Redemption and Salvation The Triune God is indeed wonderful, but man falls far short of what God intended him to be. Man has fallen and is hopelessly lost in sin. Yet because of His great love for man, God in Christ came to redeem man to Himself. Formerly, man belonged to God; but through the fall of our first ancestors, all our race was enslaved to the devil and to sin, and we came under the heavy demands of God's righteousness, holiness, and glory. We were absolutely unable to fulfill the requirements. But Christ fulfilled all the requirements through His death on the cross. This accomplished an eternal redemption for us, and this redemption is the base of God's full salvation. Because of Christ's death, God forgives sinners of their sins (Eph. 1:7), reconciles them, His enemies, to Himself (Rom. 5:10), and justifies them by making Christ their righteousness (Rom. 3:24; 1 Cor. 1:30). Based on Christ's redemption, God regenerates the redeemed with His Spirit (John 3:5-6) to consummate His salvation, that they may become His children (John 1:12-13). Now possessing God's life and nature, the believers enjoy a daily salvation in this age (Rom. 5:10; 1 Pet. 2:2; Phil. 2:12) and the eternal salvation (Heb. 5:9) in the coming age and in eternity. This salvation is a salvation in life (Rom. 5:10), not merely a salvation from eternal punishment. The life that we enjoy in this salvation is the Triune God Himself realized in Christ (1 John 5:20) as the eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14). This is symbolized by the river of water of life, flowing in the New Jerusalem, and by the tree of life, growing in the river (Rev. 22:1-2), both of which are for the eternal life supply of all God's redeemed people. This is God's full, complete, and dynamic salvation. "So great a salvation" (Heb. 2:3)! |The Bible|God|Christ|The Spirit|Redemption and Salvation|