Theological Term of the Week

redemption
A way of looking at the work of Christ on the cross that emphasizes the ransom price paid by Christ for the freedom of people who are by nature slaves to sin.

• Redemption in 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: It’s 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. John Gill: A Body of Doctrinal Divinity: Of the Redemption by Christ
   
2. John MacArthur, Jr,: The Basics of Redemption - 1 Peter 1:18-21, The Specifics of Redemption - 1 Peter 1:18-21
3. Here at this blog: Redemption: What Does It Mean?; From What Are Sinners Delivered?; For What Are the Redeemed Delivered?
4. Updated to add this sermon suggested by John Bird: Steve Lawson: A Ransom for Many (mp3)

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

passive obedience of Christ
Jesus Christ’s satisfaction of the claims of justice on behalf of those who believe in him, accomplished by his bearing all the sanctions of the law due to their transgressions; his receiving in his own person the penalty due for our sins. Also called penal obedience. (See active obedience of Christ.)

• Christ’s passive obedience in scripture:
  

  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…. (Romans 8:3 ESV)

• From the 1689 London Baptist Confession:

  Chapter 11: Of Justification
  1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ’s active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.

• From this blog. (I’m not happy about quoting myself, but I couldn’t find a short explanation of this elsewhere.)

  Christ’s passive obedience refers to his bearing the curse of the law for us in his death on the cross. The word passive as used here does not mean that Christ’s sacrificial death was simply something done to him, and that he played no active role in it. (We know that’s not the case, for Jesus tells us clearly in John 10:18 that he laid down his life of his own accord and authority, making him an active participant in his own death.) Rather, the term passive in passive obedience comes to us from the Latin obedentia passiva, in which passiva refers to Christ’s suffering. You’ve seen the pass root used like this elsewhere, as in the term passion used to refer to refer to Christ’s suffering and death..

• From John Murray in Redemption Accomplished and Applied:

  The real use and purpose of the formula [of the active and passive obedience of Christ] is to emphasize the two distinct aspects of our Lord’s vicarious obedience. The truth expressed rests upon the recognition that the law of God has both penal sanctions and positive demands. It demands not only the full discharge of its precepts but also the infliction of penalty for all infractions and shortcomings. Is is this twofold demand of the law of Christ which is taken into account when we speak of the active and passive obedience of Christ. Christ as the vicar of his people came under the curse and condemnation due to sin and he also fulfilled the law of God in all its positive requirements. In other words, he took care of the guilt of sin and perfectly fulfilled the demands of righteousness. He perfectly met both the penal and preceptive requirements of God’s law. The passive obedience refers to the former and the active obedience to the latter.
  

• From The Active and Passive Obedience of Christ by Loraine Boettner:
  

  Calvary presents a spectacle such as had never been seen before and can never be seen again. For Jesus did not suffer and die passively, as one helplessly submitting to the inevitable, but actively, as one keeping a schedule or as one fulfilling a purpose. Had we been able to have looked within the soul of Christ we would have witnessed the most colossal struggle that the universe has ever known. Far from being the passive sufferer that He appeared to those who witnessed the crucifixion, He was upholding the pillars of the moral universe by rendering full satisfaction to divine justice. For as the sinner’s substitute and in his stead Jesus stood before the awful tribunal of God,—before the Judge who abhors sin and burns against it with inexpressible indignation. Justice severe and inexorable was meted out. As He endured the break in the spiritual relationship with the Father He literally descended into hell; for hell is primarily separation from God, a condition the exact opposite of the blessed environment of the divine presence. This does not mean that His soul suffered remorse or any sense of guilt, which is one of the torments of lost souls; for He had no personal sin. Nor does it mean that this condition continued after His death. All was completed on the cross. When the allotted suffering was finished the divine light again broke in upon His soul, and we hear His triumphant cry, ‘It is finished’ (that is, the atonement, God’s objective provision for man’s salvation, was completed); and that was followed almost immediately by the affectionate words, ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ Every detail of the account is so presented that we are compelled to recognize the full price of our redemption was paid for by Christ alone, without human assistance of any kind. And thus through the infinite mercy of God and in a manner that shall forever bring glory to His name there was made available a way, the only possible way, through which sinners might be saved.

Learn more:

1. John Gill: A Body of Doctrinal Divinity: Of the Passive Obedience of Christ
2. Loraine Boettner: The Active and Passive Obedience of Christ
3. S. Lewis Johnson: The Imputation of Human Sin to Jesus Christ (mp3)

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

active obedience of Christ
Jesus Christ’s perfect obedience to the whole law of God, which is credited to believers as grounds for their justification. Also called preceptive obedience. (See passive obedience of Christ.)

• Christ’s active obedience in scripture (see quote from John Owen below for more explanation):
  

  Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19 ESV)
  

• From the 1833 New Hampshire Confession of Faith :

  Of Justification. We believe that the great gospel blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in him is Justification; that Justification includes the pardon of sin, and the promise of eternal life on principles of righteousness; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood; by virtue of which faith his perfect righteousness is freely imputed to us of God; that it brings us into a state of most blessed peace and favor with God, and secures every other blessing needful for time and eternity.

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem:

  If Christ had only earned forgiveness of sins for us, then we would not merit heaven. Our guilt would have been removed, but we would simply be in the position of Adam and Eve before they had done anything good or bad and before they had passed a time of probation successfully. To be established in righteousness forever and to have their fellowship with God made sure forever, Adam and Eve had to obey God perfectly over a period of time. Then God would have looked on their faithful obedience with pleasure and delight, and they would have lived with him in fellowship forever.
  
  For this reason, Christ had to live a life of perfect obedience to God in order to earn righteousness for us. He had to obey the law for his whole life on our behalf so that the positive merits of his perfect obedience would be counted for us. Sometimes this is called Christ’s “active obedience,” while his suffering and dying for our sins is called his “passive obedience.” Paul says his goal is that he may be found in Christ, “not having a righteousness of [his] own based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil. 3:9). It is not just moral neutrality that Paul knows he needs from Christ (that is, a clean slate with sins forgiven), but a positive moral righteousness. And he knows that that cannot come from himself, but must come through faith in Christ. Similarly, Paul says that Christ has been made “our righteousness” (1 Cor. 1:30). And he quite explicitly says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19).

• From The Imputation of the Obedience of Christ Unto the Law Declared and Indicated by John Owen:
  

  …[O]ur Saviour himself expounds this “fulfilling of the law,” by doing the commands of it, Matt.5:19. Wherefore, the Lord Christ as our mediator and surety fulfilling the law, by yielding perfect obedience thereunto, he did it for us; and to us it is imputed.
  
  This is plainly affirmed by the apostle, Rom.5:18,19, “Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” The full plea from, and vindication of, this testimony, I refer unto its proper place in the testimonies given unto the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto our justification in general. Here I shall only observe, that the apostle expressly and in terms affirms that “by the obedience of Christ we are made righteous,” or justified; which we cannot be but by the imputation of it unto us. I have met with nothing that had the appearance of any sobriety for the eluding of this express testimony, but only that by the obedience of Christ his death and sufferings are intended, wherein he was obedient unto God; as the apostle says, he was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” Phil.2:8. But yet there is herein no colour of probability. For,
  

  (1.) It is acknowledged that there was such a near conjunction and alliance between the obedience of Christ and his sufferings, that though they may be distinguished, yet can they not be separated. He suffered in the whole course of his obedience, from the womb to the cross; and he obeyed in all his sufferings unto the last moment wherein he expired. But yet are they really things distinct, as we have proved; and they were so in him who “learned obedience by the things that he suffered,” Heb.5:8.
  
  (2.) In this place, [Rom.5] “hupako-e”, verse 19, and “dikaiooma”, verse 18, are the same,— obedience and righteousness. “By the righteousness of one,” and “by the obedience of one,” are the same. But suffering, as suffering, is not “dikaiooma”, is not righteousness; for if it were, then every one that suffers what is due to him should be righteous, and so be justified, even the devil himself.
  
  (3.) The righteousness and obedience here intended are opposed “tooi paraptoomati”,—to the offence: “By the offense of one.” But the offense intended was an actual transgression of the law; so is “paraptooma”, a fall from, or a fall in, the course of obedience. Wherefore the “dikaiooma”, or righteousness, must be an actual obedience unto the commands of the law, or the force of the apostle’s reasoning and antithesis cannot be understood.
  
  

  (4.) Particularly, it is such an obedience as is opposed unto the disobedience of Adam,—“one man’s disobedience,” “one man’s obedience;”—but the disobedience of Adam was an actual transgression of the law: and therefore the obedience of Christ here intended was his active obedience unto the law;—which is that we plead for.
  

Learn more:

1. R. C. Sproul: Jesus Not Only Died for Us, He Lived for Us
2. Brian Schwertley: A Defense of the “Active Obedience” of Jesus Christ in the Justification of Sinners (pdf).
3. Wayne Grudem: The Active Obedience of Christ
4. John Samson: The Active Obedience of Christ - No Hope Without It!
5. J. Gresham Machen: The Active Obedience of Christ
6. Loraine Boettner: The Active and Passive Obedience of Christ
7. Curt Daniel: The Active and Passive Obedience of Christ (mp3)

Previously at this blog:

• The Active and Passive Obedience of Christ and Our Justification

Related terms:

1. passive obedience of Christ
2. justification
3. imputation

Filed under Christ’s Nature and His Work

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.