Redemption

Ch. 4 by Plantinga

"Everybody wants liberty.  The problem is that everyone wants it on his own terms."  Freedom in God is found in following His laws and commands; they keep us from falling back into the bondage of sin.  I found it very interesting the way Dr. Ribeiro compared it to an escapee from a concentration camp.  The escapee has received papers from an Allied spy with instructions about where to go and where to stop at.  If the papers say to stop at a certain checkpoint, the escapee can choose to, and receive help from someone else and continue on his journey to freedom, or he can disregard the instructions, which means he gets less help and has to figure things out for himself, making it harder to escape.  

An important part of this chapter was the idea of double grace: sanctification and justification.  Justification is the forgiving and reconciling of sins by God, and sanctification is the process of becoming holy, the lifelong transformation of becoming like Christ. In transforming, we need to act more like Christ.  Plantinga included a quote by Martin Luther that captured the relationship between salvation and good works: "Good works are not the cause, but the fruit of righteousness.  When we have become righteous, then we are able and willing to do good.  The tree makes the apple; the apple does not make the tree." So good works are the result of our salvation, the result of God's grace and of a life in pursuit of God and His will. We cannot do anything to earn salvation.  

For Reformed Christianity, redemption is not just for people; we also need to redeem the structures, the systems, the societies of this world.  "Everything corrupt needs to be redeemed, and that includes the natural whole natural world, which both sings and groans."  The idea of redeeming our culture and even economic structures was pretty new to me.  I never thought of that as part of redemption.  I knew we should be a steward of what God has given us, and it was innate to me that we should fix what is wrong, but I never realized it was part of God making things right in this world.

I found it interesting how Plantinga described our dying and rising with Christ as a rhythm.  "...The central rhythm of reform is dying and rising with Christ, practiced over and over till it becomes a way of being."  Death to our old selves, confessing our sins, and rising as a transformed person.  It is not a one time thing, something we need to constantly work on.  

Reformed people have traditionally prayed a "prayer of illumination" before Scripture reading because they know "unless the Holy Spirit breathes through Scripture all over again is it's read, we might hear it the right way and we might not believe it."  This is a good reminder that our understanding may be blurred and that we should always rely on the Holy Spirit to open our eyes, ears, and hearts to what God has to say.  In our groups discussion, Andrew brought up a Bible verse that was really fitting: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).