Thanks David. I appreciate the encouraging words. I
would be thrilled to share more about the atonement and redemption. It seems to
me the place to start is with the OT terms kipur, pedah, and
go'el. I wrote on these yesterday and will post it again here. I you've
already read it, let me know. I'll begin to build on that.
By the way, you'll be richly blessed by the
Torrance books. Keep me posted.
From yesterday:
Jesus Christ himself explained that he had come as
a servant to give his life in an act of sacrifice for us. Thus resting on
Christ's own self-interpretation, the New Testament concept of atoning
redemption assumes a central role in the doctrine of atonement. In order to
clarify the term atonement, we have to turn to the Old Testament. Behind the OT
conception of redemption there are three basic terms and their cognates.
Although all three denote different aspects of divine redemption they are all
profoundly interrelated.
1) Kipur — Together with its
cognates kipur is applied to express the expiatory form of the act
of redemption in the OT. It speaks of the barrier of sin and guilt which exists
between God and humanity as being done away by the sacrifice and
propitiation made between the two factions. Here, the subject of the
atoning act is always God. Thus even though in the OT it is liturgically carried
out by a high priest, the human act has to be seen as only a witness to the fact
that God himself makes atonement and blots out sin by his own judicial and
merciful act. Both God's judgment of wrong by offering an equivalent and the act
of restoration to holiness before him are involved here in the understanding of
atonement. This is brought out most clearly in the NT where we see Christ stand
in as both Priest and Mediator; e.g., "Therefore, He had to be made like
His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the
people." (Heb. 2.17).
2) Pedah — Together with
its cognates pedah is applied to express the aspect of the mighty
acts of God in the OT concept of redemption. Significantly these acts bring
immediate deliverance from oppression of evil and out of God's judgment upon it.
It also carries the notion of offering a life in substitution for another as the
cost of redemption and emphasizes the dramatic nature of the redeeming act as a
sheer intervention on the part of God in human affairs. When the NT writers
speak of Christ in terms of victory over the tyrants--sin, death, devil, the
world--they have in view the pedah aspect of atoning redemption;
e.g., "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself
likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render
powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;"
(Heb 2.14).
3) Go’el — Together with its cognates
go’el is used to express the aspect of someone redeeming others out of
a situation of bondage or forfeited rights. The "redeemer" or go’el, upon whom the emphasis is placed
in this type of redemption, possesses a bloodline kinship to those in need, and
can thus claim the cause for their needs as his own and stand in for his kinsmen
who cannot free or redeem themselves. This ontological concept of redemption is
applied in the OT to God acting on behalf of Israel by virtue of its special
covenant relationship. That covenant was, of course, fulfilled in Christ in that
he stood in as go'el for Israel as Seed of Abraham and David and, by
way of kinship attachment to Eve, the entire human race in recapitulation (i.e.,
e.g., the gathering together language of Eph. 1-2; see also Heb 2.14a
-- "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise
also partook of the same").
As mentioned before, these three concepts of
redemption not only overlap each other in the teachings of the OT, but they also
modify each other within the unique relations of God with his people. Thus they
are quite different from secular concepts of redemption. It is significant that
all three concepts are applied in the OT paradigm event of divine
redemption—Israel's redemption from Egypt in the Passover and the Exodus. In
Isaiah these three concepts are also applied to God's servant—the Holy One of
Israel—who offers himself for the transgressions of Israel and intercedes for
them. However, the Israelites did not identify this servant with the divine go’el because the idea of God becoming
incarnate within the existence of humanity seemed impossible for them. This
identification was left to be made in the NT in God's incarnate Son. However, in
doing so the NT reinterpreted this OT concept of redemption in terms of what the
Son of God had actually become and had actually done while in the
flesh.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 8:20
PM
Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] Last words on Jesus had
the same sinful flesh we have.
>
> You have been sharing some very interesting posts lately. I ordered
> "the Mediation of Christ" book that you mentioned by Torrance, as well
> as another book that discusses Torrance's Trinitarian and Scientific
> theology.
>
> I would be very interested in hearing you explain the idea of
> "redemption" and "atonement" from their roots in the Hebrew Scriptures.
> People have very different ideas of the atonement and I suspect that
> many here have not really thought deeply about these issues. Many
> people think superficially on these matters and have not really tried to
> understand what the shedding of blood 2000 years ago has to do with our
> sins. Many just accept it as fact without understanding it, kind of
> like how a person just drives a car without understanding how a car
> works.
>
> I know it takes time, but if you are able, I would be very interested in
> reading your thoughts.
>
> Peace be with you.
> David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida.
>
> ----------
> "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
>
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>
>
