The Plan of Salvation
The Redemptive Plan
The Fall and Restoration of Man
The fall of man wrought a complete change in his nature and condition; the primitive purity was lost, and sin and condemnation rested upon his guilty soul. As a result, the entire race was plunged into the depths of sin; therefore all men stood in need of redemption.
Self-Redemption impossible
But redemption would imply a return to the original perfect state, both as to character and condition, and this restoration man could not of his own will effect. In the first place, there was a legal difficulty that he could not surmount. As a moral being, he had been placed under a moral law, and this law required his perfect obedience. Its requirements might all be summed up in the words,
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matt. 22:37).
It is in man to worship God, but how to of himself, he doesn’t know. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. God breathed his spirit in us that we might make contact with him. God has put a part of himself in us, that is what it means to have his image. In this image it is written this moral and great law;
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matt. 22:37).
This is the greatest of all commandments, even greater than the Law and the prophets, which were to follow.
Thus, it will be seen that, having disobeyed, he could not make reparation for his transgressions, since no surplus obedience is possible. So also there was an insurmountable moral difficulty. Having lost purity and innocence, he could not by self-effort regain what had been lost. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one” (Job 14:4). Yet such restoration is indispensable to redemption. “Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Self-redemption was therefore clearly impossible.
Nor could the angels of heaven effect the redemption of man; for they also are God’s intelligent creatures and therefore moral beings subject to moral law, which law, as in the case of man, exacts perfect obedience. The highest love, service, and obedience that they are able to render to the Almighty is only sufficient for themselves alone. Therefore in the nature of the case God only could redeem.
Man Wholly Responsible for sin.
So far as we are able to determine, God was under no obligation to attempt the redemption of fallen man. His original work was perfect. Man’s constitution was such that he was not obliged to sin; therefore the entire penalty for disobedience properly rested upon him. Those who rashly charge God with responsibility concerning man’s sin should hesitate long enough to consider the fact that the universe is not a physical unit: that with intelligent creatures’ provision must be made for the operation of moral law and government. This accounts for both the fact of sin, and for the responsibility of sin. And who will dare to say that this system is not in its own nature good—the only perfect one? Could man wish for the extinction of his personal, rational self—forfeit all the privileges of honor and virtue, of happiness and joy, in time and in eternity—in order to escape the responsibility of willful disobedience? Perish the thought.
Will God Redeem?
Since God stands acquitted of all responsibility in the fall, is there any evidence that he will redeem? In the realm of nature we observe that God distributes many of his gifts to men irrespectively of their moral character. “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (Psa. 103:10). “Thou openest thine hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing” (Psa. 145:16). “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain or the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). The universal prevalence of sacrifices testifies that men have in all ages believed that God would redeem. It is highly probable that this practice was instituted by God’s appointment (Gen. 3:21 with 4:4). If so, then we have in this a clear evidence of God’s redemptive purpose.
A Divine Plan
Revelation itself, however, makes this subject clear; there existed in the divine mind a plan of restoration for fallen man. This plan was for ages a “mystery” to men and to angels, but it was the “hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world” and which centers in the crucifixion of the “Lord of Glory” (1Cor. 2:7-8). Yes, he was a “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8) - (Heb. Chapter 1-2) There was plan made before the we had the foundation of world (The example of an Architect Mind)—(Eph. 1:1-4).
