REDEMPTION BY CHRIST
PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
"This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" Matthew
26:28
In an endeavor to explain more plainly the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what He accomplished, theologians
coined the term 'limited ransom,' in the 17th century. (Properly understood,
the word 'ransom,' applies only to the Old Testament sacrifices as a 'covering'
for sin, until the full and final fulfillment by the Lord Jesus in His death).
While some may not like the term 'limited' to describe
the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus, nevertheless, we must clearly embrace the truth of it, as revealed in
scripture, if we claim to know and believe the Gospel.
If you believe, as many professors do today, that the Lord Jesus actually laid down his life as
a ransom for
every single person in the world, then you limit the ransom in its power to save. Why? Because not all are
delivered from guilt and therefore this would leave you with a 'christ' who is less than effectual. An
ransom
that does not redeem is no redemption at all.
The scriptures however reveal an effectual sacrifice that is unlimited in its power to save, but limited in its design as
to who God intended to save by it. In other words, as stated by our Lord Himself, His blood was shed 'for many
for the remission of sins.' It is true that Christ died for MANY, a number that no man can number, Revelation
7:9. Yet, this many is limited to AS MANY as the Lord has ordained to believe, Acts 13:48 and AS MANY as the Lord
God shall call, Acts 2:39. In Romans 5:15 they are called 'THE MANY,' with a definite article in the original.
The many, for whom He shed His blood, enjoy the blessing of the remission of their sin, because He shed His blood
FOR them. That little word FOR sums up the whole Gospel; an effectual
redemption by an effectual Substitute. Why
is remission of sins the effect of Christ's death? It is because, by His death, He fulfilled all of the necessary
requirements to satisfy the Holy Father for the sins of His people. Did He finish the work? Yes, He did! Read
Hebrews 1: 3.
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is as infinite as God Himself. If God were to add to the number of elect one more
sinner, Christ would not have to come and suffer again for that one, Hebrews 10:12. However since the number is
sealed from before the foundation of the world, and Christ's death is limited to the number that God the Father
has chosen, those who believe on Him, by God's grace, rest in a Savior who saves, an
ransom that ransoms, and
a Redeemer who actually redeems!
Ken Wimer
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HE BORE OUR SINS
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” 1Pe 2:24
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id Christ in bearing our sins become a sinner himself? God forbid! He died ‘THE JUST’ for the unjust, I Peter 3:18. 2 Corinthians 5:21 declares ‘He was made sin,’ it does not say he was made a sinner or sinful, and that is evident by the qualification ‘WHO KNEW NO SIN,’ never EVER became personally acquainted with it, nor tainted by it.
What a glorious mystery this is that although He was made sin, (not practically, but by imputation), yet HE KNEW NO SIN. I Peter 2:22 declares him as that one ‘Who did no sin.” I John 3:5 says, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; AND IN HIM IS NO SIN.”
Some would point to 1 Peter 2:24 as proof that Christ did more than bare our sins, transposing the inspired Word to mean that in some sense our sin was put IN Christ, rather than on him. However, the first part of the verse says that He BORE our sins. The word is used of bringing the sacrifice to the altar, Isaiah 53:12. “In His body” refers to the fact that He did it as a man, in His body which God had prepared for him (Hebrews 10:5), but in no way means that He became tainted with, or that our sin was somehow put IN Him.
To say that Christ became a sinner, or sinful, even through the sins of His people is to make Him what He was not nor ever could be. To say that his flesh was contaminated by our sin and so to become sinful to justify God in punishing Him is to deny Him as the perfect Lamb of God, WITHOUT blemish and without spot. What? Christ at enmity with His Father, He whose will was ALWAYS in perfect harmony with His Father’s will- Luke 22:42. God forbid!
Our Lord was made sin by imputation, God the Father laying ON Him the charge of sin that we deserved. In so doing, He never became a sinner, polluted by it, nor even guilty of it, although claiming it as His own. On the contrary, it was because He was perfectly just, the sinless LAMB (1 Peter 1:19), that He was capable of suffering FOR the unjust. Even as no suffering was due to HIM, so the merit of what He suffered (full justification, pardon, and reconciliation of His people to God) was justly imputed to them at His death, not by merit, but by GRACE!
KEN WIMER
SUBSTITUTION OR TRANSFUSION?
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:4
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here are those who teach that when Christ was made sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), he was actually made a sinner, or his nature made sinful, when God charged him with the sin of His elect. While this may seem to be the logical interpretation of what that scripture means, it goes well beyond what the Scripture teaches, and is in fact a denial of the very nature of our Lord Jesus as the sinless Lamb of God. There are several reasons, which I prayerfully submit.
1. There is a word for ‘sinner’ that the Spirit of God could have used if the purpose was to reveal that Christ was actually made a sinner as some say, by taking on Him the sin of His people. However, the Spirit of God used the words ‘made sin,’ and qualified them with, ‘who knew no sin,’ lest any should conclude that he became something other than sinless, except by the imputing of the sin of God’s chosen ones ON Him, charging them TO Him, and thereby punishing Him FOR their sins, which were never His own. The same word is used to describe ‘the sin offering,’ Psalm 40:6, Romans 8:3; Hebrews 10:6, which Christ fulfilled by His death. SUBSTITUTION is what the Scriptures teach, i.e. our sins put on Him, not transfusion, supposing that sin was put in Christ.
2. The best commentary on scripture is scripture itself, and the language of Isaiah 53 clearly shows how sin was laid on our Lord as the Lamb of God, not put in him. ‘He hath borne [to lift up] our griefs [weaknesses which are the effects of sin], and ‘carried [to bear a load that is laid ON one] our sorrows’. When Christ was made sin, it was that the whole charge of the sin of all of God’s elect was put to His account once for all, and that He suffered at one time for them, putting away their sin, being obedient unto death, Phil. 2:8. He took on Him the just sentence of sin that the law required, and thereby satisfied the law, justifying God in showing mercy to His chosen ones, Christ having paid the full price by His death. He certainly appeared to be a sinner in the eyes of others who condemned him to die, but in God’s eyes, He was the spotless Lamb, I Peter 1:19, who willingly laid down His life, suffering the consequence of sin that God might be just to justify, upon Christ’s death, everyone He chose. I rejoice in Him who was made sin, by imputation, which then has made me righteous before God, also by imputation. THAT’S SUBSTITUTION!
KEN WIMER
PROPITIATION THROUGH HIS BLOOD
“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood”-
Romans 3:25
On the surface, it would appear from the translation of this verse that one’s
faith is instrumental to our justification before God. However, depending on
where you put the comma, it affects the overall sense. “Whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation,” is better suited as a continuation of the previous verse
showing that when Christ died to redeem His people, it is because God set Him
forth (ordained) Him to be that propitiation (satisfaction or mercy seat). The
comma, inserted by the editors, would be better placed after ‘through faith,’
where faith is used as a synonym for THE GOSPEL. The meaning then is that God
has set forth Christ’s propitiation in the Gospel. “In His blood,” would then
begin the next thought that it is in or by His death that the righteousness of
God is declared as to why He was forbearing with the sins of those whom He saved
in the Old Testament. He was forbearing because He had purposed all along that
their sins be punished in the death of Christ.
The "blood" of Christ is that, by which Christ is the propitiation; for without
the shedding of that blood, there is no redemption, no peace, no reconciliation,
or remission of sin. This is set forth on every page of Scripture, and it is
‘through faith,’ i.e. ‘the faith once delivered unto the saints,’ Jude 3, and
‘the faith of God’s elect,’ Titus 1:1. It is that faith upon which God’s
children believe and rest, when taught of the Spirit of God. What greater hope,
consolation, and comfort could there be than to know that the Lord Jesus paid it
all, and we stand justified by Him, not in our believing, but in His dying!
KEN WIMER
IF CHRIST DIED FOR ALL MEN…
IF Christ died for all men, even for them that can and do perish, then no
consolation nor certainty of salvation can be had from the death of Christ, even
by those that believe He died for them, seeing, notwithstanding He has died for
them, they may perish: but this is absurd, and contrary to Rom. 8:34, where
believers conclude, from the death of Christ, that they cannot come into
condemnation. The consequence of this argument is denied. But how is it
possible, that there should be any solid comfort or real certainty of salvation
from the death of Christ, when, notwithstanding complete redemption is obtained
by it, the benefit of it enjoyed, sin really forgiven in Christ, and the
remission of it truly applied, yet persons may fall from the enjoyment of those
benefits through sin and unbelief, and eternally perish?
JOHN GILL - 1852
REPRESENTATION
“For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous,” Romans 5:19
In an individualistic world where people are taught that they stand or fall on
their own, it is hard for many to believe that God’s way of salvation is not
based upon each one’s personal obedience, but rather by the obedience of
Another- the Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation of Scripture is one of
representation, the righteous obedience of Christ the Substitute, put to the
account of those whom God from eternity chose and purposed to save.
1. How is it that we as created beings became sinners? The Scripture says that
it was BY ONE MAN’S DISOBEDIENCE. When we read Genesis 3, we have the account
of Adam’s disobedience, the guilt of which God charged to every one of his
descendants, Romans 5:12.
2. How is it that any then are made righteous? The Scripture declares that it
is BY THE OBEDIENCE OF ONE, or it may also be translated BY ONE OBEDIENCE (once
for all). This is speaking of Christ’s obedience unto death whereby God charged
the sin of His elect to Him, and immediately charged to their account HIS
perfect obedience thereby justifying them once for all- Hebrews 10:12, 14
3. When is it that we as individuals were made to know the effects of Adam’s
disobedience? It is from the moment of our birth. We are born in this world as
lost, depraved, and ruined by His fall- Eph. 4:18
4. When are we made to know the effects of Christ’s obedience on our behalf? It
is when we are born again by the Spirit of God, and His person and work are
revealed unto us, Romans 1:17 and we are given faith to believe on Him whose
obedience has already justified us, and in whom forgiveness was already given us
because of His death, Colossians 2:13. Unless a man be born again, he cannot
see (perceive) this glorious Savior, but when He is born again, He is brought to
submit to God’s one and only righteousness accomplished by
Christ.
KEN WIMER
THE PERSON AND DEATH OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
“He was made to be sin who knew no sin.” Romans 5:21
· SIN was IMPUTED to Him, but it was NOT IMPARTED TO HIM.
· He became the SURETY, but He DID NOT BECOME A SINNER.
· He was MADE THE SUBSTITUTE, but He was NOT MADE SINFUL.
· He BORE OUR CONDEMNATION, but NOT OUR CHARACTER.
· He RECEIVED WHAT WE DESERVED, but NOT OUR DEPRAVITY.
· God’s WRATH fell on Him, but HE WAS NOT WICKED.
Read carefully Hebrews 4:15 and 7:22-28.
J.D. BUTLER, Mebane, NC
CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly,” Romans 5:6.
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n order to redeem poor sinners from the curse and condemnation of their sin, the infinite, eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus came down from heaven, put on the rags of mortality, and suffered, bled and died. This is a truth that the Bible calls- “the mystery of godliness- God became a man!” I Timothy 3:16.
The Lord Jesus was made the Substitute, the Sin-bearer, Sin remover and Guilt sustainer of sinners whom God in electing grace purposed to save from all eternity. Their full debt was placed to His account and His obedience unto death fully paid their every sin. Sin was removed from the guilty ones and laid upon the Sinless one. He endured the infinite wrath of God until it remains no more on those for whom Christ died. All who believe were justified when He died. God dealt with ALL their sin there in His death, and simultaneously accounted them just by His righteousness imputed to them at the cross. God dealt with His Son as the guilty one, and declares righteous the otherwise guilty ones, ALL because of Christ’s obedience unto death, Rom. 5:9. His stripes are the sinner’s healing and His obedience their justification before a Holy God. Sinner, salvation is in this Savior only! Faith is the gift of God to see Him. Bow to Him and submit to His righteousness revealed in the Gospel, Romans 1:17. KEN WIMER
“..Having obtained eternal redemption for us”
Hebrews 9:12
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HEN Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of His people, He didn’t make it possible for them to be saved. HE SAVED US! Hebrews 1:3 says “...When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” “...When he had” refers to something already accomplished. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and highly exalted Him because He was obedient unto death, which is what reconciled us unto God. Being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him Romans 5:9-10. Brethren, Christ “obtained eternal redemption for us.” This also refers to something already accomplished. This is GOOD NEWS for needy sinners. SELECTED