Chapter 4 - The Science (Self-Evident Truth) of Redemption

Redeem: To buy back, to recover by payment or other satisfaction, to make amends for, to obtain the release or restoration of, as from captivity, by paying a ransom.

Romans 5:12 states “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.”

Romans 6:23 also states “For the wages of sin is death…” 

The previous two passages of scripture speak quite plainly about the consequences of sin, its impact on mankind’s existence, and the need it creates within the human family. That need is a reality we call redemption. Human beings need redemption for several reasons. The fact that we die is the first and most consequential of those reasons. The second includes the reality that we innately make choices which put us at odds with God and our fellow human beings.  These choices result in constant and never-ending spiritual and natural conflict.

Death is a self-evident truth. It is a reality that believers and nonbelievers experience with equal certainty. Believers and nonbelievers alike also want the quality of their lives to be maximized. To that end, redemption doesn’t just remedy our problem of dying, but more important, it is designed to make our lives more meaningful.

Romans 6:23 states “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

John 10:10 says “I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.”

The passages of scripture that precede this vein of thought describe how mankind’s condition gets its resolution. So, who is it that can provide us with this redemption (abundant life) we need and want? God can! He is the one who redeems.

Interestingly, the word savior is commonly associated with Jesus Christ and understandably so. But He is more accurately understood to be God’s instrument of our salvation rather than the author of it. God is the one who has authored our salvation. God is the one who commissioned His Son to come and be the means of our redemption. God, the Father, is our savior in the absolute sense of the word. This may seem like a new concept to some of you, but it is supported by the following scriptures.

Isaiah 45:21 reads “…there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior, there is none beside me.”

Luke 1:46 & 47 says “(46) And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the lord (47) and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior.”

Ephesians 1:3 & 4 “(3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. (4) According as he (God) hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him (God) in love.”

1 Timothy 1:1 states, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God, our Savior, and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.”

Mankind was in trouble and needed to be rescued. Thankfully, God was prepared for this contingency. Our Creator didn’t need to develop an action plan, post- crisis. He possessed the means to rescue mankind even before we went off track. In His love and condescension, He shared with Adam and Eve the short version of His rescue plan right after they found themselves confronted with the consequences of their rebellion. The gist of that plan is found in Genesis 3:15 which says “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed and it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

These were the words spoken by Divinity to the serpent, Satan. They were a statement of fact, but they also included a promise for the resolution of the sin/corrupted-nature problem. As stated in the introduction and the chapter The Science of Sin, Adam, our forefather and prototype for the human family, disobeyed our Creator and simultaneously forfeited the divine nature while forging a new God-less nature for himself and his offspring. It was a nature the human family would not only inherit but be trapped by.

That is the essence of the problem. The essence of the solution revolves around the human race’s need for a new prototypical father to disperse God’s essential attributes. This leads us to what would seem to be God’s dilemma … He must re-introduce Himself (His essential nature), into the human family. And since God doesn’t need to change like Malachi 3:6 says, He should be able to accomplish His purpose through the original dynamics that were utilized during creation …

How would God be able to achieve that? ...