there is to be salvation from sin and death, the work must be an intervention, coming from without. In other words,

God alone can be the salvation of men.

We now turn to the witness of the apostle to discover what infinite wisdom, infinite righteousness, and infinite

love have wrought.

If all have sinned and rendered themselves helpless and undone, and yet, in spite of this universal fact, the Bible

has been written, God has been made known, worship and prayer are possible, then some gracious intervention on

the part of God must have taken place. Even the first occurrence of hamartia, `sin', is connected with salvation, the

birth of Christ, and the fulfilment of the Old Testament idea of a Kinsman-Redeemer, for, though the name of the

Saviour is given as `Jesus', He is also Emmanuel `which being interpreted is, God with us' (Matt. 1:21-23). The

very passage we have examined, namely Romans 3:23, does not stop at the statement that all have sinned, and come

short of the glory of God, but immediately goes on in the next verse to say that without any inward change or

external improvement this race of beings can be `justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in

Christ Jesus'.

Here, therefore, is the divine plan, and it falls into two great sections: (1) Justification; (2) Redemption. While

justification is mentioned first, it is `through redemption', which, as it is the obvious cause, must be considered first.

Redemption. What is it? To be understood at all, redemption must be considered as embracing the following,

each of which, if studied fully, would demand a volume to itself.

A PERSON.-

This person is known as the KinsmanRedeemer.

A TYPE.-

The outstanding Old Testament type is the Passover.

A RANSOM.-

A price has been paid, and that a life.

A RELEASE.-

The effect of redemption is expressed in terms of a release.

A DISTINCTION.-

There is a difference between redemption and atonement.

Redemption is expressed by exodus, atonement by eisodus.

A WORD FOR EACH.-

A threefold result of this great offering for sin is (1) Forgiveness; (2) Justification, and (3) Sanctification, which

must be considered, and, to conclude, a fourfold presentation of this great redemptive work is required to encompass

its glorious results.

(1) It was a death.-

This meets all men, whatever they

(2) It was a shedding

This meets the individual need for

of blood.-

(3) It was suffered onThis touches the curse of the law and the

a cross.-

old man.

(4) It was crowned by  This gives the ground of newness of life

and service.

Let us look at the witness of Paul, to discover a form of sound words as touching these far-reaching issues.

The Kinsman-Redeemer.- A person is most surely predicated, for the apostle says that it is impossible that the

blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin; therefore a body was prepared in order that the one, great,

all-sufficient Offering could be made. This body was none other than the body of the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 10).

The book that sets out most clearly the office of the Kinsman-Redeemer is the book of Ruth, and the law that is seen

at work there is found in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. According to the testimony of Isaiah, the Redeemer is none other

than God, the Lord of hosts, the Creator, and the prophetic reference to the `Child' that was born, who should

nevertheless be `The mighty God' and bear the name `Emmanuel', reveals the glorious fact that the Lord Jesus

Christ is the promised Kinsman-Redeemer.