands” of every age and clime. Summary… It is just here in the area which we have been exploring that we find the eternal gospel, which we believe and which we proclaim. The “good news” is that Christ who lived, taught, died, rose again, and ever lives at the right hand of God has made provision for eternal redemption for all men; for “God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (I Tim. 3:16). By his redemptive life and death Jesus had made possible the reconciliation of sinful man to God. For God is reconciled to man, and in Jesus man may be reconciled to God. This is the gospel—“so we preach, and so ye believed” (I Cor. 15:11). This we believe—this we proclaim. Redemption is something which God does in Jesus Christ. It is not something we do for ourselves. In Jesus we did not offer a sacrifice to God as a propitiation; it was God who offered the sacrifice—“the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The cross is the clue to Christ’s whole life, for his whole life was redemptive. His kingdom is a kingdom of the redeemed, and his church is at once the expression and organ of his redemptive purpose. Even with a clear vision of his redemptive purpose as pictured by that cross, we shall not be able to understand fully the “mystery of godliness.” Without that cross we shall not be able to understand it at all. He was the only begotten Son of God; all his life proceeded from the Father, was brooded over by the Father. “In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). All the love, the truth, the purpose, the holiness of God, came to fruition in this One. He was the Son of man—all the race was somehow caught up in the purpose of God in the full sweep of his redemptive love. And it is all done in Christ right here in our world. This material has a copyright. For further information, contact us at: "omifren@zoominternet.net" NOTE: ALSO AVAILABLE IN BOOK FORM FROM: Reformation Publishers 222 University Drive P.O. Box 276 Prestonsburg, KY 41653-0276 Reformation Publishers Orders... 1-800-765-2464 Information... 1-606-886-7222 Fax... 1-606-886-8222 Email... rpublisher@aol.com