Redemption

by the Blood of the Lamb

[Ransomed at a great price!]

Redemption

Our restoration from the bondage of sin to the freedom of children of God through the satisfaction and merits of Jesus Christ. The word redemption is from the Hebrew kopher and Greek lytron which means generally a ransom-price, or the "great price" (I Cor. 6: 20).

I. OUR NEED FOR REDEMPTION -- Gen. 3:15

II. HOW ARE WE REDEEMED ? -- Rom. 5: 15

A. Satisfaction of Christ -- John 1:16

B. Merits of Christ -- Eph. 1:3; Heb. 5: 9

III. IS REDEMPTION ENOUGH ? -- Rom. 5: 20
St. Chrysostom compares our liability to a drop of water and Christ's payment to the vast ocean.

A. Protestant Heresy - Luther denied human liberty on which all good works rest and chose "fiducial faith" as the sole means of appropriating the fruits of Redemption this runs counter to the plain teaching of the New Testament calling us to deny ourselves and carry our cross (Matt. 16: 24),

See also:

"......to walk in the footsteps of the Crucified (I Pet. 2: 21), to suffer with Christ in order to be glorified with Him (Rom. 8: 17), to fill up those things that are wanting to the sufferings of Christ (Col. 1: 24). "

HOMILY -- 27 March 1997 - MASS " IN COENA DOMINI" by Pope John Paul II

"....Christ ...stresses the need to serve. For the Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45).....Our Redemption has been wrought by the Sacrifice of Christ. The Church, which proclaims this Redemption and draws her life from it, must continue to make this Sacrifice sacramentally present, from this Sacrifice she must draw the strength to be herself......to leave the land of slavery in freedom and the price of their ransom was the blood of the lamb....."

DEI VERBUM - Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation - Vatican II

"......Then after [mans] fall [Gods] promise of redemption aroused in them the hope of being saved (see Gen. 3:15) and from that time on He ceaselessly kept the human race in His care, to give eternal life to those who perseveringly do good in search of salvation

(see Rom. 2:6-7)......"

THE HOLY BIBLE - JAMES 2:24

"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." - King James Version

"You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." - Revised Standard Version

IV. IS REDEMPTION FOR EVERYONE ? -- I John 2: 2; I Tim. 2: 4; and II Cor. 5: 15

VI. MAJOR SOURCES

1 - REDEMPTOR HOMINUS - The Redeemer of Man - March 4, 1979

2 - LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES - April 3, 1983 by Pope John Paul II

3 - HOMILY at the MASS " IN COENA DOMINI" - on March 27, 1997 by Pope John Paul II

4 - REDEMPTORIS MISSIO - The Redemptive Mission of the Church - December 7, 1990

5 - THE ASCETICAL WORKS OF ST. ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI VOL. IV - December 16, 1758

6 - REDEMPTORIS MATER - Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church - March 25, 1987

7 - THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA - Copyright 1913 by the Encyclopedia Press, Inc.

8 - DEI VERBUM - Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation - Vatican II

Redemption

The restoration of man from the bondage of sin to the liberty of the children of God through the satisfactions and merits of Christ. The word redemption is the Latin Vulgate rendering of Hebrew kopher and Greek lytron which, in the Old Testament means generally a ransom-price. In the New Testament , it is the classic term designating the "great price" (I Cor. 6: 20) which the Redeemer paid for our liberation. Redemption presupposes the original elevation of man to a supernatural state and his downfall from it through sin; and inasmuch as sin calls down the wrath of God and produces man's servitude under evil and Satan, Redemption has reference to both God and man. On God's part, it is the acceptation of satisfactory amends whereby the Divine honor is repaired and the Divine wrath appeased. On man's part, it is both a deliverance from the slavery of sin and a restoration to the former Divine adoption, and this includes the whole process of supernatural life from the first reconciliation to the final salvation. That double result, namely God's satisfaction and man's restoration, is brought about by Christ's vicarious office working through satisfactory and meritorious actions performed in our behalf.

I. MAN'S NEED FOR REDEMPTION

When Christ came, there was throughout the world a deep consciousness of moral depravation and a vague longing for a restorer, pointing to a universally felt need of rehabilitation (see "Life of Christ", I, i). From that subjective sense of need we should not, however, hastily conclude the necessity of Redemption. If the low moral condition of mankind under paganism or even under the Jewish Law is, in itself, apart from revelation no proof positive of the existence of original sin, still less could it necessitate Redemption. In one hypothesis only is Redemption, as described above, deemed absolutely necessary and that is if God should demand an adequate compensation for the sin of mankind. The juridical axiom "honor est in honorante, injuria in injuriato" (honor is measured by the dignity of him who gives it, offense by the dignity of him who receives it) shows that mortal sin bears in a way an infinite malice and that nothing short of a person possessing infinite worth is capable of making full amends for it.

II. HOW ARE WE REDEEMED?

The real redeemer is Jesus Christ, who, according to the Nicene creed, "for us men and for our salvation descended from Heaven; and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and became man. He was also crucified for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate and was buried". "For an adequate satisfaction", says St. Thomas, "it is necessary that the act of him who satisfies should possess an infinite value and proceed from one who is both God and Man " (Summa Theologica III:1:2 ad 2um). Sacrifice, which always carries with it the idea of suffering and immolation, is the complement and full expression of Incarnation. It is in this double light of incarnation and sacrifice that we should always view the two concrete factors of Redemption, namely, the satisfaction and the merits of Christ.

A. Satisfaction of Christ

Satisfaction, or the payment of a debt in full, means, in the moral order, an acceptable reparation of honor offered to the person offended and, of course, implies a penal and painful work. It is the unmistakable teaching of Revelation that Christ offered to His heavenly Father His labors, sufferings, and death as an atonement for our sins. The Messiah, Himself innocent yet chastised by God, because He took our iniquities upon Himself, His self-oblation becoming our peace and the sacrifice of His life a payment for our transgressions. Jesus voluntarily offered Himself (John: 10: 15), that we might be saved by the grace of one Saviour even as we had been lost by the fault of the one Adam (Rom. 5: 15).

B. Merits of Christ

Satisfaction is not the only object and value of Christ's suffering; for besides placating God, it also benefits man in several ways. It possesses, in the first place, the power of impetration or intercession which is proper to prayer, according to John 11: 42: "And I knew that thou hearest me always. " However, as satisfaction is the main factor of Redemption with regard to God's honor, so man's restoration is due principally to the merits of Christ. That merit, or the quality which makes human acts worthy of a reward at the hands of another, attaches to the works of the Redeemer, is apparent from such Biblical phrases as to receive "of his fullness" (John 1:16), to be blessed with His blessings (Eph. 1:3), to be made alive in Him (I Cor. 15: 22), to owe Him our eternal salvation (Heb. 5: 9) clearly imply a communication from Him to us and that at least by way of merit. The objects of Christ's merits for us are the supernatural gifts lost by sin, that is, grace (John 1: 14, l6) and salvation (I Cor. 15: 22); the preternatural gifts enjoyed by our first parents in the state of innocence are not, at least in this world, restored by the merits of Redemption, as Christ wishes us to suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him (Rom. 8: 17). St. Thomas explaining how Christ's merits pass on to us, says: Christ merits for others as other men in the state of grace merit for themselves (III:48:1).

III. ADEQUACY OF REDEMPTION (IS IT ENOUGH?)

Redemption is styled by the "Catechism of the Council of Trent" (1, 5, 15) "complete, integral in all points, perfect and truly admirable". Such is the teaching of St. Paul: "where sin abounded, grace did more abound" (Rom. 5: 20), that is, evil as the effects of sin are, they are more than compensated by the fruits of Redemption. Commenting on that passage St. Chrysostom compares our liability to a drop of water and Christ's payment to the vast ocean.

A. Protestant Heresy

From the adequacy and even superabundance of Redemption as viewed in Christ our Head, it might be inferred that there is neither need nor use of personal effort on our part towards the performance of satisfactory works or the acquisition of merits. But the inference would be false. When Luther, after denying human liberty on which all good works rest, chose "fiducial faith" as the sole means of appropriating the fruits of Redemption, he not only fell short of, but also ran counter to, the plain teaching of the New Testament calling upon us to deny ourselves and carry our cross (Matt. 16: 24), to walk in the footsteps of the Crucified (I Pet. 2: 21), to suffer with Christ in order to be glorified with Him (Rom. 8: 17), in a word to fill up those things that are wanting to the sufferings of Christ (Col. 1: 24). Far from detracting from the perfection of Redemption, our daily efforts toward the imitation of Christ are the test of its efficacy and its fruits. (Also see James 2: 24)

IV. UNIVERSALITY OF REDEMPTION

Whether the effects of Redemption reached out to the angelic world or to the earthly paradise is a disputed point among theologians. When the question is limited to fallen man it has a clear answer in such passages as I John 2: 2; I Tim. 2: 4; and II Cor. 5: 15; etc., all bearing out the Redeemer's intention to include in His saving work the universality of all without exception.

The opinion of some who placed children dying without baptism outside of Redemption is commonly rejected in Catholic schools. In such cases no tangible effects of Redemption can be shown, but this is no reason for pronouncing them outside the redeeming virtue of Christ. They are not excluded by any Biblical text. It was not within God's plan to illumine the world with the light of the Incarnate Word at once, since he waited thousands of years to send the Desired of the Nations. The laws of progress which are manifest everywhere else also govern the Kingdom of God.

We have no criterion whereby we can tell with certainty the success or failure of Redemption, and the mysterious influence of the Redeemer may reach farther than we think in the present as it certainly has a retroactive effect upon the past. The graces accorded by God to the countless generations preceding the Christian era, whether Jews or Pagans, were, by anticipation, the graces of Redemption. There is little sense in the trite dilemma that Redemption could benefit neither those who were already saved nor those who were forever lost, for the just of the Old Law owed their salvation to the anticipated merits of the coming Messiah and the damned lost their souls because they spurned the graces of illumination and good will which God granted them in prevision of the saving works of the Redeemer.

V. TITLE AND OFFICES OF THE REDEEMER

Besides the names Jesus, Saviour, Redeemer, which directly express the work of Redemption, there are other titles commonly attributed to Christ because of certain functions or offices which are either implied in or connected with Redemption, the principals being Priest, Prophet King, and Judge.

A. Priest

As sacrifice, if not by the nature of things, at least by the positive ordinance of God, is part of Redemption, the Redeemer must be a priest, for it is the function of the priest to offer sacrifice.

B. Prophet King

The kingly title frequently bestowed on the Messiah by the Old Testament writers and openly claimed by Jesus in Pilate's Court (John 18: 37) belongs to Him not only by virtue of the Hypostatic Union but also by way of conquest and as a result of Redemption (Luke 1: 32). Whether or not the temporal dominion of the universe belonged to His royal power, it is certain that He understood His Kingdom to be of a higher order than the kingdoms of the world (John 18: 36).

C. Judge

The Judicial office asserted in the New Testament (Matt. 25: 31; John 5: 22 Acts 10: 42) belongs to Christ in virtue of His Divinity and Hypostatic Union and also as a reward of Redemption. Seated at the right hand of God, in token not only of rest after the labors of His mortal life or of glory after the humiliations of His Passion or of happiness after the ordeal of Golgotha, but also of true judicial power. He judges the living and the dead. His verdict inaugurated in each individual conscience will become final at the particular judgment and receive a solemn and definitive recognition at the last judgment.

Favourite Quotes

1) LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II - TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES

On the Solemnity of the Resurrection - April 3, 1983

"In this Extraordinary Holy Year which has just begun, the whole Church is seeking to live more intensely the mystery of the Redemption. She is seeking to respond ever more faithfully to the immense love of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world.....the treasures of grace that a call to renewal in love offers.....By requesting that this call to holiness, to spiritual renewal and to conversion and penance be initiated during the Jubilee Year of Redemption, I am trusting that the Lord Jesus, who always sends laborers into His vineyard, will bless the project with His redeeming love."

2) HOMILY -- 27 March 1997 - MASS " IN COENA DOMINI" by Pope John Paul II

"....Christ ...stresses the need to serve. "For the Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45).

....Our Redemption has been wrought by the Sacrifice of Christ. The Church, which proclaims this Redemption and draws her life from it, must continue to make this Sacrifice sacramentally present, from this Sacrifice she must draw the strength to be herself......to leave the land of slavery in freedom and the price of their ransom was the blood of the lamb.....That lamb of the Old Covenant found its fullness of meaning in the New Covenant. This was brought about also through the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist, who, pointing to Jesus of Nazareth as he came to the River Jordan to be baptized, had said: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29)...."

3) THE ASCETICAL WORKS OF ST. ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI

VOL. IV - The Mysteries of Faith - December 16, 1758

.....our amiable Redeemer was seized by the soldiers in the garden of Gethsemani, as is related by St. John: "And they bound him" (John 18:12)....but, O God, what have cords and chains to do with Thee? Who art innocent, who art the Son of God, innocence itself, holiness itself. St. Laurence Justinian replies that the bonds which dragged Jesus Christ to death were not those that were fastened on him by the soldiers, but the love he bore towards men ; and hereupon he exclaims : "O [love], how strong are thy bonds, by which even a God could be bound !"

4) DEI VERBUM - Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation - Vatican II

......Then after [mans] fall [Gods] promise of redemption aroused in them the hope of being saved (see Gen. 3:15) and from that time on He ceaselessly kept the human race in His care, to give eternal life to those who perseveringly do good in search of salvation (see Rom. 2:6-7)......

5) ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II

REDEMPTORIS MISSIO -- Given in Rome on December 7, 1990

"....The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion. As the second millennium after Christ's coming draws to an end, an overall view of the human race shows that this mission is still only beginning and that we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service. It is the Spirit who impels us to proclaim the great works of God: "For if I preach the Gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9: 16)...also the inspiration behind ecumenism: "that they may all be one...so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21)....The Redemption that took place through the cross has definitively restored to man his dignity and given back meaning to his life in the world......"

6) SUMMA THEOLOGICA III:1:2 ad 2um - by St. Thomas Aquinas

....."it is necessary that the act of him who satisfies [the Redeemer] should possess an infinite value and proceed from one who is both God and Man. Sacrifice, which always carries with it the idea of suffering and immolation, is the complement and full expression of Incarnation."

7) JAMES 2:24 - THE HOLY BIBLE

"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." - King James Version

"You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." - Revised Standard Version


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