Theological Term of the Week: Redemption

redemption
A way of looking at the work of Christ on the cross that emphasizes the freeing of sinners from slavery to Satan and sin by means of a ransom price.

• From scripture:

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain,
and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:9-10 ESV)

• From Salvation Belongs to the Lord by John Frame, page 150: 

Redemption means, literally, “buying back something.” In the Old Testament when someone sold his property or even got so far into debt that he sold himself into slavery, a relative could buy back the property or buy the man’s freedom. This relative is called the kinsman redeemer, and Leviticus 25 describes him. In the book of Ruth, Boaz redeems Ruth and her mother-in-law from poverty by marrying her. In Mark 10:45 Jesus says that he has come to give his life a “ransom for many,” buying us back as God’s lost property. His sacrifice on the cross was an act of great value, and it purchased for him a people of his own possession. So, we belong to God both by creation and by redemption.

• From The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance by Leon Morris, page 130:

Christians agree that evil is strong and that they cannot break free from it by themselves. But the wonderful thing about the Christian way is that it is the way of freedom. The evil that is part of human nature has been defeated in Christ. Believers live in freedom. Since the price has been paid the bondage is ended. They are no longer to live in slavery.

The Bible teaching on redemption then is a continuing call to Christians to live in all that freedom means. But freedom is demanding and too often we settle for some form of bondage. This may arise from excess of zeal as we give ourselves over to following some rigorous rule for living the Christian life. Or it may be the consequence of lack of zeal as we acquiesce in the power of evil and make no real attempt to do anything other than go along with it. Either way we are denying the fundamental freedom of the people of God. Neither is the way for those who have been redeemed at the cost of Christ’s death. ‘For freedom did Christ free us.’

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is the meaning of Christian redemption?
2. Derek Thomas: What Does the Cross Mean?
3. Anthony Carter: The Price of Our Redemption

Related terms:

• atonement
• definite atonement
• reconciliation
• redemption
• sacrifice
• substitutionary atonement

Filed under Salvation

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Sunday's Hymn: More About Jesus

More about Jesus would I know,
More of his grace to others show,
More of his saving fullness see,
More of his love who died for me.

Chorus
More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus,
More of his saving fullness see,
More of his love who died for me.

More about Jesus let me learn,
More of his holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be,
Showing the things of Christ to me.

More about Jesus in his Word,
Holding communion with my Lord;
Hearing his voice in ev’ry line,
Making each faithful saying mine.

More about Jesus on his throne,
Riches in glory all his own;
More of his kingdom’s sure increase;
More of his coming, Prince of Peace.

—Eliza Hewitt

Theological Term of the Week: Propitiation

propitiation
the appeasement of God’s just wrath toward sinners.

• From scripture:

…God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith (Romans 3:25 ESV).

• From The Belgic Confession, Article 21: 

We believe that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek — made such by an oath — and that he presented himself in our name before his Father, to appease his wrath with full satisfaction by offering himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the prophets had predicted.

• From The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance by Leon Morris, page 151:

The trouble is that nobody seems to have been able to make propitiation simple. To most of us the term is just plain incomprehensible. Accordingly, it does not seem to matter much what it means and the result is a pronounced disinclination to make the effort needed to see whether anything much is at stake. But there is in fact quite a lot at stake; the concept is important for biblical religion. So, if we are serious about our Christianity, we must at least make the effort to attempt to understand it.

[I]f we speak of propitiation, we are thinking of a personal process. We are saying that God is angry when people sin and that, if thay are to be forgiven, something must be done about that anger. We are saying further that the death of Christ is the means of removing the divine wrath from sinners. The issue is far from being superficial.

We may perhaps feel that ‘propitiation’ is not a good word. It is a long word, a word which most of us rarely use, which many of us do not understand…. It is natural that translators often feel that it should be replaced by something more intelligible. I go along with this, with the sole proviso that the essential meaning of the term must be preserved. My quarrel with almost all modern translations is that they do not retain the essential meaning; specifically, they adopt some rendering that glosses over the wrath of God. But this is a very important concept…, and it cannot be ignored in any satisfying understanding of the work of Christ.

• From The Cross of Christ by John Stott, page 171:

[T]he reason why a propitation is necessary is that sin arouses the wrath of God. This does not mean (as animists fear) that he is likely to fly off the handle at the most trivial provocation, still less that he loses his temper for no apparent reason at all. For there is nothing capricious or arbitrary about the holy God. Nor is he ever irascible, malicious, spiteful or vindictive. His anger is neither mysterious nor irrational. It is never unpredictable, but always predictable, because it is provoked by evil, and evil alone. The wrath of God … is his steady, unrelenting, unremitting, uncompromising antagonism to evil in all its forms and manifestations. 

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is propitiation?
2. Simply Put: Propitiation
3. ESV Study Bible: Propitation in Romans 3:25
4. Sinclair Ferguson: What does “propitiation” mean?
5. Ligon Duncan: Propitiation
6. Kevin DeYoung: Salvation by Propitiation
7. L. Michael Morales: Expiation and Propitiation

Related terms:

• Day of Atonement
• definite atonement
• reconciliation
• redemption
• substitutionary atonement
• wrath (of God)

Filed under Salvation

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.