The redeemed life

585 the redeemed lifeWhat does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? What does it mean to share in the redeemed life that God gives us in Jesus through the Holy Spirit? It means living an authentic, genuine Christian life by example in selflessly serving our fellow human beings. The apostle Paul goes much further: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you and which you have from God, and that you do not belong to yourselves? For you were bought at a high price; therefore praise God with your body »(1. Corinthians 6,19-20).

Jesus redeemed us through his work of redemption and acquired us as his property. After we have affirmed this truth through the faith of Jesus Christ, Paul exhorts us to live this truth, the new life redeemed from sin guilt. The apostle Peter warned that there will be false teachers: "They will insidiously circulate sectarian doctrines that lead to perdition, thereby renouncing the Lord and Ruler who bought them for his property" (2. Petrus 2,1). Fortunately, these false teachers have absolutely no power to undo the reality of who Jesus is and what He did for us. "Jesus Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all injustice and purify himself to own a people zealous for good works" (Titus 2,14). This purification, which comes from Jesus through the continual ministry of the Holy Spirit, enables us to live the redeemed life in Jesus Christ.

Peter explains: "For you know that you are not redeemed with perishable silver or gold from your futile conduct according to the way of the fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as an innocent and immaculate Lamb" (1. Petrus 1,18-19).

This knowledge enables us to fully understand the importance of the Incarnation of Jesus. The Eternal Son of God came to us in human form after accepting our human nature, which he then transformed and now shares with us through the Spirit. He enables us to really live the redeemed life.

Reconciliation through Jesus is the center of God's plan for humanity. Rebirth or "to be born from above" is the redeeming work that Jesus did and that is worked out in us by the Holy Spirit.

«But when the kindness and human love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us - not for the sake of the works that we would have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy - through the bath of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, whom he gave has poured out abundantly for us through Jesus Christ our Savior, that, having become righteous by his grace, we might be heirs according to the hope of eternal life »(Titus 3,4-7).

Through the inherent spirit, we are able to share in the humanity of Jesus. That means we share in his sonship and fellowship and fellowship with the Father through the Holy Spirit. The early Church Fathers put it this way: "Jesus, who was by nature the Son of God, became a Son of Man so that we, who by nature are sons of natural man, may by grace become Sons of God".

When we surrender to the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit and give our lives over to him, we will be born into a new life that has already been worked out for us in the humanity of Jesus. Not only does this new birth legally introduce us into God's family, but through our spiritual rebirth we share Christ's own humanity. We do this through the continual ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul put it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has passed, behold, the new has become »(2. Corinthians 5,17).
In Christ we are created anew and given a new identity. When we receive and respond to the service of the indwelling spirit, we are born from above. We thus become children of God who share in Christ's own humanity through the Holy Spirit. Here is how John wrote in his Gospel: “But those who welcomed him and believed in him, he gave them the right to become children of God. They did not become that because they belonged to a chosen people, not even through human conception and birth. God alone gave them this new life »(John 1,12-13 Hope for All).

By being born from above and accepted as children of God, we can live the new, reconciled relationship with God, the redeemed life in Christ. What Jesus did for us as the Son of God and Son of man works in us so that through grace we become children of God in our state of being. God is the one who puts believers in this renewed relationship with themselves - a relationship that affects us to the very roots of our being. This is how Paul formulated this amazing truth: «For you have not received a spirit of bondage that you should fear again; but you have received a spirit of childhood through which we cry: Abba, dear father! The Spirit itself bears witness to our spirits that we are God's children »(Romans 8,15-16).

This is the truth, the reality of redeemed life. Let us celebrate His glorious plan of salvation and joyfully praise our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

by Joseph Tkach