SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/3/2018 2:17 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Meaning of Redemption”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 1:6b-10
Message of the verses: “which He freely
bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which
He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery
of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a
view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is,
the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the
earth.”
In
this SD we will be looking at the verses mentioned which begins a new chapter
in John MacArthur’s commentary on Ephesians which he entitleds “Redemption
Through His Blood.” In his very short
introductory comments he concludes by writing “Redemption is one of the central
themes of Scripture and of the book of Ephesians, but it carries much more than
the idea simply of exchanging one thing for another of equal value.”
“The
Meaning of Redemption”
“First of all, what is redemption?
Here’s a theological definition: “Redemption is an act of God by which He Himself pays as a ransom the
price for sin, which has outraged His holiness.” Okay? Now, that’s a
theological definition. Hang on; I’ll give it to you again. “Redemption is an act of God by
which He Himself pays as a ransom the price of human sin, which has outraged
His holiness.” (From MacArthur’s Sermon on this section).
In
this introduction we will be looking at some words which are used in the New
Testament in relation to salvation, and then we will look at some verses which
will help us understand the meaning of these words.
The
first word is Dikaioo and “this word and related
terms referred to legal acquittal of a charge and are used theologically to speak of a sinner’s being
vindicated, justified and declared righteous before God
(MacArthur).” Now we will look at some
examples from different verses:
Romans 3:4 “May it never be! Rather, let
God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written,
"THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED
IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED."”
Romans 4:25 “He who was delivered
over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”
Romans 5:18 “So then as through one transgression
there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of
righteousness there
resulted justification of life to all men.
1 Timothy 3:16 “By common confession,
great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated
in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the
world, Taken up in glory.”
The
next word is Aphiemi and this word “basically means
to send away, and this word was used to indicate the legal repayment or
cancellation of a debt or the granting of a pardon. This word is used in Scripture to refer to God’s forgiveness of sin”
(MacArthur).
Matthew 9:2 “And they brought to Him a
paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic,
"Take courage, son; your
sins are forgiven."
Romans 4:7 “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.”
Ephesians 1:7 “7 In Him we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another,
tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven
you.”
I
think that if we think about these words, and there are more to come, that it
will help us understand better all that was involved for a sinner to be
redeemed. We will continue to look at
more of these words in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I want to understand all of the words that
speak of how the Lord redeemed me from sin and saved me to His glory.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to learn more of what was involved
in my salvation.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Deuteronomy” (Matthew
4:1-11).
Today’s Bible question: “Who said ‘Sirs, you know that by this craft
we have our wealth’?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/3/2018 2:51 PM
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