Welcome to “Learning and Living the God-centered life”

Carmel Baptist Church

www.learningandlivingtheword.com

May 10, 2009

Why should we as Christians study the Trinity?

Because God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His word as God the Father, Son and Spirit and therefore this is very important!

Definition of the Trinity God’s whole and undivided essence belongs equally, eternally, simultaneously and fully to each of the three Persons of the Godhead, so that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit each is fully God while each in His own personal expression in role and activity, of one eternal and undivided essence.

The Trinity

There is one and only one God, eternally existing and fully expressed in three persons:

The Father - The Son - The Holy Spirit

Each member of the Trinity is:

Equally God

Eternally God

Simultaneously God

Fully God

NOT three gods but three Persons of the one Godhead

Each person is equal in essence, as each possesses fully the identically same eternal nature, yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of the one undivided nature

The Trinity and Salvation

The two key views of the cross

View #1 of the cross The view of the cross that focuses upon the significance of what Jesus accomplished in relationship to how we would stand before God. (Atonement, Propitiation, Justification)

View #2 of the cross This focuses upon the significance of what Christ accomplished in relationship to the bondage that the powers of sin, death and the devil have over us. The fact is we are enslaved to sin and here the cross present to us the important work of Christ’s death. It is His death on the cross which has redeemed and delivered us from these evil powers. (Redemption, Ransom)

Facets of our Salvation

The cross might be analogous to a diamond in that there are many facets that one needs to look at in order to see the whole.

And in the NT there is no one word or facet in which we can see the entire picture of the cross or of salvation.

No one term is able to adequately describe for us the devastating effects of sin.

Therefore the sinful condition of human beings is multi-faceted and we shouldn’t be surprised to notice that the saving work of Christ is also multi-faceted.

Mankind has a two-fold problem1. Bad record2. Bad heart

View #1 of the cross - we are perpetrators or fugitives from justice The view of the cross that focuses upon the significance of

what Jesus accomplished in relationship to how we would stand before God.

We have inherited condemnation

Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Atonement

Propitiation

Justification

Mankind has a two-fold problem1. Bad record2. Bad heartView #2 of the cross - we are victims This focuses upon the significance of what Christ accomplished

in relationship to the bondage that the powers of sin, death and the devil have over us. The fact is we are enslaved to sin and here the cross present to us the important work of Christ’s death. It is His death on the cross which has redeemed and delivered us from these evil powers.

We have inherited corruption

Mark 7:21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

Mark 7:22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.

Mark 7:23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

Questions to consider regarding “redemption”

What is redemption?

Who are the objects of redemption?

To what were we enslaved?

What is the price of our redemption?

What is the result of our redemption?

“God is the good in redemption”

“The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ has purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world.

The Lord God, he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem; and is the ‘the river of the water of life’ that runs, and the tree of life that grows, ‘in the midst of the paradise of God.’ The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in them.”

—Jonathan Edwards, “God Glorified in the Work of Redemption,” in The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader, ed. Wilson H. Kimnach, et al (1999): 74-75

REDEMPTION

Definition

The word “redemption” is apolutrōsis (ἀπολυτρωσις) which Thayer defines as follows;

the verb “to redeem one by paying the price, to let one go free on receiving the price”;

the noun, “a releasing effected by payment of ransom, deliverances, liberation procured by the payment of a ransom.”

Redemption carries the notion with it that means to buy back. That to say there was something first of all that was in your possession but then it fell into a position of bondage in which it was held by another, and to redeem means to restore back unto yourself. We as sinners are in bondage to sin, death and the devil. We need someone to provide redemption and thereby “redeem” us out of that bondage.

We hit on the first major idea of redemption as it relates to us being victims when we look at the children of Israel languishing down there in Egypt in bondage to the Egyptians.

It is God who therefore intervenes and in Exodus carries out a series of events to release the children of Israel from the bondage to slavery. And this is best understood from a term that is called redemption. We see God redeeming and delivering His people from bondage.

Luke 1:68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

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Luke 2:38 “…and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

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Luke 21:28 straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

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Rom 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

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Rom 8:23 waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

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1 Cor 1:30 and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

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Eph 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,

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Eph 1:14 with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

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Eph 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

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Col 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

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Heb 9:12 “…He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

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Heb 9:15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant

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Heb 11:35 not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;

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G3085 is from:

3084. lutro/w lutroo; from 3089; to release by paying a ransom, to redeem: —redeem(2), redeemed(1).

Occurs 3 times in the New Testament

lutroō (λυτροω) “to liberate by payment of ransom” (Tit. 2:14, I Pet. 1:18); the redeemed are set free from the guilt and power of sin now, to be finally set free from the presence of sin at the second coming of Christ. The particular aspect of redemption spoken of here is redemption from the guilt and condemnation of sin, for the qualifying phrase, “the forgiveness of sins” is added.

G629 apolutrosis; (to release on payment of ransom); a release effected by payment of ransom: —redemption (9), release(1).

Occurs 10 times in the New Testament

The word “redemption” is apolutrōsis (ἀπολυτρωσις) which Thayer defines as follows; the verb “to redeem one by paying the price, to let one go free on receiving the price”; the noun, “a releasing effected by payment of ransom, deliverances, liberation procured by the payment of a ransom.”

Digging Deeper (thanks to Kenneth Wuest for this)

The story of redemption can be told in three Greek words;

agorazō (ἀγοραζω), “to buy in the slave market” (I Cor. 6:20, 7:23, 30, II Pet. 2:1, Rev. 5:9); the Lord Jesus bought us in the slave market of sin, the ransom price, His blood; we are his bond slaves;

exagorazō (ἐξαγοραζω), “to buy out of the slave market, to buy off, to buy for one’s self” (Gal. 3:13, 4:5); the redeemed are the possession of the Lord Jesus forever, and will never be put up for sale in any slave market again;

lutroō (λυτροω) “to liberate by payment of ransom” (Tit. 2:14, I Pet. 1:18); the redeemed are set free from the guilt and power of sin now, to be finally set free from the presence of sin at the second coming of Christ. The particular aspect of redemption spoken of here is redemption from the guilt and condemnation of sin, for the qualifying phrase, “the forgiveness of sins” is added.