Message One—The Redemption and the Saving in God’s Full Salvation

Matt. 20:28  Just as the Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom for many.

Rom. 5:10     But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.

Christ Being Both the Redeemer and the Savior

This wonderful Christ is both the Redeemer and the Savior. Many Christians are not clear about the difference between redemption and salvation. Hence, they often mix up the aspect of Christ’s being the Redeemer and the aspect of Christ’s being the Savior, and they refer to Him simply as the Savior. Even though this is not wrong, the Bible is not that simple. According to the revelation of the Bible, Christ is both the Redeemer and the Savior. Moreover, the difference between these two aspects is truly big. I hope that in this chapter I can clarify this matter so that we can see clearly that our Lord is, on the one hand, the Redeemer and, on the other hand, the Savior.

Matthew 20:28 says that the Son of Man came “to give His life as a ransom for many.” Man has sinned and is under God’s condemnation. According to the requirement of God’s law, the world is under the condemnation of God’s righteousness and therefore needs a Substitute. The Lord Jesus became the Son of Man by putting on the body of flesh and blood and gave His life as a ransom on the cross for many.

After three days in the grave, the Lord Jesus resurrected very early on the first day of the week. He overcame the power of death and came out of the grave. Through such a resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit to enter into us to be our Savior. He was the Redeemer until the time of His death. He made redemption for our sins through His death and accomplished the redemptive work for our redemption. However, after the fall man did not just have a problem in position, a problem in legal procedure, or a problem of having a record of sins before God; man also had a problem within him in that now Satan’s life had entered into him.

Man’s Dual Need

Even though a person has been redeemed and saved by believing in the Lord, he has not yet been fully saved. He still needs to be saved daily from his sinful nature. The Lord Jesus’ precious blood is for clearing our record of sins and redeeming us. To be sure, because of His death and the blood shed by Him we have been redeemed, and we will never perish. However, sin still dwells in our flesh. Within us we have a great deal of unclean and unrighteous thoughts, and in our outward actions we constantly have trespasses and defilement. Thus, we still need to be washed by the Lord’s precious blood and, at the same time, we also need to be saved by the Lord as the Spirit of life.

First John 1:2 and 3 say that the eternal life has been reported to us and that we may enjoy fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. However, this fellowship can be interrupted because of our sinning. If we say that after we have believed in the Lord, sin is no longer in us and the root of sin has been eradicated, this is a great error. We should know that after we have believed in the Lord, our sinful nature is still in our flesh and has not been eradicated. It will not be until the time of our rapture, at the redemption of our body, that we can say that our whole being has been fully saved. However, today this sinful nature is still within us; if we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

It is not sufficient for a man only to have the outward redemption of sins; he still has the problem of the sinful nature within him; he still has the sinning life and nature. Hence, he needs to be saved in life. This is not a matter of being redeemed by the precious blood but a matter of being saved in life. Thus, man has a twofold need. On the one hand, there is the outward problem related to position, the law, and the record; for this, man needs redemption by the precious blood of Christ. On the other hand, there is the inward problem related to the old life and the sinful nature; for this, man needs to have another life, a transcendent life, to come into him to save him so that he may be delivered from the fallen life that he had from the beginning.

Since man has this dual need, after the Lord Jesus accomplished redemption by His death, He resurrected from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit as the Savior. Romans 5:10 says, “We, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” This means that when we had a record of sins, we were reconciled to God through the redemptive death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, the death in which He shed His blood for us. Thus, the record of our sins was cleared, and we were redeemed. This is the redemptive aspect. Then Paul goes on to say, “Much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.” This is the saving aspect.

The Redemption through the Precious Blood
and the Salvation by the Spirit of Life

Stanza 1 of Hymns, #1058 says, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, / Let me hide myself in Thee; / Let the water and the blood, / From Thy riven side which flowed, / Be of sin the double cure, / Save me from its guilt and power.” We have a double problem. On the one hand, we have a record of sins before God. On the other hand, we have the nature of sin within us. Only the blood and water can be the double cure for our sin. On the one hand, the redemptive blood redeems us that we may escape the eternal punishment for sins. On the other hand, the water of life saves us that we may be delivered from the power of sin. Sin not only causes man to suffer eternal punishment, but it also has the power, which is the law of sin, to dominate man from within. In our natural life we have no way to overcome the law of sin and of death, but the law of the Spirit of life can free us in Christ from the law of sin and of death. Only the precious blood can solve the problems concerning our condemned position and our record of sins. Only the Spirit of life can solve our problem concerning the law of sin and of death. God’s full salvation consists not only of the redemption through the precious blood but also of the salvation by the Spirit of life.

To Be Redeemed Being Once for All,
Whereas to Be Saved Being Daily and Lifelong

In God’s full salvation there is the redemption and there is also the saving. Redemption is the effect of the precious blood, whereas saving is the power of the Spirit. In God’s full salvation there are the redemption and the saving, and there are also the blood and the Spirit. To be redeemed is a matter that is once for all. Once we have been redeemed, we have been redeemed forever, and God will never condemn us because of our sins. However, to be saved is a daily and lifelong matter. We need to be saved every day. We are people who have been bought back and redeemed by God with a high price, but we still need to be saved every day in all things, both great and small. We have received redemption, which is by the blood, once for all; however, we need to experience salvation, which is by the Spirit, day by day for our whole life.

This wonderful Christ is our Redeemer; He died on the cross and shed His blood to accomplish redemption for us. Now in His resurrection He has become the life-giving Spirit to enter into us to become our daily salvation by the inner regulation and supply. We treasure His redemption, which has cleared the record of our sins before God once for all. We treasure even more that as the Spirit of life, He lives in us daily to be our salvation in life. Whenever and wherever we turn to Him and draw on the bountiful supply of Him as the Spirit, He enables us to overcome the power of sin and of death so that we can live before God in freedom and have a holy and overcoming life. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Wonderful Being of Christ,” ch. 2)