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REL 102 Christian Foundations
Unit Three – Redemption
So far, we have considered what Christians believe about the origin of the universe,
the special place that humans have in God’s creation and how things became so messed up (the Fall).
In Unit Two, we saw in Genesis 3:15 how, even in the midst of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God and the consequences of that rebellion,
God revealed his intention to “redeem” his people and restore his creation.
We were told that the “seed of the woman” would crush the head of the serpent.
Genesis three ends with God replacing the fig leaf coverings crafted by Adam and Eve with the skins of animals,
symbolizing that human beings are not capable of making themselves righteous before God,
but they must depend upon God’s provision for their restoration into a right relationship with him.
In this lecture, we discuss the important biblical doctrine of redemption:
what it is and what it is not.
The term “redemption” comes from a root Greek word that literally means “to buy back.”
Like a person who pawns an item at a pawn shop who is able to return to the shop and “redeem” the pawned item
by paying the pawn shop owner, redemption means God “buys back”
that which still belongs to him by paying the price to redeem it.
The main ideas in redemption are
God owns us and his world;
Sin entered into the world through human rebellion,
resulting in a corruption of our relationship with God, one another and the material world;
God’s holy character must be vindicated through payment for sin;
and God himself provides that payment through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Why do people need to be redeemed?
Simply put, sinfulness afflicts all of us, resulting in our alienation from God.
Romans 3:23 states that “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.”
The Creator-creature relationship has been shattered by our sin, which is offensive to a holy God.
Our sin renders us “dead” in trespasses and sins; we are no longer able to respond to calls for holy living.
In fact, our spiritual deadness means that living unrighteously is our “normal” state
and it is hard for us to even conceive of being holy people made in God’s image.
Unless God rescues us, we would remain dead to righteousness.
Consider these questions:
Do you believe people should be righteous?
Do you believe people can perform enough good deeds and be a good enough person to earn their way into Heaven and God’s presence?