After the Fall, Adam and Eve were banished from the garden of Eden, naked and shamed. But then "the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21). This first wave of God's grace and mercy was the first of the many to come.
Redemption. Why does God give us mercy and grace after we have brought sin into His creation? This question comes up in our minds as we talk about the ultimate act of forgiveness bestowed upon us. Even later in the Bible, Jesus Christ himself comes to earth for atonement of our sins. This even bigger question comes up in our minds as well.
Answering the second question, Plantinga states: "The main reason is that we human beings can't atone for ourselves." This statement is very true. We forget that we are responsible for our sins and cannot be undone. But Jesus Christ washes all those sins away, giving us ONE chance for us to make a change. Once saved, we are "born again" Christians. This "lifelong conversion", Plantinga states, is called "sanctification." But what starts this lifelong conversion towards sanctification? Plantinga states:
"Regeneration."
We people were dead because of sin - but out of the blue, Christ's love for us fueled us and slowly got our rusty, corroded gears to move once more. It truly is a miracle isn't it?
So several key words stuck out to me in Plantinga's Redemption chapter. Some main words were: free, unlimited, overflowing, infinite, true, perfect, marvelous, inexpressible, and holy. All these words describes God's grace to us. What makes it so important. It's free. At what cost? None.
For us human beings, our logic is quite simple: we give and take, we sell and buy, and we borrow and repay. Even if we give something to others for free, our minds automatically expects some sort of repayment, whether it is money, kindness, or attention. It is hard to be like Christ, who cleared the world's ugliest, dirtiest, and most horrible sins so that we may reach salvation. But God does not only regernate and sanctify, Plantinga states. God also forgives and reconciles by a sheer act of grace.
How wonderful is that?
About Me
- David Ryou
- "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -C.S Lewis
I liked your final paragraph. It's very human to want expect everything to happen as a matter of exchange. I think this is why we can sometimes be tempted to believe that our works can save us: we try to give something back to earn the gift we were given. But its a gift. What we give back should be a gift as well: one given joyously and without expectation of reward.
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