It has been shown how there are various aspects to the scheme of redemption, and that the complete redemption of a sinner does not occur all at once, in one act. It has been shown rather that there are various and distinct acts of redemption, having steps or stages, a kind of progression.
Redemption is not yet accomplished if we view redemption in its completeness. John Murray wrote a well known book, which was originally published in 1955 (the year I was born), and has been reprinted many times, titled "Redemption Accomplished and Applied." It is generally a good book but has a somewhat misleading title as it respects the bible teaching on the subject of redemption. What Murray calls the "application" of redemption, the bible calls redemption.
Redemption is complete if we are looking at the payment of the price to the lien holder, or to the present "holder of the note" on the soul of every sinner (which is God, of course). Thus when a person or thing is said to be "redeemed," it may refer to that act of exchange, to that time and circumstance, when a price is paid by a redeemer for such redemption, and when the present holder and possessor of the property or person receives the payment. This being done the receiver of the payment then gives evidence of such a redemption to the redeemer and for the public record, and who is required to restore the person and property forthwith.
Historically, when slaves were redeemed from their slavery, the legal act of redemption often occurred apart from the knowledge of the slave. In such a case, the slave would be legally considered as "redeemed" the moment the price was paid for his redemption by his redeemer. and when it was received by the slave owner and when evidence of that redemption is created. Yet, the change in his legal state, from one of bondage and loss to one of freedom and gain, from a state of having no rights to any good, to a state of having rights to all good, does not change the actual condition of the slave until there is restoration and deliverance. When the slave is freed and possesses again all that was lost by his sin, only then can one say that the slave himself has experienced redemption.
Thus, the first great act of redemption is the payment in blood by Christ the redeemer to the Father and to the court of Heaven, and is what is done for the person. The second great act of redemption is when the sinner is actually set free and restored, which occurs when sinners "receive the atonement," or we might say, also "receive the redemption." This represents what is done to and within the person whose redemption has been purchased. The final act or stage of redemption will occur at the second coming of Christ, when the saints will be resurrected and glorified, and fully enter into eternal life.
When Christians sing and confess "I have been redeemed," are they referring to the time when Christ died upon the cross, to a time two thousand years ago when they did not then exist? Or, are they referring to the time when they were converted?
Certainly, we cannot say "I have been redeemed" as respects "the redemption of our bodies." In that sense, we will have to confess that we are NOT redeemed. To a great degree, even the soul does not fully experience redemption in conversion, or in his life as a Christian. Redemption for the soul is limited even for the Christian. Full redemption for the soul occurs when the body and "the whole creation" are redeemed at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In an Internet article titled "Going Primitive" (Aug 3, 2007 - see here), by Tony Cartledge, a Hardshell apologist writes the following in the comment section. It is written by Elder Tim de la Paz of Columbia Primitive Baptist Church of Burtonsville, Maryland.
"But Scriptures are exact, both in principle and in letters, in teaching that both redemption and regeneration are in both sides of the number line of time, which is to say, God redeemed in Christ all whom He purposed to redeem, and that redemption was CONSUMMATED at Calvary but planned, purposed, and sealed in eternity, which is outside of the number line of time, and that that redemption covers ALL of the elect geographically, theologically, chronologically, racially, and culturally."
But, this is an error. Redemption has not been "consummated."
In his treatise "THE HISTORY OF THE WORK OF REDEMPTION," Jonathan Edwards (see here) wrote (emphasis mine):
"The work of redemption is something God has carried on since the Fall of man, and will continue till the end of the world."
I cannot see why anyone who is fully knowledgeable of the bible teaching regarding redemption would not agree with this statement. Notice how in Edward's view, redemption is not a one time act, but is something that has been "carried on since the Fall of man" and "will continue till the end of the world."
Wrote Edwards:
"The work of redemption and the work of salvation are one and the same thing. What is sometimes called in Scripture God’s saving his people, in other places is called his redeeming of them. So Christ is called both the Saviour and the Redeemer of his people. Before we embark upon our history of the work of redemption, let me explain the terms on which the doctrine is founded. And let me show you those things that were designed to be accomplished in this great work of God." (pg. 5)
This is exactly what I have sought to demonstrate in this short series. Every time a sinner is saved and converted, he is redeemed. That being true, "redemption" has been occurring since the morning of time, in every instance where a sinner is saved.
Wrote Edwards:
"Regarding the elect, where redemption deeply effects their souls, an experience common throughout all ages. This effect is felt when redemption is applied to the individual, in conversion, justification, sanctification and glorification. Through these things, the elect are actually redeemed, and receive the benefit of the work. And, in this sense, the work of redemption is carried on through ages, from the Fall of man to the end of the world. The work of God in converting souls, opening their blind eyes, unstopping their deaf ears, and raising their souls from death to life, and rescuing miserable captives from the hands of Satan, began soon after the Fall of man, and has been carried forward in the world ever since, and not stopping till the end of the world. God has always had his Church in the world. Though it has been reduced sometimes to very small numbers, and been brought low in adverse circumstances, yet it has never fully failed." (pg. 8)
Wrote Edwards:
"The actual subjective act of redemption may itself be divided into two stages. The first occurs in conversion, and progresses though the life of the believer as he is daily sanctified and renewed. He is "set free" from sin's slavery when he is converted. The apostle Paul describes this beautifully in his Roman letter. First, in Romans 6:7 he says "For he that is dead is freed from sin."" (ibid.)
Exactly! We are being redeemed each day as we are "daily sanctified and renewed," as we are progressively transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this transformation and renewal is "actual redemption."
Wrote Edwards:
"God’s plan was to restore perfectly all the ruin that came in with the Fall through his Son, affecting as it does the elect. Thus we read of the restitution of all things – “… whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21), and, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19) Man’s soul was ruined by the Fall; the image of God was defaced, human nature was corrupted, and man was dead in sin. The plan of God was to restore the soul of man to life, and the divine image by conversion, and to carry on the change in sanctification and to perfect it in glory. Man’s body was ruined, and after the Fall it became subject to death. The plan of God was to restore it from this ruinous condition; and not only to deliver it from death in the resurrection, but to deliver it from mortality itself by making it like Christ’s glorious body. The world lay in ruins, and, from man’s point of view, it was as if it had been reduced to chaos again, with all heaven and earth overthrown. But God’s plan was to restore all things, and, as it were, create a new heaven and a new earth - “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come into mind” (Isaiah 65:17), and, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13)" (pg. 9)
Well said! It is my plan to enlarge upon how "redemption" is involved with "the restitution of all things," and how "the whole creation" waits in anticipation of sharing in the redemption of Christ.
Wrote Edwards:
"Firstly, let me show you in what sense the terms of the doctrine are used, particularly the word “redemption”; and how this is a work of God carried forward from the Fall of man till the end of the world.
(1) The use of the word “redemption”. Here we note that the work of redemption is sometimes understood in a more limited sense - the purchase of salvation, for the word, strictly speaking, means a purchase of deliverance. If we use the word in this limited sense, the work of redemption was not long in being fulfilled. It began and was finished with Christ’s humiliation. It began at Christ’s incarnation, was carried on through his life, and was completed while he remained under the power of death, ending in his resurrection. Thus we can say that, on the day of his resurrection, Christ had finished his work of redemption; that is, the purchase was made, and the work itself, and all that was to do with it, was virtually all done and finished. But not actually, because sometimes the work of redemption is understood in this larger sense as including all that God accomplishes in his work of redemption: not only the purchase itself, but also all the works that were preparatory to the purchase, thus ensuring its success. The whole dispensation of redeeming grace, which includes the preparation, the purchase, the application, and the success of Christ’s work, might also be called the work of redemption. It includes all that Christ does as our great Mediator in any of his offices, whether prophet, priest, or king, either while he was in the world in his human nature, or before, or after. It must take in not only what Christ the Mediator has done, but also what the Father or the Holy Spirit have done, united or joined together in the grand design of redeeming sinful men: or, in a word, all that is accomplished in the execution of God’s external covenant of redemption. This is what I call the work of redemption in an attempt at doctrinal precision, for it is all of a piece, one design. The various dispensations or works that belong to it are only different parts of one scheme. With just one purpose, all the offices of Christ come directly to bear on it, and all the Persons of the Trinity work together to accomplish it. The various dispensations that belong to it are really one, just as the separate wheels of a machine have one purpose and produce one effect."
Well, amen! Can't add anything to that! It is just what I have been contending for thus far in this series.
Edwards continued:
"(2) I say that the work of redemption was carried on from the Fall of man and will continue to the end of the world. To understanding my meaning, let me put two or three things to you:
(a) I do not mean that nothing was done to further the work of redemption before the Fall of man. Some things were done in eternity, before the world was created. The Persons of the Trinity were, as it were, of one mind concerning the plan and covenant of redemption. Within this covenant, the Father appointed the Son, and the Son undertook to do the work; and all things needed to accomplish the work were laid down and agreed. Things were done at the creation of the world to further the work, for the world itself seems to have been created for that purpose."
Not only do many Christians fail to appreciate how redemption is not yet complete, and how redemption is associated with salvation in its present execution in conversion and progressive sanctification, but they also fail to appreciate how redemption is not only a work of the second person in the Trinity, of Christ in his incarnation, but also a work of the Father and Spirit. I will enlarge upon these in the next postings. Also, many fail to understand how creation is in order to redemption, and thus upholds the supralapsarian understanding of the order of the decrees. I have written on this before (see here), pointing out how Supralapsarianism's motto is, "The last thing in execution is the first thing in purpose." Or, "What is first in design is the last in accomplishment."
In that posting I asked - "Is it better for God to decree that all of humanity should fall into sin without any reason for it and without any thought of redemption?" I then stated that "sin, and the fall of man, was not an accident, and redemption was not a mere reaction on the part of God. As the Scripture says, "The LORD works out everything for his own ends – even the wicked for a day of disaster." (Proverbs 16:4)"
The question at issue here is whether "creation is UNTO redemption."
In commenting upon Ephesians 3: 1-12, a very long sentence of the apostle Paul, Princeton professor Charles Hodge said this about verse 9 and 10 and of the relation of God's purpose in creation to God's purpose in redemption:
Wrote Hodge (emphasis mine):
"Some however think that in the present case the apostle uses this expression in confirmation of his declaration that the plan of redemption was from ages hid in God—for he who created all things must be supposed to have included redemption in his original purpose. Others suppose the association of the ideas is—he who created, redeems—the same God who made the universe has formed the plan of redemption. None but the creator can be a redeemer.... It is not the design of creation, but the design of the revelation of the mystery of redemption of which he is here speaking...It was the design of preaching the Gospel, and not the design of creation of which the apostle had occasion to speak.
To the intent that now might be made known, ἵνα γνωρισθῇ νῦν. If this clause depend on the immediately preceding, then the apostle teaches that creation is in order to redemption. God created all things in order that by the church might be made known his manifold wisdom."
But, Hodge, as I showed in the referenced posting, was wrong to deny that the idea of the apostle is that God created all things for the purpose of redemption, in order that the church might display the glory and riches of God's grace and power in redemption.
Clearly Edwards is correct when he says that "the world seems to have been created for that purpose," that is, for the purpose of redemption.
Edwards continued:
"The work of creation disclosed God’s works of providence. “Now”, someone may ask, “which is greater, the works of creation or the works of providence?” I would reply, “The works of providence because they are surely the inbuilt purpose of his works of creation, just like the building of a house, or the construction of a machine.” God’s main work of providence was that of redemption, as we will see later. The creation of heaven was also part of the work of redemption, for it is and will be the place of the redeemed - “Then the King will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34) Even the angels were created for the work of redemption, and that is why the apostle calls them “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation.” (Hebrews 1:14)" (pg. 6)
Here is another aspect of redemption that is largely not understood or believed.
Edwards continued:
"(b) Nor do I mean that there will be no remaining fruit of this work after the end of the world. Its glory and blessedness will be the sum of all the fruit, and it will remain with all the saints forever. The work of redemption is not a work always in the doing and never accomplished. The fruits of it are eternal, but the work has an issue. It is from this issue that the end will be obtained, and it will last forever. Just as the things that effected God’s work - God’s electing love and the covenant of redemption – had no beginning, so the fruit of the work of redemption will also never come to an end.
(c) Therefore, when we say in our doctrine that this is a work God carried on from the Fall of man to the end of the world, what I mean is that those things that belong to this work, and are parts of his scheme, are all the while accomplishing redemption. Just as there were some things done in preparation before the creation, so the fruit of it will remain after the work is over. But the work proper began immediately after the Fall, and will go on until the end of the world. The various dispensations of God during this time-period belong to the same work and to the same design, and address only one issue. They must be reckoned as successive cycles of one machine, leading up to one great event. And here also we must distinguish between the parts of redemption itself and the parts of the work by which redemption is brought about. There is a difference between the different benefits, and the parts of God’s work by which those benefits are obtained and bestowed. For example, the redemption of Israel out of Egypt, considered as a great blessing, and something the Hebrews enjoyed, consisted of two parts: that is, their deliverance from their former Egyptian bondage and misery, and their being brought out to a happier state as servants of God and inheritors of Canaan. But there are many more aspects of God’s work. To this belongs God’s calling of Moses, his sending him to Pharaoh, all the signs and wonders he performed in Egypt, his bringing such terrible judgements on the Egyptians, and many more things. Such is the work by which God effects redemption."
When was Israel redeemed out of Egypt? When they crossed over the Red Sea only? Or, when they actually arrived safely in the promised land too?
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