I have recently finished Leon Morris' powerful book on atonement titled The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. Morris studies and evaluates the many-faceted approach to atonement that the apostles demarcate in the Bible. Obviously, one of the concepts he must deal with is that of redemption. After a thorough treatment of this atonement metaphor, Morris concludes the subject with a consideration of three aspects of redemption that were particularly in view in the apostles' writings:
- The state of sin out of which man is to be redeemed – "It is a basic tenet of biblical theology that man is completely unable to grapple with the position created by the fact of his sin, and the redemption passages must be interpreted in light of this context." (61)
- The price which is paid – "When the New Testament speaks of our redemption … it means that Christ has paid the price of our redemption. To the extent that the price paid must be adequate for the purchase in question this indicates … a substitution." (61)
- The resultant state of the believer – "In the Scripture we see the price paid, the curse borne, in order that those who are redeemed should be brought into the liberty which may paradoxically be called slavery to God. The whole point of this redemption is that sin may no longer have dominion; the redeemed are saved to do the will of their Master." (62)
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