Jul 22
3
Baptist Catechism 24
Q. 24. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continueth to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever. (Gal. 3:13;1 Tim. 2:5; John 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 9:5; Col. 2:9)
Scripture Reading: Galatians 3:10–14
“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:10–14, ESV)
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Introduction
You will probably remember that after a string of questions and answers having to do with the bad news concerning the sin and misery that all of humanity was plunged into by Adam’s first sin, we then encountered good news. Question 23 of our catechism asks, “Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?” The good news is this: “God having out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation, by a Redeemer.”
To redeem is to rescue. To redeem is to purchase back. To redeem is to regain the possession of a thing that was lost. And our catechism rightly teaches that God has provided a Redeemer – that is to say, a Savior – for fallen humanity. God, by his grace, out of his mere good pleasure, did not leave mankind to perish (which he would have been right to do), but determined to deliver some out of their estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation, by a Redeemer.
The obvious question is, who is this Redeemer? And that is what our catechism now asks: “Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?”
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The Only Redeemer Of God’s Elect Is The Lord Jesus Christ
The answer that is given first identifies the Redeemer by simply naming him. “The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ…” Who is the Redeemer? Jesus Christ is the Redeemer.
The word “only” is important. It reminds us of what the scriptures so clearly teach. There are not many redeemers, many saviors, or many who are able to reconcile us to God. There is only one.
This is what Paul says so clearly in 1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” (1 Timothy 2:5, ESV).
And Jesus himself taught this when he said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV).
Is Jesus the Redeemer of the whole world, then?
Well yes, in a sense he is. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Indeed, it is true, that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, ESV). Jesus is the Redeemer of the whole world not in that it was God’s intent that the whole world – every person without exception – be redeemed or saved by him, but in the sense that Jesus did not come to redeem Jews only, but people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. In other words, God did not send one redeemer for this people group, and another redeemer for that people group, and so on. No, there is only one mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why then does our catechism say that Christ Jesus is the “only Redeemer of God’s elect”? Our catechism teaches this because this is what the scriptures teach. God sent the Son, not to save every person without exception, but to atone for the sins of many from every tongue, tribe, and nation. This is the doctrine of predestination or election which was introduced to us in the previous question. This is also the doctrine of limited atonement, or better yet, particular redemption. Who did Christ come to Redeem? Who did he come to save? What was the will of the Father for him? Was he to atone for the sins of every person who has ever lived, or ever will live? Certainly not. Christ shed his blood for many, not all (Matthew 26:18), he laid his life for the sheep (John 10:15), and for the church, who is his bride (Ephesians 5:25). Christ came to do the Father’s will for him, which was to save for all eternity those given to him by the Father before the foundation of the world (John 17).
This doctrine of predestination, or election, along with the doctrine of limited atonement, or better yet, particular redemption, is very clearly taught in the pages of Holy Scripture. And no, there is no contradiction with those passages that speak of God loving the world, or sending to the Son for all the world, provided those passages are interpreted properly.
So, our catechism is very right to name the Lord Jesus Christ as “the only Redeemer of God’s elect …”
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Who, Being The Eternal Son Of God, Became Man
After this, our catechism tells us more about who Jesus the Christ (Messiah) was and is.
The answer continues, “who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continueth to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever.”
Here we have the doctrine of the incarnation briefly stated. Who was Jesus Christ? He was, and is, the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
When our catechism says that the eternal Son of God “became man” it does not mean that the Son was changed into man, but that he took upon himself a true human nature. God cannot become anything if by “become” we mean “was changed into”, for God cannot change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So whatever we think about the incarnation, we cannot think that God was changed into a man. No, he took on human nature without experiencing a change in the divine nature. All of this is beautifully and clearly stated in the scriptures, especially in John 1, and Colossians 2
All of this is clarified with these words: “and so was and continueth to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever.” When the Son became incarnate, he did not cease to be full and truly God. And when the Son became incarnate, we must also confess that he did really tackle upon himself true humanity. Jesus Christ, in other words, was not something less than fully divine in his divinity, nor was he something more than human in his humanity. In him – in the one person of Jesus Christ – there were united two natures, the divine nature and a human nature, and these two natures were distinct. They were not mixed so as to become some third thing. So then, in Christ, there were united two natures. These two natures were not mixed. But we must also say that Christ was not two persons. As it pertains to his personhood he is one. For his personhood was derived from his divinity. And so Christ is even now and will be for all eternity.
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Conclusion
The doctrine of the incarnation is mysterious, isn’t it? It is difficult to comprehend. But it is important for us to confess, for it is the teaching of Holy Scripture.
Let me conclude this little sermon by asking, why the incarnation? Why was it necessary for the Redeemer of God’s elect to be bolt God and man? The answer is rather simple. Humanity had to be redeemed by a true human. Where the first Adam failed a second Adam had to succeed. But there is a problem. All of humanity was plunged into sin and ruin by the first Adam so that none who descended from him were capable of saving the rest. None could be the Savior because all were in need of a Savior. And for this reason, the Redeemer of God’s elect had to be God himself. This is why the Son of God, who is called the eternal Word of God in John 1, took on flesh by being a virgin. And having come into the world, not by the seed of Adam, but by the power of God working, Christ the man did then live a sinless life, suffer, die the death of a sinner, rise, and ascend, not for himself only, but for all who were given to him by the Father in eternity.
Our catechism has a way of stating really big and really important truths in a very succinct way, doesn’t it?
Q. 24. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continueth to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever. (Gal. 3:13;1 Tim. 2:5; John 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 9:5; Col. 2:9)
