Thursday, June 7, 2018 - Ephesians 6:17

The Armor of God, Pt. 27

The Helmet of Salvation, Pt. 6

The Meaning of Salvation - New Situation, New Self, New Steps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRwHsC5fiDg

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

Stand in Warfare – Eph 6:10-20.

3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17.

Eph 6:17; Mark 10:45; Luke 1:68; Rom 3:21-31; 5:7-9, 16, 18; 8:1; 1 Cor 6:20; Eph 1:7

Vs. 17, “And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

The Meaning of Salvation, Pt. 1

The benefits of your union with Christ are described in various ways. We can group the Bible’s many images into three distinct categories: new situation, new self, new steps. As we have seen and will see below, salvation in the Bible is a three-dimensional phenomenon, (Past, Present, Future; New Situation, New Self, New Steps; involving God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). In this section we are going to note the categories of new situation, new self, and new steps.

New Situation: - Salvation as objective change.

To be saved means that your legal status has changed, that you have acquired new rights and responsibilities as a result of your union with Jesus Christ. Four leading images depict the new situation brought about by God’s saving work.

1. The first is the image of “redemption,” that reminds us of the marketplace, the place where things are bought and sold. The first time “redemption” is used in the Bible is found in Ex 21:30. In that usage, someone who owned an ox that gored another was liable to be put to death for manslaughter. Yet, if a “ransom” was paid, that individual’s life would be spared, “given back to him.” The word for “redemption” here is PIDHYON, פִּדְיֹן‎ that means “redemption or ransom money.” Redemption signifies a transaction where some item is exchanged for payment. Its root PADHAH means to “redeem, ransom, or deliver.” It is only used here and in Psa 49:8, where the psalmist laments that the price of redemption of life, to escape death, is more than a mortal can pay.

Psa 49:8, “For the redemption of his soul is costly, and he should cease trying forever.”

The Lord, YHWH, was understood to be Israel’s redeemer, Deut 13:5; Isa 49:26.

Deut 13:5, “… the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery…”

Isa 49:26, “… And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Jesus also used the imagery of redemption to explain the nature of His ministry and death, Mark 10:45.

Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Luke uses the term redemption as a general term for salvation, Luke 1:68; 2:38; 21:28; 24:21.

Luke 1:68, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people.”

Paul used the imagery of redemption in, Rom 3:24; 1 Cor 1:30; Col 1:14; Gal 4:5, and declares that the price of our redemption was the blood of Jesus Christ, representing the Divine life that is now in us, Eph 1:7; cf. Heb 9:12-15; 1 Peter 1:18-19.

Eph 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”

And, we are reminded in 1 Cor 6:20, “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

Therefore, our “New Situation,” tells us that we have been redeemed from the slave market of sin, purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, so that now we have a new life “In Christ.”

2. The second imagery is that of “justification,” an image drawn from the court of law. To be justified is to be declared innocent by the presiding judge. As Isaiah states in Isa 43:25, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

Here too, to be saved is to enter into a new situation, namely, the state of being acquitted that follows the legal verdict of “not guilty.” Paul makes it clear that sinners are declared righteous not on the basis of their own merits or achievements, (works), but rather on the basis of their standing “in Christ,” Rom 8:1; cf. Rom 3:21-31; Gal 3:11; Eph 2:8-9.

Rom 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Only used in the NT in Rom 4:25; 5:18, “justification,” DIKAIOSIS, δικαίωσις that means, “acquittal or justification,” like redemption, depends on the completed work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross, Rom 4:25, “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”  

Rom 5:7-9, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”

Rom 5:16, “The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”

Rom 5:18, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”

Therefore, the “New Situation” denoted by justification is that sinners who are “In Christ” have been formally pardoned from the guilt of sin and now live a new life in Christ.