Eckhardt's Homiletisches Reallexikon, 1907–1917

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value. Whoever denies Christ's deity denies the meritoriousness of his suffering. See Christ. Page 546. Note e. Would one little drop of Christ's blood have been enough? Hymn 230, 9: "that even one small drop can make the whole world clean." — Here the reference is not exclusive but inclusive of the remaining parts. It is not a matter of quantity, but of quality. Note f. Christ's blood in hymns: 51, 2. 123, 8. 144, 2. 161, 7. 271, 1. 386, 5. 405, 6. 174, 2. For homiletics on the blood of Christ, see the end of this section. c. Christ's suffering and death. 1 Tim. 2:6: he gave himself as a ransom. Matt. 20:28: he gave his life as a ransom. — What bitter suffering! We have caused him toil and labor. The passion history. Note a. Christ's work of redemption began with his incarnation. His whole life was a chain of suffering. Note b. Redemption was not accomplished by Christ's resurrection, but only made manifest and sealed by it. Note c. Could Christ have redeemed us without suffering and dying? Of this we know nothing. Had he done it otherwise, that too would not have suited our foolishness. Antithesis a. Rationalists. Christ redeemed the world through his teaching, as one teaches someone to save himself by swimming, or to pay off his debt through diligence and thrift. b. Methodists. Christ did not really feel the Father's full wrath and suffer the pains of hell. c. Arminians. Christ's suffering and death was not a full satisfaction, but was regarded by the Father as sufficient (a nominal price). d. Calvinists: Only the human nature suffered. Alloiosis. Christ's blood in itself has no such great value.

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6. From what has Christ redeemed us? a. From all sins. 1 John 3:5: that he might take away our sin. Matt. 1:21: to save from their sins. 1 Pet. 1:18: from your vain conduct (a way of life in sin). Note. We are also redeemed from the curse and dominion of sin. Rom. 6:20: when you were slaves of sin. 6:14: sin shall not have dominion over you. b. From the wrath of God. 1 Thess. 1:10: delivered from the wrath to come. Eph. 2:3: were children of wrath. c. From the curse and constraint of the Law. Gal. 3:13: redeemed from the curse of the Law. Rom. 8:2: made free from the law of sin and death. d. From death. Hos. 13:14: I will redeem them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death. Isa. 25:8: He will swallow up death forever. 1 Cor. 15:55: Death is swallowed up in victory. 2 Tim. 1:10: has taken away the power of death. e. From the devil. Hebr. 2:14: that through death he might take away the power — of the devil. 1 John 3:8: to destroy the works of the devil. Gen. 3:15: to crush the serpent's head.

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7. This redemption is universal. Christ has redeemed all men. 1 Tim. 2:6: given for all as a ransom. 1 John 2:2: for the sins of the whole world. Rom. 5:18: the justification of life has come upon all men. John 1:29: who takes away the sin of the world. Rom. 8:32: given up for us all. 2 Cor. 5:15: died for all. Isa. 53:6: laid on him the iniquity of us all. — Konk. 203, § 8: for the sin of the whole world. 707, § 15: the human race. Note a. This was already prophesied in the Old Testament: through him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Objection 1. The redemption is limited to "many": Matt. 20:28: as a ransom for many. Matt. 26:28: shed for many for the remission of sins. Hebr. 9:28: to bear the sins of many. — By this "all" is meant. Surely all are certainly many. Objection 2. The redemption is limited to believers: Eph. 5:25: loved the church, and gave himself for it. Acts 20:28: the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. — This happens because only the believers enjoy the redemption, while the others thrust their salvation from themselves. Note b. Even those who are lost, the godless, Judas, Cain, all mockers and blasphemers, are redeemed. 2 Pet. 2:1: they deny the Lord who bought them. 1 Cor. 8:11: and the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died. Rom. 14:15. — That they are lost does not come from their not being redeemed, but because after their redemption they make themselves guilty of death in another way. Only unbelief condemns. Note c. Every person is to believe this for himself: "who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person." Gal. 2:20: gave himself for me. Ps. 31:5: You have redeemed me. Objection. If only my name stood in the Bible! Antithesis. Calvinists, Presbyterians, the Reformed, and so forth: Christ died only for the elect and has redeemed them. Westminster Confession of Faith. L. W. 51, 295. — If God had wanted to redeem only the elect, why did God not say so in his Word? If, of 50 criminals, 10 are pardoned, no one will say: All you criminals are pardoned. Note. For the passages they appeal to, see Baier 3, 8-9. L. W. 51, 296. 299.

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8. The redemption is perfect. It is finished. By his wounds we are healed. Isa. 53:5. Christ is the end of the Law. Rom. 10:4. an eternal redemption. Hebr. 9:12. Hymn 249, 8. Therefore there is need of 1. no Mary, no saints, and so forth; 2. no work on man's part. Christ did not do most of the work, so that man would have to supply what is lacking. Whoever wants to add even the least thing to his redemption reviles the merit of Christ; 3. only faith, only acceptance. If the redemption were not perfect, then man could not be saved by faith alone. Note a. The perfection of the redemption includes all the help that enables us actually to enjoy the redemption: the sending of the Spirit, his work and operation on man's heart, the awakening and preserving of faith. Note b. Faith, of course, must be present, otherwise the perfect redemption that has taken place helps us nothing. The door of the prison stands open to unbelievers, but they would rather stay in prison; they prefer darkness to light, and reject the hand of reconciliation out of spite and hatred. — But our faith does not make the redemption perfect. Antithesis a. Papists. Christ has not paid the whole debt of sin. The penitent must himself suffer the temporal penalty through fasting, praying, works. Purgatory. Note. In the sacrifice of the Mass, the offering is still repeated daily. b. The Reformed and the sects. Redemption is made complete only through works of penitence and conversion. Note. The more recent theologians substitute for this man's moral act, faith.

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9. The purpose and goal of redemption is expressed in the Second Article with the words: a. "that I may be his own." Titus 2:14: a people for his own possession. Isa. 43:1: You are mine. Note a. When someone has bought and paid for something, it belongs to him. Note b. Christ is now our Lord. John 13:13: You call me Master and Lord, and you say well. Rom. 14:9: For this Christ died — that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Acts 2:36: God has made him both Lord and Christ; b. "and live in his kingdom." — When a father finds again and ransoms his child that had been carried off into slavery, why does he do it? He wants to take it home again. Eph. 2:19: fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; c. "and serve him under him." Luke 1:74-75: that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him. 2 Cor. 5:15: not live to themselves, but to him who died for them. 1 Pet. 2:24: dead to sin, live unto righteousness. — We are to live to please him, our Redeemer, in everything. Our whole life is to be a continual service of God. Note a. "Under him." Only his will shall guide and govern us. King. Note b. Is this right with you? Can you say: Christ is my life. None of us lives to himself. If we live, do we live to the Lord? Note c. Now we gladly wish to commend everything to him.

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Essays. In the doctrine of redemption the Lutheran Church gives God alone the glory. N. 74, 43—61. Syn. 72, 29—40. That and how the article of redemption should be treated. Ma. 17, 265. Christ's work of redemption in the Old Testament. L. W. 37, 5—12. Catechesis. Schulb. 3, 201—208. L. W. 24, 304. Brun 190—244. Metzger 135—140. Decree of Redemption. Theol. 2, 391. Abbreviations: Pi. — Die Lehre von Christi Werk [The Doctrine of Christ's Work]. F. Pieper. R. Pi. — Katechismus, Part 1, pp. 65—115. R. Pieper. Redemption. Outline. § 1. The promise of redemption. § 2. The redemption has taken place. § 3. The Redeemer. § 4. The ransom price. § 5. From what are we redeemed? § 6. This redemption is universal. § 7. It is perfect. § 8. The purpose and goal of redemption.

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1. The word "redemption," "to ransom," reminds us of our bondage and slavery in fetters, chains, and bonds. "Bound captive to the devil I lay; my sin tormented me day and night; ever deeper I fell." Hymn 243. Lost and damned. — One says of a sick person that he is "lost" when all hope is gone. Note. A redemption is necessary. The nature, power, and consequences of sin show the need for a redemption.

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2. The promise of redemption. The redemption was promised in the Old Testament. Gen. 3:15. The seed of the woman. Isa. 59:20: to those in Zion a Redeemer shall come. Note a. Types: 1. The redemption of the people of Israel. 2. As the kinsman was to ransom his relative out of bondage (Lev. 25:25, 48-49) and redeem back the family's lost inheritance (Ruth 2:20; 3:12), so the promised Goel [kinsman-redeemer] was to redeem us. Note b. The decree of redemption is one of the three eternal decrees of God. (Creation. Redemption. Election of grace.) 1 Pet. 1:18-20: foreknown before the foundation of the world. Acts 2:23: given up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. Acts 4:28: to do whatever your hand and your counsel had determined beforehand should come to pass. Note c. How the believers of the Old Testament hoped for redemption! Luke 2:38: all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Ps. 53:6: Oh, that help would come out of Zion. Hymn 43, 8-9. 46, 5. Note d. God is faithful. Jer. 31:20: I still well remember what I have spoken to him; therefore my heart breaks for him, and so forth. — "What the host of the fathers of old," and so forth.

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3. The redemption has taken place. Ps. 31:5: You have redeemed me. Isa. 43:1: I have redeemed you. It is finished. 2 Cor. 5:19: God reconciled the world to himself. Rom. 5:10: we are reconciled to God. The redemption is an accomplished fact, like the creation of the world. Objective justification. We are not first to reconcile ourselves with God, to blot out our sin. Note a. This is also implied 1. in the concept "faith." Faith takes hold of what is already present. Where one does not believe in a redemption that has already taken place, all talk of salvation through faith is empty chatter; 2. in the concept "Gospel," glad tidings, which proclaims the redemption that has occurred. Therefore the Gospel is not an empty sound, but the offering, the absolution, of all men. — No promise of grace in the Gospel could be conceived at all if Christ had not redeemed us. Note b. Only in this way can one understand 1. the doctrine of absolution. Because the fanatics do not believe that God has already redeemed the world, they stumble at absolution; 2. the doctrine of the means of grace, which distribute the grace already won. Because the sects do not believe in the perfect redemption that has already taken place, they also do not have the right doctrine of the means of grace. Note c. The raising of Christ is an actual absolution of the whole world of sinners. See Absolution § 5. The resurrection of Christ § 17. Note d. This doctrine, that redemption through Christ has already taken place, 1. is the chief article of Christian doctrine, the core, the essence of Christianity; 2. constitutes the difference between the Christian religion and all other religions. The heathen seek to redeem themselves. Christianity is not an instruction in how one is reconciled to God through a godly life; 3. gives God all the glory; 4. should therefore be diligently pressed. We should keep painting this before people's eyes again and again: You are redeemed. Note e. It is precisely this comfort that wants to vanish from us in the hour of trial. Note f. How Satan sought to hinder the redemption! 1. He tried to bring down Christ through sin; temptation. 2. he sought to frighten him away from carrying it out by holding up the tribulations and the heavy suffering before him; 3. he wanted to thwart the redemption altogether through Christ's death. He put murderous thoughts into Judas. Luke 22:53: the power of darkness. How he must have exulted on Good Friday! 4. now, since he could not prevent the acquiring of salvation, he applies every means to prevent the conversion of the redeemed, the acceptance of salvation. Objection a. If you Lutherans are already redeemed, then you no longer need to do any works at all. — We do works not in order to redeem ourselves, but out of gratitude for the redemption that has taken place. Objection b. If people hear that they are already redeemed, they will become secure. Therefore one should handle this doctrine cautiously and rather speak of conversion. — But by what means is a man converted? By hearing and believing the message of the redemption. Of course, this doctrine must not be misused. Objection c. Then Christians will not become godly, but will live according to their flesh. — On the contrary: where this doctrine fills the heart, a godly life follows of itself. Antithesis. Sects and fanatics teach: 1. That Christ has only made redemption possible, so that man can now accomplish what is necessary for salvation. Therefore they do not ask: What do you believe? but: How do you feel? — That is neither Law nor Gospel. 2. That our redemption takes place on the condition that man repents and believes. — Christ, however, did not merely create the conditions under which men could be redeemed, but brought about the redemption itself.

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4. The Redeemer is a. not man himself. Matt. 16:26: What can a man give in exchange for his soul? Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Mark 10:38. Matt. 20:22. Note a. Man 1. cannot reconcile himself with God, and without reconciliation there is no redemption; 2. cannot himself make satisfaction for his sin, as the heathen wish to do. Note b. Even man's repenting of his sin does not help him at all toward redemption. Note c. Attempts at self-rescue have been made enough. But one either contents oneself with man doing what he can, or one despairs. Note d. Man can destroy his life, but cannot make himself alive again; can lose his soul, but cannot save the lost one; can fall into the trap Satan has set for him, but cannot get out of it again; b. not other men. Ps. 49:7: no man can by any means redeem his brother. Everyone has enough to do with himself. Note. Mary and the saints do not help. There is no such thing as superfluous merit; c. Jesus Christ alone. Isa. 43:1: I have redeemed you. Ps. 31:5: You have redeemed me. "Us sinners only you have redeemed." Hymn 7, 2.