PARADISE
LOST
The seventeenth-century epic poem by John MILTON that is a
classic of English literature. It is about the Biblical story
of Creation, the fall of Lucifer, and the Fall of Humanity. Milton
explains that his purpose is to “Justify the ways of God
to men.”
THE
FALL OF HUMANITY
God created Adam and Eve as sinless beings, holy and happy. When
the Serpent (Lucifer) tempted Eve and she and Adam disobeyed God
by eating the Forbidden Fruit, they became sinful and miserable
(Genesis 3). This is called The Fall. As a result of the Fall,
all humans are born in a state of death and misery, inheriting
from Adam what is called Original Sin (death).
We
all sin.
We
all wander in the Land of 'What if I'd."
We
all need remption.
We
all know that we are incapable of self-redemption.
REDEMPTION
--the
purchase back of something that had been lost, by the payment
of a ransom. The Greek word so rendered is apolutrosis, a word
occurring nine times in Scripture, and always with the idea of
a ransom or price paid, i.e., redemption by a lutron (see Matthew
20:28; Mark 10:45).
There
are many passages in the New Testament which represent Christ's
sufferings under the idea of a ransom or price, and the result
thereby secured is a purchase or redemption (comp. Acts 20:28;
1 Cor. 6:19-20; Galatians 3:13; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephes. 1:7; Col.
1:14; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18-19;
Rev. 5:9).
The
idea running through all these texts, however various their reference,
is that of payment made for our redemption. The debt against us
is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ's
blood or life, which he surrendered for them, is the “ransom”
by which the deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin
and from its penal consequences is secured. (RealVideo)
It
is the plain doctrine of Scripture that,
“Christ saves us neither by the mere exercise of power,
nor by his doctrine,
nor by his example,
nor by the moral influence which he exerted,
nor by any subjective influence on his people,
whether natural or mystical,
but as a satisfaction to divine justice,
as an expiation for sin,
and as a ransom from the curse and authority of the law,
thus reconciling us to God by making it consistent with his perfection
to exercise mercy toward sinners”
(Hodge's Systematic Theology).
(RealVideo)
