New City Catechism Question 19 Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God s favor? Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer. Preparation: 1. As you grew up, were there times when you really deserved to be punished? 2. What were some of the ways you tried to avoid and escape being punished? 3. Did you ever think or feel that you were out of God s favor? If so, when and why? Instructions for teaching each other: 1. Ask out loud Question 19. 2. Give out loud the Catechism s answer to Question 19. 3. Read out loud Isaiah 53:10-11. Question 19: Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God s favor? Answer 19: Yes, to satisfy justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer. Isaiah 53:10-11 10 Yet it was the Lord s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 10 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many. Observations: Question 19 and its answer assume and are built on what the New City Catechism has already established: #1. God requires of all people personal, perfect & perpetual obedience to him. #2. No mere human being has been able to keep the law of God perfectly, but consistently breaks it in thought, word and deed.. #3. God did not create us unable to keep his law, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, all creation is fallen; we are all born in sin and guilt, corrupt tin nature, unable to keep God s law. #4. God will not allow disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished. #5. God is righteously angry about our sin and will punish it in his just judgment both in this life and in the life to come. Therefore, the truth is that God punishes sin, both in this life and in the life afterwards. And apart from what he actually did to pay for our sin, there is no way to escape his punishment. Introduction: Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) www.wpcspartanburg.org Page 1
Genesis establishes that God created the first people to live in his presence and in close relationship with his person. God intended for them to live within the experience of his grace, i.e. within the atmosphere of his love and acceptance. They were not intended to experience rejection or separation from him or from one another. Genesis also makes clear that God created them to be like him and, therefore, to make and carry out personal decisions. Just as he charged them to maintain the earth, God intended them to maintain a right relationship with him. To do this, their first responsibility was to choose to trust what he said and to do exactly what he prescribed. Therefore, their relationship was considered right and they were considered righteous when they consistently chose to trust what he said and to do exactly what he prescribed. God made crystal clear that the relationship with him would die if they violated their trust in him by disobeying what he prescribed. The punishment for the first man and woman s violating their trust in God was to be exiled and separated from his immediate presence. To be separated from their Creator was the severest punishment imaginable. Ever since the first man and woman chose to violate their trust in what God said, their descendants have continually made this same decision. We have example after example described in Scripture of their descendants decisions: Cain; almost everyone in the world, except for Noah; the people who lived on the plain of Shinar, who built a tower contrary to God s prescription; Sodom and Gomorrah; Rebekah s deception of Isaac; Isaac s deception of Abimelek; Jacob s deception of his brother; Laban deceiving Jacob; the Shechemites defilement of Dinah, Jacob s daughter; Joseph s brother s response to his arrogance; Judah s sexual involvement with Tamar, his son s widow. And on and on it goes. In every one of these instances, God metes out consequences for their choice. In some cases people were exiled and banished from God s presence or from the presence of their relatives. In other instances, they were executed. These terrible consequences were a direct result of the decisions these people made and the actions they took. However, the Scriptures also make clear that God continually seeks to redeem people and woo them away from their separation from him and back into a right relationship with him in his presence. For example, he woos Noah, Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, etc. He redeems people, providing a way or a path and journey into his presence. He takes the initiative and acts to redeem and restore people to himself. What does Scripture mean when it says God redeems? Background for the meanings of Redeem, Redeemer and Redemption : Bible words and current meanings are not always the same. For instance, some of us remember redeeming Green Stamps. This could usually be done at a redemption center. These used to be our current meanings. Webster defines redeem as serving to offset or compensate for a defect. It gives current usage example as, her performance is the film's redeeming feature. These meanings arise out of our current social context. Context always determines meaning. The original context in Scripture determines the original meaning of these terms. The Bible s meanings are different from these current meanings. For instance, the first use of the word redeem in Scripture is found in Exodus 6:6. The Lord himself says to Moses: Therefore, say to the Israelites, Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) www.wpcspartanburg.org Page 2
I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched hand and with my mighty acts of judgment. The word, Redeem, at that time in history had a long cultural history within slave economies and societies. It referred to paying the price required to purchase a slave, or property, etc. In this context, the Lord says to Moses that he plans to pay the required price to purchase the Israelites from the Egyptians and to set them free from their enslavement. God s redeeming work is described in the Exodus. For instance, God sends his anointed person, Moses, to work his plan of redemption for the enslaved Israelites. Once the Lord God completes his redeeming work, Moses leads them along the path of redemption and on the journey of salvation to God s promises destination. This is the template for God s redeeming work throughout the rest of Scripture, in both Testaments. Later in Exodus, when God gives his laws, he provides specific rules for redeeming lives, animals and property. Exodus 21:28-30 gives one of these rules. It concerns redeeming a person s life from being executed. If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull has the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned to death and its owner is also to be put to death. However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. In this context, redeem refers to paying the required price. Also, within the congregation of Israel, circumstances sometimes arose that led to a person selling property or even themselves to a fellow Israelite in order to survive. Concerning redeeming property, Leviticus 25:25-26 says: If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. If however, a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it, they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it, they can then go back to their own property. The person who sold a part of his tribal property, when able, pays the required price to recover the land he sold. Concerning redeeming a person, Leviticus 25:47 says, If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow countrymen becomes poor and sells themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner s clan, they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them. An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative may redeem them. Or if they prosper they may redeem themselves.the price of their release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired worker for that number of years. Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) www.wpcspartanburg.org Page 3
As you may recognize, what consistently emerges in Scripture is that there is always a price to be determined that must be paid the redemption price in order to redeem lives, animals or property that are sold. Additionally, in Scripture, the Lord God himself is the only one who is referred to as the Redeemer. For instance, Job says, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth, 19:25. The Psalmist says in 19:14, May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah refer to the Lord as The Redeemer. This title does not appear in the New Testament at all. Actually, the history that unfolds in Scripture of the nation of Israel involves continually going from freedom and self-determination to being captured and enslaved by surrounding tribes and nations. The Lord himself continually redeems his people from their enslavement. The Psalmist even prays in 25:22, Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles. Concerning his own life, the Psalmist prays, In your hands I commit my spirit, redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth, 31:5. Psalm 130:8 promises: He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. This promise about the Lord redeeming his people continues in the writing prophets. For instance, The Lord says through Jeremiah, I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel, 15:21. Again the Lord promises through Hosea, I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? 13:14. The Lord God himself is the one who redeems. He alone is referred to as the Redeemer. In the New Testament, the two men on the road to Emmaus tell the unrecognized but risen Jesus, But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place, Luke 24:21. The hope was that Jesus was going to pay the price to liberate or redeem Israel from their bondage to the Roman empire. Paul in his letters refers to being enslaved by the law and also by sin. Both the Old and New Testaments point to the Lord God having a way for his people to be set free from whatever or whomever enslaves and holds them captive, i.e. the way of the Lord s redemption. The Lord is The Redeemer, who uses people of his choosing, such as Moses, the Judges, and others to work his redemption. The Scriptures proclaim the good news of God s way to escape from our enslavement to sin and the punishment sin requires, i.e., death. For personal examination, reflection and application: 1. Which of the following best describes your coming to trust in God in Jesus? a. I committed my life to Christ as result of a message. b. I was baptized as a child and was raised to trust God in Jesus. c. My life was a shambles, so I surrendered to God in Jesus to put me back together. d. I was forced to face my sin and sought God s forgiveness. e. Other 2. Of the following, which initially motivated you to take this step? Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) www.wpcspartanburg.org Page 4
a. To avoid God s punishment. b. To be forgiven for my sin. c. To make sure I was going to heaven when I died. d. To find and experience the love of God the Father. e. To live a better life. f. To please my parents, grandparents or those who raised me. g. To please and be like my older brother or sister. h. To do what my friends were doing. i. To please my youth worker. j. To be accepted by my friends. k. To relieve my guilt and shame. l. I felt it was the right thing to do. m. I wanted the life God promised me in Jesus. n. Due to the powerful emotions I felt at that time. o. Other 3. When did you come to understand and believe that God does not relax his standards and has to punish sin? 4. List some of the ways you have been punished in your life? 5. Did anyone ever pay the price for you for your failure? 6. How aware are you that what you deserve for your sin is death and permanent separation from the presence of your Creator? 7. What has God done in your life to continually redeem you and lead you on his path of redemption? 8. What do you still want God to do for you in his ongoing work of redemption? 9. Who does Scripture say is your Redeemer? 10. In Exodus, how does God the Father use Moses in his work of redemption? 11. In the New Testament, how does God the Father use Jesus the Son in his work of redemption? 12. What are you currently doing to maintain a right relationship with your Creator? Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) www.wpcspartanburg.org Page 5