THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION
Man’s condition apart from God is not uncertain. All have sinned and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23), and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Sin separates man from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), and there is none righteous in himself (Romans 3:10). Left alone, man cannot remove his own guilt, for salvation is not of human merit (Ephesians 2:8-9). Therefore, if man is to be saved, the provision must come from God.
That provision is found in Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that He gave His Son (John 3:16), and Christ came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). He lived without sin (Hebrews 4:15), yet He bore our sins in His body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become righteous in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). His blood was shed for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28), and through that blood we have redemption (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14).
The gospel is the message of this redemption. It is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16), declaring the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Faith comes by hearing this message (Romans 10:17), and without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Yet faith is not mere acknowledgment, for even demons believe and tremble (James 2:19). True faith responds to what God has revealed.
That response involves a turning of the heart. God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30), and repentance brings times of refreshing (Acts 3:19). One must confess that Jesus is the Son of God (Romans 10:9-10), for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. At the same time, salvation remains grounded in the grace of God, not in human achievement (Titus 3:5; 2 Timothy 1:9). The response of man does not replace grace; it receives it.
The result of redemption is a changed relationship. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God (Romans 5:1), and there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Those who were once dead in sin are made alive together with Him (Ephesians 2:1-5), and are called to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). This new life is not lived in perfection, but in faithful dependence upon God (1 John 1:7).
The scheme of redemption, therefore, is not complicated in its design, though it is profound in its depth. It begins with God’s love, is accomplished through Christ’s sacrifice, is revealed in the gospel, and is received through obedient faith. It ends in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:2), and is kept by His power through faith (1 Peter 1:5).
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