THE GROUND OF SALVATION | REDEMPTION

1. The ground of Salvation

a) God wanted to save man from the effects of sin. Man surely needed to be saved. But how could God do it?

b) In a word, God can save man only because of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

c) To understand better the importance of this event, we must think about four words: Propitiation, Substitution, Atonement, and Redemption. These words sum up a great deal of the teaching of the Bible on the meaning of Christ's death.

2. What is Redemption?

a) To redeem means to buy or to buy again. For example, a man in Israel might become sick or poor and have to sell his property. According to the law of Moses, his brother had the right to buy it back at any time. In this way, he could keep the property in the family, Leviticus 25:23-25. The stories of Ruth (Ruth 4:1-10) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:6-12) are interesting.

b) In the New Testament there are two words for redeem.

i) One means to buy. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, Galatians 3:13.

ii) The other words means to set free on payment of a ransom price. Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all sin, Titus 2:14. We are redeemed from the old ways, not with silver or gold, but with the blood of Christ, 1 Peter 1:18-19. He gave His life a ransom for many, Mark 10:45, and got eternal redemption for us, Hebrews  9:12.

c) Man belonged to God who created him. Through sin man got under control of another, Satan. Christ paid the ransom, in fact sold all that He had to buy us at great price, Matthew 13:46. So we see that we are not our own, but have been bought with a price, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to glorify God in our bodies, in all that we do and say, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.