THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

Benefits of the cross

The New Testament gives a number of significant benefits that stem directly from the cross for those who put their trust in Jesus. These have their roots in the teaching of Jesus himself, but as it is Paul who, more than any other writer, develops most of these ideas further, I will deal with them here.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness for our sins is an obvious first benefit to flow from the cross and the necessary prerequisite for all the other benefits. The forgiveness of sins, by God or by Jesus, is mentioned about forty-four times in the New Testament. The big majority of these occur in the Gospels in the teaching of Jesus, but also six times in Acts (2:38; 5:31; 8:22; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18), three times in Paul’s letters (Romans 4:7; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14), three times in Hebrews (8:12; 9:22; 10:18), once in James (5:15) and twice in 1 John (1:9; 2:12). Paul, as we shall see, prefers the word “justified”.

G. Campbell Morgan, the prominent pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, said in one of his sermons on the cross:

The etymology of the Greek word translated “forgiveness” [aphesis] suggests freedom. The root idea is that of being “sent out, sent forth”. This particular word is variously translated in the New Testament, “deliverance”, “liberty”, “remission”, “forgiveness”… It is a word which recognises all the bondage into which our sins have brought us, of guilt, of pollution, of power; and declares that by this redemption we are set free therefrom. Not free merely from the penalty…Forgiveness is to be set loose from sins, their guilt gone, their pollution ceased, their power broken.

The new covenant between God and his people is essentially concerned with the forgiveness of sin. This was foretold in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:33-34, a passage that is quoted twice by the writer of Hebrews, in 8:10-12 and 10:16, 17). Jesus inaugurated this covenant at the Last Supper, relating our forgiveness directly to his blood shed for us (Matthew 26:28), as does Paul (Ephesians 1:7), the writer of Hebrews (9:22-24), and John (1 John 1:7-9).

One of India’s great Christian leaders, Bakht Singh, was once asked what aspect of the gospel he stressed when preaching to those of other faiths. Did he preach the love of God? He replied, “No. The human mind is so polluted that if you talk about love it immediately thinks of sex.” Did he talk about the wrath of God? “No. Indians believe that all the gods are angry. An extra one makes no difference.” He was then asked what his main message was. “I preach the forgiveness of sins. That is what all of us deep down inside are longing for.”

When God forgives he does it well. “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17—also 8:12). When I surrender my life to Jesus, as far as God is concerned, the tape that would have condemned me has been erased.

Justification

The word “justified”, in the sense of sinful human beings being justified by God, is used about 34 times in the New Testament. It was used by Jesus in the Parable of the Publican and the Tax Collector. The tax collector, who admitted his sinfulness and cast himself on the mercy of God, not the self-righteous Pharisee, “went home justified before God” (Luke 18:9-14). However, 29 uses of this word are found in Paul’s letters. He obviously prefers it to the idea of forgiveness, as it includes forgiveness but means much more. (He uses the related words “righteous” and “righteousness” 66 times). It is a word that comes from the law courts, though T. W. Manson, in his book on Paul and John, suggested that Paul’s use of the word was also taken from the throne room as it goes beyond any conception of human justice. George Carey, in his book on the cross, The Gate of Glory,[32a] says:

The Old Testament word for justification (Hebrew tsadeq) comes from a root which probably means ‘that standard which God wants to see in the world’. The verb ‘to justify’ has a definite legal meaning, that is, ‘to declare righteous’. This is undeniable in Deuteronomy 25:1: ‘When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting (justifying) the innocent and condemning the guilty’ (see also Exodus 23:7; Isaiah 43:9; Psalm 143:2).

[32a] Hodder and Stoughton, 1986, ©

The Greek word in the New Testament, dikaioô, has the meaning, “to be vindicated, acquitted, pronounced and treated as righteous.” It is basic to Paul’s whole idea of what it means to be a Christian. John Stott, in his commentary The Message of Galatians, goes as far as to say, “Nobody has understood Christianity who does not understand this word.”

My favourite illustration of the meaning of the word comes from the case of Dreyfus, a captain in the French army towards the end of the nineteenth century. In 1894 he was accused of selling military secrets to Germany. Though the evidence pointed to his innocence, the fact that he was a Jew went against him and he was convicted, stripped of his rank, and sent to the infamous penal colony on Devil’s Island. His friends believed in his innocence and clamoured for a retrial. In 1898 Emile Zola wrote his famous “J'Accuse...!” dealing with the case, which was published by the Paris daily, L'Aurore. Because of the outcry, Dreyfus was tried again in 1899 before the Council of War. In spite of evidence to the contrary he was found guilty again, but with “extenuating circumstances”. However, to save the face of France the President offered him a pardon. His friends were not satisfied with this and pressed for a third trial. In 1906 a civil court appeal exonerated him completely. Dreyfus returned to the army and was named Chévalier de la Légion d'Honneur. His rank was restored and he served with honour in World War I.

In 1899 Dreyfus was officially “forgiven”, but in the eyes of the law he was still guilty. However, in 1906 he was “justified”. It was publicly recognised that he was innocent and this decision involved reconciliation and restoration. This is the meaning of justification. As H. C. G. Moule put it in The Fundamentals, “Our Justification means not merely a grant of pardon, but a verdict in favour of our standing as satisfactory before the Judge.”

Of course, Dreyfus could be justified because he was innocent. You and I cannot be justified before God on that basis because we are not innocent. However, God is one who “justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5). Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God has provided a means whereby he is able “to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

Perhaps another illustration would be helpful here. A story is told of the Napoleonic wars. A man who did not want to go was balloted as a conscript. But he had a friend who wanted to go to war and so went in his place. The friend was killed in battle and buried on the battlefield. Some time later there was another ballot to obtain conscripts. By some mistake the first man was balloted a second time. He refused to go on the grounds that he was already dead and buried. He asked them to check the records and they found he was right. The authorities could not accept this, and the case was actually taken to Napoleon. He ruled that the man was right. Legally, even though through a substitute, he had died and was buried on the battlefield. France had no claim on him. Similarly, the moral law now has no power to condemn me as I have already paid its penalty in the person of Jesus. “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9). “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:33, 34).

In this latter passage, Paul links the resurrection with the cross as the means by which we are justified. Though it is the cross that makes our justification possible, it is the risen Christ who does the justifying. This is the emphasis also in Romans 4:25: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” When the advocate of a guilty person represents him in court, he may appeal to the person’s sincere repentance, his normally good character or the lack of evidence against him. When Jesus represents us before the Father, I guess it goes something like this: “Yes, he or she is guilty and deserves nothing but the just sentence. However, you cannot punish them because I have paid for their sins and they are trusting in me.” As someone once put it: “He paid a debt He didn’t owe, so we could be released from a debt we couldn’t pay.”

Here we find the answer to the age-long question that bothered Job, “How can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?” (Job 9:2—see also 15:14; 25:4) and has bothered countless thinking people since. Trusting in Jesus and all he has done for us is the only means by which we can receive this amazing gift of perfect standing in God’s sight. It has nothing to do with our inherent worthiness or deserving and therefore cannot be earned by good behaviour. “A person is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Romans 3:28). “By observing the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:16). It is God’s grace alone, his undeserved goodness, that has provided this means of acceptance. We “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24—see also Titus 3:7). It is the Holy Spirit coming into our lives that makes all of this a living reality. Paul, writing to believers at Corinth, some of whom had been “sexually immoral…idolaters…adulterers…male prostitutes…practising homosexuals…thieves…the greedy…drunkards…slanderers…swindlers”, goes on to say, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

And lest we should think there is something wrong about God declaring us righteous by himself suffering the consequence of our sins, Paul states that in the very fact of doing so he is revealing his own commitment to justice. “He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:25, 26).

There is one passage where Paul sums up the heart of his teaching about justification, though he does not use that word in this instance. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 he declares, “God made him [Christ] who had no sin to be sin [or ‘sin offering’] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Here is the amazing transaction. Jesus was wholly identified with our sin in order that we might have his righteousness credited to us. J. Scott Lidgett, in The Spiritual Principle of the Atonement, says of the emphasis here:

Christ enters into our sin, takes it upon Himself, is wrapt in it. He stands for us and with us, as though a sinner, and in that capacity He dies on our behalf.

John Stott, in The Cross of Christ, comments:

What was transferred to Christ was not moral qualities but legal consequences…In consequence Christ had no sin but ours, and we have no righteousness but his.

It is worth noting that this verse declares that Christ “had no sin”. Under the Old Testament law, the animals that were offered for the sins of the people were required to be “without defect” (e.g. Leviticus 4:28). When the worshipper brought his lamb for the offering it did not matter if he was badly dressed, or that his clothes were torn or dirty. All eyes were on the lamb. Would the priest find fault with the lamb? If the lamb was perfect, he was accepted. So it was necessary for Christ to live a life of perfect obedience to his Father that he might offer the perfect sacrifice to make atonement for our sins. It is that perfect righteousness which is now credited to us. Robert Haldane (1764-1842), author of a masterful commentary on Romans, wrote these words about the righteousness of Christ:

To that righteousness is the eye of the believer ever to be directed; on that righteousness must he rest; on that righteousness must he live; on that righteousness must he die; in that righteousness must he appear before the judgement-seat; in that righteousness must he stand for ever in the presence of a righteous God.

Forgiveness has been likened to subtraction, justification to addition. That is, when we were forgiven the penalty was removed; when we are justified there is imputed to us, put on our account, the very righteousness of God himself. And Paul declares that having received “God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness” we are to “reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).

John Bunyan described how this truth came home to him. He was crossing a field, with some fear in his heart as to his standing in God’s sight, when a sentence flashed through his mind:
“[Your] righteousness is in heaven.” [I thought] that I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God’s right hand: there, I say, is my righteousness. …I also saw that it is not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse: for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, today and forever.

Bunyan went home with a heart full of joy and began to search for that sentence in the Bible. But he could not find it and his heart sank again until he got to the words “Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). That told him that the sentence was true, even if it was not in the Bible:

“There was nothing but Christ before my eyes. …Now I could look from myself to him and reckon that all those graces of God that now were green in me were yet but like those cracked groats and fourpence half-pennies that rich men carry in their purses when their gold is in their trunks at home. Oh, I saw my gold was in my trunk at home! In Christ my Lord and Saviour! Now Christ was all; all my wisdom, all my righteousness, all my sanctification, and all my redemption!

As Captain Dreyfus was restored to his rightful position as a result of his being justified, so Paul describes the result of our being justified by Christ. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1, 2). “Those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30). “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7). Having been brought into right standing with God we are at peace with him, we have access to his grace, we have become heirs of his kingdom and look forward to sharing his glory! As R. A. Webb put it in The Reformed Doctrine of Adoption, “Justification is that act of grace whereby we sinful subjects of God’s government are received into the number of, and given the right and title to, all the privileges of the kingdom of God.”

Salvation

God is given the title “Saviour” seven times in the New Testament (five times by Paul) and Jesus is so called 17 times (eight times by Paul). The process of being brought into a right relationship with God is described as “being saved” 57 times (26 times by Paul). Every writer of the New Testament uses this language. This, then, is the most common way of speaking about what happens when we put our faith in Christ and what he came into the world to achieve.

Obviously, “saviours” are persons who save people, and when a person is “saved” they must be saved from something. We speak of a person being saved from a burning building or a sinking ship or some other dangerous situation. So what do God and Jesus save us from? It is certainly true that they can save people from drug or alcohol addiction, a meaningless existence, the fear of death, and lots of other things. They are doing this constantly. However, the New Testament gets to the heart of the matter. The angel declared to Mary concerning the child to be conceived in her womb, “ You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21—The name “Jesus” is the Greek version of the Hebrew “Joshua” and means “God saves”). Paul states, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). It is our self-centredness and the problem this causes in our relationship with God that he came to save us from. Other problems stem from this one. Jesus contrasted being “saved” with being “lost” (Luke 19:10) and Paul contrasted those who are being “saved” with those who are “perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Paul can also speak of our being saved from God’s wrath, the ultimate consequence of our continuing to rebel against him. “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him. For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:9, 10). As with justification, though it is the death of Christ that makes our salvation possible, it is the risen Christ who does the saving. The argument in the above passage goes something like this: if the death of Christ reconciles us to God, turning his enemies into his friends, how much more is the resurrection going to do for those who are now his friends. So salvation has to do with the whole process of bringing us from a position where we are guilty before God and facing a certain judgement, to that place where we are fully reconciled and can look forward to a continuing relationship with him through all eternity.

Concerning this process, it is interesting to note that the verb “to be saved” is used in the past, the present and the future tenses. If we have put our faith in Jesus, then he “has saved us” (e.g. 2 Timothy 1:9), we are “being saved” (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1:18) and we “shall be saved” (e.g. Romans 5:9). We could say that when we accept Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, then we are saved from the penalty due us because of our sins. As we grow in our faith and the Holy Spirit does his work in our hearts, we are more and more saved from the power of sin in our lives. One day we can look forward to being saved from the very presence of sin, when he will “present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24). As the writer of Hebrews puts it, Jesus “is able to save completely[33] those who come to God through him” (7:25).

[33] Italics mine.

Reconciliation

Jesus had plenty to say about our need to be reconciled, both to God and to our neighbour. However, he did not use the particular word “reconciled” except in one instance, in Matthew 5:24. For Paul, it is another of his favourite terms and he uses it 14 times in his letters.

Again, the cross is the means by which we are reconciled. “We were reconciled to him by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). He speaks of our condition before we are reconciled as being “enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour” (Colossians 1:21—see also Romans 5:10) and calls the preaching of the gospel “the ministry of reconciliation” and the gospel itself “the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19). In the light of what Jesus has done for us on the cross he urges the people in the church at Corinth to “Be[34] reconciled to God” (v. 20).

[34] Italics mine.

It is significant that God is never said to be reconciled to humans. Almost always, he is the subject of the verb and is said to reconcile us to himself. This puts emphasis on the truth that the process of reconciliation always originates with God. Paul says in Romans 5:11 that reconciliation is something that we have received. There is therefore some sense in which reconciliation is independent of us. The New Testament view is that reconciliation was wrought on the cross before there was anything in our heart to respond. As Cromwell said of the covenant, it is a work "outside of us". God has dealt with the sin of the world in such a way that it need no longer be a barrier between himself and us. Obviously, though, to be effective, it must be “received”. In this sense we are commanded to “be reconciled”. T. J. Crawford long ago pointed out that the Greek words for reconciliation are used in the biblical writings “to signify the removal of enmity, not from the offending, but from the offended party”; and again he says “when one party is said “to be reconciled to another” or “to reconcile himself to another,” the offended party, according to the Hellenistic idiom, is the one whose friendship and favour are conciliated. Or, as James Denney put it in Studies in Theology:

The thing that has to be dealt with, that has to be overcome, in the work of reconciliation, is not man’s distrust of God, but God’s condemnation of man.

P. T. Forsyth, in The Work of Christ, draws a distinction between “a change of feeling and a change of treatment”, and he goes on to say, “God’s feeling toward us never needed to be changed. But God’s treatment of us, God’s practical relation to us—that had to change.” In other words, God’s love never varied. But the atonement wrought by Christ means that we are no longer treated as enemies (as our sins deserve), but as friends. God has reconciled himself. Elsewhere Forsyth says: “The Cross meant more change in God than in man…Real and thorough religion is theocentric more than anthropocentric.”

Paul not only talks about the cross reconciling us to God, but also reconciling humans to one another. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself the one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Ephesians 2:14-18). Paul is speaking here specifically of the division between Jews and Gentiles (the Jewish term for all who are not Jews), though the principle applies to all our fellow human beings. Because the Jews had been chosen by God to prepare for Christ’s coming, and they had the privilege of having received God's laws and commands, many had come to believe they were superior to others. They missed the point that they had been given these privileges in order that they might share them with others, and not because they were in any way superior. They also missed the point that God’s laws reveal to us our faults. Just knowing his commandments does not make us better than those who don’t know them. The more strict Jews would not associate with Gentiles and considered them ritually unclean.

However, the cross breaks down these man-made barriers in two ways. First, it declares that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness, but that forgiveness is now available to all equally through the cross. Secondly, the cross makes the indwelling Spirit of God equally available to all so that all may become sons and daughters of God with equal access to him and with all the privileges that go with being a child of God. National, economic, social and gender barriers don’t count in God’s reckoning when it comes to our worth and our relationship to him. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28—see also Colossians 3:11).

Paul goes beyond merely applying Christ’s reconciling work to humans when he declares in Colossians 1:19, 20, “God was pleased…through [Christ] to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” He leaves it to our imagination to decide what he means by “things on earth or things in heaven.” C. H. Dodd commented on this verse: “Through Christ God has chosen to put an end to all the distressing disharmonies within his universe and bring all under one effective rule.” This is similar to Paul’s statement in Ephesians 1:10 when he says that God will “bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” No doubt this includes the transformation of all the discordant things in the physical universe as well as the living universe, something he enlarges on further in Romans 8:19-25.

Before leaving the theme of reconciliation, it would be appropriate to consider the word “peace”, which is closely associated with both justification and reconciliation in Paul’s writings. Of the 92 times the word occurs in the New Testament, 15 refer to peace as opposed to war, personal strife, or confusion, while in all the others it is possible to see implied the thought that God is the giver of it. Peace is specifically associated with the Father or the Son about 40 times, including the greetings in the letters. God is “the God of peace” (Romans 15:33; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23) and “the Lord of peace” (2 Thessalonians 3:16). Bringing about peace is a characteristic feature of his activity. Paul speaks of “peace with[35] God” which is associated with our justification (Romans 5:1) and with our reconciliation (Colossians 1:20) through the cross. He speaks of peace with one another as a result of the cross (Ephesians 2:14-17). Foerster, in Theologisches Worterbuch zum Neuen Testament (ed. G. Kittel), says:

When Christ abolished the law He did away with the double disorder in mankind, that with one another and that against God. Eirênê denotes peace with God and peace with one another and therewith a comprehensive “order”: a salvation of all relationships.

So completely is Christ identified with this process of making peace that he can be said to be “our peace” (Ephesians 2:14).

Paul also speaks of “the peace of[36] God”, that peace which is given by God and which “will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” when we gratefully put all our problems in his capable hands (Philippians 4:6, 7). The argument in this passage is as follows: “If you do the trusting, I will guard your heart from things that rob you of this peace.” The Greek word for “guard” is a military word. E. de W. Burton, in The International Critical Commentary, defined this peace as: “Tranquillity of mind, which comes from the assurance of being reconciled with God and under his loving care.”

The peace we have been describing in the New Testament is very closely related to the Hebrew word for peace (shalom) in the Old Testament. I have given a summary of the meaning of shalom at the end of the last chapter of my book God’s Plan for His Family, The Church.

[35] Italics mine.

[36] Italics mine.

Redemption

The language of redemption is common in the Old Testament. To redeem someone (or something) means to deliver someone (or something) from a distressing situation. Prisoners of war could be redeemed from captivity. Slaves could be redeemed and set free. If a poor man was forced to sell some of his property, his nearest relative was obliged to redeem it for him (e.g. Leviticus 25:25). If he was forced to sell himself into slavery, then a relative could redeem him (e.g. Leviticus 25:47, 48). God redeemed his people from slavery in Egypt (e.g. Deuteronomy 7:8). God is referred to as the Redeemer, particularly in chapters 41-66 of Isaiah where he is so called 13 times.

The Greek word group used for redemption, both in the Greek translation of the Old Testament and in the New Testament, always implied some cost in that a ransom price was to be paid. In fact, it was this idea of payment as the basis of release which was the reason for the existence of this whole word group.[37] Other words would be used which meant “loosing” or “releasing” when no cost was involved.

In the Old Testament, when God is the one who is doing the redeeming, there is a slight difference in that there is greater stress on the idea of deliverance than on the means by which it is brought about. It is inconceivable that God would need to pay a ransom to humans (or the Devil!). Yet the words used imply that the deliverance is at some cost. However, in the New Testament the cost is very specific. The cost is to God himself and it is the sacrifice of his Son.

[37] This fact is thoroughly researched in Leon Morris' excellent book The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, Tyndale Press, 1955   ©.

Such language is used about 20 times in the New Testament of the redemption purchased for us by Jesus. It was used by Jesus himself when he declared on his final journey to Jerusalem, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). One of the Greek words used, agoradzô, simply means to “purchase” or “buy”, and is often so translated rather than as “redeemed”.[38] Paul says that we are “bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23). The price paid is the blood of Christ. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18, 19—see also Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:7; Revelation 5:9). Paul is clear about what we are redeemed from. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “[Christ] gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness” (Titus 2:14).

[38] Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23; 2 Peter 2:1; Revelation 5:9; 14:4.

Redemption and the idea of freedom have much in common. Redemption is being set free from our sin, our guilt, our false views of reality, and the consequences of this slavery. Peter describes it as being redeemed from vanity and custom, “the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors” (1 Peter 1:18). The New Testament speaks of us as being slaves to sin (Romans 6:17), to other humans (1 Corinthians 7:23), and to the elemental spiritual forces of the world (Galatians 4:3), while those without the revelation of the true God are said to be slaves to their gods (Galatians 4:8). New Testament concept of freedom is not freedom to do what we want, it is freedom to be what we should be and do what we should do. It is freedom to love God and our neighbour. This is what we were created for. Jesus said that “everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34) but added, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (v. 36). D. A. Carson, in The Gospel According to John, comments on this statement of Jesus:

Jesus not only enjoys inalienable right as the unique Son of God, but exercises full authority vested in him by the Father to liberate slaves. Those whom Jesus liberates from the tyranny of sin are really (ontos) free. True freedom is not the liberty to do anything we please, but the liberty to do what we ought; and it is genuine liberty because doing what we ought now pleases us.

If we have been “bought with a price” then we now belong to God and don’t have any right to live as we please. We are under new ownership. In this respect, it is worth noting that in Galatians 3:14 we are told that the purpose of redemption is “that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit”, and Galatians 4:5 says we are redeemed “that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Leon Morris aptly comments:

It is wrong to separate the legal status, gained by the complete discharge of the claims the law had upon us, from the resultant life. The only redemption Paul knew was one in which the redeemed had received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in which they lived as those who had been adopted into the family of God. ...

In the Scripture we see the price paid, the curse borne, in order that those who are redeemed should be brought into the liberty of the sons of God, a liberty which may paradoxically be called slavery to God. The whole point of this redemption is that sin no longer has dominion; the redeemed are saved to do the will of their Master.

But in this new slavery lies the secret of true fulfilment. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

As with other benefits of the cross, the idea of redemption has both a present and a future application. In most instances the New Testament declares that if we have put our trust in Christ, then we have already been redeemed. However, the Bible looks forward to the time when our redemption will be complete. Paul can speak of the “redemption of our bodies”, something that we “wait eagerly for” (Romans 8:23). It is the gift of the Holy Spirit, living within us, who is the guarantee of this final and glorious event. He is “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14). It is the Holy Spirit “with whom [we are] sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). These last two verses emphasise the fact that our redemption is not only by blood. Through the cross we receive forgiveness, but it is by the power of the Holy Spirit our redemption is brought to completion. This is in line with Old Testament passages where God is said to deliver his people “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 26:8). Orr, in A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels (ed. J. Hastings), comments:

Redemption has the two aspects, which can never be separated—redemption by “ransom,” i.e. from sin’s guilt and condemnation; and redemption by power, from sin’s bondage and other evil effects. The Apostolic Gospel comprehended both.

Sanctification

Another significant word is "sanctification" or "sanctified". It is very common in the Old
Testament, particularly in Exodus and Leviticus, and is used 24 times in the New Testament to describe what happens when we put our trust in Christ. It could be translated “to consecrate, dedicate or make holy”. Its basic meaning is to set apart a thing or a person for a special purpose. In this sense it is often used in the Old Testament of setting apart certain vessels for use in the worship of God, such as those used in the temple. In this sense they can be described as “holy”.

It comes from the same Greek root word as “saints” which is used about 60 times in the New Testament to describe Christians, particularly by Paul. So Christians are people who have been set aside by God for belonging to him and for service to him. Because we have entered into this relationship with one who is “holy” in character, then we too are called to be holy. And so the word “sanctification” also comes to describe that process by which we grow in character. Peter says we “participate in the divine character” through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. He continues, “For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if any of you do not have them, you are nearsighted and blind, and you have forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins.” (2 Peter 1:4-9). It is this cleansing which we receive through the cross that should be the motivation to spur us on to be worthy of the one we claim to represent. We are not to forget that we are sinners saved by grace.

The New Testament declares that we are “sanctified” or “made holy” through Christ’s blood (Hebrews 9:13, 14—see also 10:10), by the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2) and by the truth, that is, God’s word (John 17:17). We grow as we immerse ourselves in the Bible and allow its truths to penetrate our lives.

Propitiation

Another word in the New Testament that is used several times in connection with the cross is the word “propitiation”. To propitiate someone is to appease their anger. If you have an argument with your wife and she is angry with you, you may go out and buy her a bunch of flowers in order to propitiate her. The Greek word hilastêrion occurs in Romans 3:25 where we are told that “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement [literally ‘a propitiation’], through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” The word hilasmos occurs in 1 John 2:2: “He is the atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” and in 1 John 4:10: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins.” Though this group of words occurs in only these instances, the idea of propitiation is often present where this particular terminology is not, for example in passages dealing with the wrath of God. This line of reasoning is so persuasive that S. R. Driver, in A Dictionary of the Bible (ed. J. Hastings) can regard propitiation as one of the three main categories used in the New Testament to interpret the death of Christ. In view of the emphasis in the New Testament that the death of Jesus averted the threat of divine judgment, noted theologian James Packer has this to say about propitiation in his significant book Knowing God:

Not only does the truth of propitiation lead us to the heart of the New Testament gospel; it also leads us to a vantage-point from which we can see to the heart of many other things too. When you stand on top of Snowdon, you see the whole of Snowdonia spread out round you, and you have a wider view than you can get from any other point in the area. Similarly, when you are on top of the truth of propitiation, you can see the entire Bible in perspective, and you are in a position to take the measure of vital matters which cannot be grasped on any other terms.

Scholars debate the meaning of these Greek words. For many modern writers the concept of the wrath of God is anathema. In my book Life After Death: The Christian’s Hope and Challenge I have given a full account of the biblical emphasis on the anger or wrath of God and its meaning. I don’t have the space to deal with that here. Because of a dislike of the idea that our sins deserve to be punished and that God will actually punish sin, there is a tendency to translate these two Greek words as “expiation” rather than “propitiation”. As the term “expiation” is commonly used, it signifies the removal of sin or guilt, but neither of these is a thing that can objectively be removed. We propitiate a person and expiate only a fact, or act, or thing. The word here can only be given an intelligible meaning when we move into the realm of personal relations. If the cross results in our experiencing God’s grace rather than his wrath, then this is only another way of saying that propitiation has taken place. After an extensive study of the use of the relevant Greek words in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and by pagan, Jewish and Christian writers of the first century, Leon Morris has this to say:

In view of the...invariable Greek use it would seem impossible for anyone in the first century to have used one of the hilaskomai group without conveying to his readers some idea of propitiation.

This meaning of the word is strengthened when we look at the context in which Paul uses it in Romans 3:25. The whole force of the preceding two and a half chapters of this letter has been to demonstrate that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, lie under the condemnation and wrath of God, and there is nothing other than this word, in this section of the letter, to express the turning away of that wrath.

Surely R. W. Dale was right when he stated in The Atonement:

St. Paul’s intention was to demonstrate that the whole world is exposed to the divine wrath, and that if men [and women] are to be saved, that wrath must be somehow averted. That this was his intention, becomes clearer the more rigorous the examination to which the whole argument is subjected.

This would be thoroughly consistent with Paul’s statement in Galatians that “he redeemed us by becoming a curse for us” (3:13).

Of course, if what Jesus achieved for us by his death on the cross in some way made it possible for God to act towards us with grace rather than in wrath, we must avoid the idea of a loving Son placating an angry Father. Through the New Testament, as we shall see, it is the love of the Father, just as much as the love of the Son, that made reconciliation possible. Leon Morris sums up the difference between propitiation in pagan worship from that expressed in the New Testament:

Among the heathen, propitiation was thought of as an activity whereby the worshipper was able to provide that which would induce a change of mind in the deity. In plain language he bribed his god to be favourable to him. When the term was taken over into the Bible these unworthy and crude ideas were abandoned, and only the central truth expressed by the term was retained, namely that propitiation signifies the averting of wrath by the offering of a gift. But in both Testaments the thought is plain that the gift which secures the propitiation is from God Himself. He provides the way whereby men [and women] may come to Him. Thus the use of the concept of propitiation witnesses to two great realities, the one, the reality and the seriousness of the divine reaction against sin, and the other, the reality and the greatness of the divine love which provided the gift which should avert the wrath from men [and women].

P. T. Forsyth, in The Work of Christ, has a relevant comment on the Old Testament statement, “For the life of a creature is in the blood: and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar” (Leviticus 17:11):

Given! Did you ever see the force of it? “I have given you the blood to make atonement. This is an institution which I set up for you to comply with, set it up for purposes of My own, on principles of My own, but it is My gift.” The Lord Himself provided the lamb for the burnt offering.

Adoption

The ultimate benefit of all the above blessings is that we are now adopted as full members of the forever family of God. John and Peter speak of being “born” into God’s family, an expression that John uses 13 times and Peter twice.[39] This conveys the idea of sharing in “the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) through the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Paul, however, with his more legal approach, prefers the idea of “adoption” (Romans 8:15, 23; 9:4; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5), though he uses the term “born” once (Galatians 4:29). Being born into God’s family underlines the inward and spiritual transformation that occurs when we receive the Spirit, whereas being adopted points to the new legal status, with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of being a son or daughter of God. Paul speaks of the Spirit as the agent of this change of status. “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship” (Romans 8:15).

[39] John 1:13; 3:3, 5, 6, 7, 8; 1 Peter 1:3, 23; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18.

In a Jewish household, when a child became of full age, if he had proven himself to be responsible and mature, in a public ceremony before witnesses, he was officially placed in his father’s house. This could be spoken of as adoption. This gave him the power of attorney, full legal use of his father’s name. When he signed his father’s name it was as if his father had signed it. All his father’s resources were now at his disposal. In the Graeco-Roman world, the child and heir of the family went through a similar ceremony at the age of 14. He would be presented with the toga virilis, the robe of adulthood. He then had the right to choose a wife, serve in the army, manage estates, enter into business, and participate in politics.

The adoption of a member of another family was a Roman rather than a Jewish custom. Under Roman law, when this occurred, the adopted son had all the rights of a natural son, including the inheritance. Even if other sons were born later, his position was not affected. I suspect Paul had in mind the Roman rather than the Jewish model when he spoke of us being adopted into God’s family, though Paul’s argument in Galatians 4:1-7 could perhaps apply to either. There is one clear difference, however. In those days, it was the male members of the family who held most of the legal rights. When Paul speaks of our adoption as sons, it is clear that he has in mind the legal rights of all the children of God without regard to gender. This is obvious from the rest of his writings. God has no gender favourites.

The privileges we have as God’s children include:

1) Access to our heavenly Father at all times (Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18).
2) Abundance of love (Romans 5:5; Ephesians 3:17-19).
3) His strength and encouragement in the trials of this life (2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Philippians 4:6, 7, 11-13).
4) His ultimate, total protection. “Not a hair of your head will perish” (Luke 21:18).
5) His guidance. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go” (Psalm 32:8).
6) His discipline and training (Hebrews 12:7-11).
7) An eternal inheritance. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17. See also 1 Peter 1:3-5).

Ruth Graham Bell, in Decision, told the story of a young Bedouin, who, in a fit of anger, struck and killed a friend. Fearing swift justice, he fled across the desert to the sprawling black tent of the tribal chief. Confessing his crime, he asked for protection. According to custom, the old chief put his hand on one of the ropes of the great tent, swore before God, and took the young man under his protection—until the affair could be settled legally.

The next day the young man’s pursuers arrived and demanded that the murderer be handed over to them. “I have given my word,” the old chieftain said. “But you don’t know who he killed!” they answered. “I have given my word.” “He killed your son!” was the reply. The chief was shaken. He stood, head bowed, for quite some time. The accused and the accusers looked on breathlessly. Finally the old man raised his head. He stood upright. “Then he shall become my son,” he said, “and everything I have will one day be his.”

So it is with us. Our sins sent God’s own Son to the cross, though in his case the act was of his own choosing in order to make our adoption possible. As a result, we are welcomed into his family—now and forever.

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