Question 33: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effective application of it to us, by his Holy Spirit.

DAY 1: John 3:5, 6

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

In this passage that we will look at, is the famous discussion that Jesus has with Nicodemus. Though Nicodemus risks much to come and see Jesus, it seems that he is just a bit timid in getting to the point of why he has come. It seems that he attempts to compliment Jesus by telling Him that he perceives that He is from God. However, Jesus cuts to the chase and simply knows gives Nicodemus the answer to the question that Nicodemus should be asking.

Jesus tells him that unless he is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He is literally telling Nicodemus that he must be born from above. Nicodemus, showing his inability to comprehend his own spiritual condition, much less the implications of the words of Jesus, believes Christ to be talking about somehow being born though the womb again. However, Jesus is speaking about spiritual things. Therefore, Jesus must expound upon what His one sentence answer was to Nicodemus, which takes up the rest of the chapter.

But for today and in attempt to stay with the subject at hand, let’s examine verses five and six. First Jesus says that unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. There is much debate about what is referred to here when the word water is used. There is the view about physical birth and the water represents the water that bursts before the child. However, that would seem to be common to all men. All men experience physical birth. However, Jesus was making the point that what would happen in the “new birth” would be something spiritual in nature. Scripture uses the metaphor of water in speaking to the need of men to be cleansed. In the Old Testament, there were many ceremonial cleansings that the priests went through in order to perform their tasks (Numbers 19). There was also the cleansing that was pleaded for by David in Psalm 51. It was a spiritual cleansing from sin. In Ezekiel 36:25 the author gives the words of the Lord saying that He will cleanse Israel with “clean water” and this water will cleanse here from all the filthiness of her idolatry. Ephesians 5:26 tells us that husbands are to keep purify their wives with the washing of water by the word. The word of God is a soap for the soul. However, as we have seen in a previous catechism lesson, the word becomes effective only when it is empowered by the Spirit of God. For instance, many people experience the hearing of God’s word, but have never had the experience of the “new birth”. There must be that life which can only come from the Spirit of God as He applies the Word of God to the soul of the sinner and transforms him into a son of God.

Jesus says that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is of the Spirit is spirit. As we have seen before, the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). So we see that the Holy Spirit is the one who must make a man a partaker of the redemption of Christ. It is the sovereign will and choice of God that births a person into His kingdom.

DAY 2: Titus 3:5, 6

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Paul is writing to Titus and in this final chapter he is reminding Titus to remind those whom he is over to remember from whence they came. They are to conduct themselves in a manner that would be worthy of their calling. Because of the kindness and love of God had appeared to them, they were to be those who demonstrated that same kindness and love to those around them. God’s love and kindness, though, did not appear to them because of their works of righteousness. They had not obtained His love or His kindness because they were able to do good, nor because they somehow had something within them that might make them favorable to God.

Verse Five tells us that God saved us according to His mercy. The word eleos is used here and simply means “kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them”. I usually use the simple definition for mercy as “withholding what we justly deserve”. God withholds judgment from those who believe in Christ. And we might ask, “How or why does one believe?” Verse five tells us that something happens to us to cause us to believe. That action is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. The term regeneration is the word palinggenesia, which means “new birth, reproduction, renewal, recreation”. We could cross reference back to the previous lesson on John chapter three. This is exactly what Jesus spoke of to Nicodemus. This comes about by the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

Second, we are told that there is the renewing of the Holy Spirit. The term renewing comes from the root word, anakainoo which means, “to cause to grow up, new, to make new; to be changed into a new kind of life as opposed to the former corrupt state”. Paul also writes that is any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:17). This seems to be the same thing that Paul is communicating here. The Spirit of God changes sinners and causes them to be a new creation. They begin to abhor their old life and their conduct, as well as, their attitudes and motives. They seek the glory of God and they desire to do His will.

How did the Holy Spirit bring about such a work? He shed it upon us abundantly by Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of what Christ accomplished at the cross, His death became the total payment in full for all those which He redeemed. Therefore, that redemption was accomplished at the cross, but was manifested in time to believers through the work of the Holy Spirit who brings us into contact with the Word of God and applies His regenerating work to sinners and makes the Word of God effective in our lives. Notice also that this work is not delivered stingily. It is given to us abundantly. The word plousios is used and can mean richly or abundantly. Again, though God is not liberal concerning His Word, He is liberal in what He graciously provides to sinners in order for them to have the redemptive work of Christ applied to their lives by His Holy Spirit.