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What is Redemption? (Ephesians 1:7-8)

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

What is Redemption? (Ephesians 1:7-8)
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Christians love to sing and talk about redemption and forgiveness, but strangely, few Christians really know what the Bible teaches about these two topics. We look at both terms in this study of Ephesians 1:7-8. Though we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, this does not mean that the blood of Jesus was used to pay God for our sins. God does not need to be paid off. He is not the mafia who demands payment for protection. Instead, the redemption of Jesus shows us how to live free from sin, which is what the forgiveness of God shows us as well. Listen to this study on Ephesians 1:7-8 to learn more.

Current Event: Critical Race Theory

We’re discussing some of the content in the best-selling book, (#AmazonAdLink) FaultLines, by Voddie Baucham Jr. In this book, Dr. Baucham discusses Critical Race Theory and shows why it is so destructive, not only to our culture, but also to the church. We introduced the book and defined Critical Race Theory in a previous episode.

(#AmazonAdLink) In chapters 1 and 2 of Faultlines, Voddie Baucham shares some of his story about growing up as a black man in America, how he became a Christian, and why he ended up moving to Zambia to teach and minister there. He also explains how he became aware of Critical Race theory and how he arrived at his view that CRT is so destructive to the gospel and damaging to the church.

Chapter 3 is so good, I wish I could read to you the entire chapter. In it, Dr. Baucham completely exposes and obliterates the false narrative that exists in our country (and sadly in many of our churches) that black people are getting hunted down and killed by police, that it is “open season” on black people, and that the murder of unarmed black people is “state sanctioned.” Near the beginning of this chapter (p.44), he says the following:

… When I am evaluating people’s testimonies and pleas, and when people are shouting “Justice for George, Ahmaud, Breonna, Travon!” or anyone else, I always want to bear in mind the words of John 7:51: “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” I also want to remember that “the one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17), which is why “if one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame (Proverbs 18:13).

Following this, Dr. Baucham goes on to examine the deaths of George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Philadro Castile, Michael Brown, and Breonna Taylor, to show that much of what is chanted and repeated in riots, news broadcasts, and even from some pulpits, was flat-out wrong.

Dr. Baucham also goes on to point out that despite all the news attention that is given to the deaths of these black people, there are far more examples of deaths of unarmed white people at the hands of the police, and some of them are far worse. For example, have you heard of Tony Timpa? Probably not. He was a thirty-two year old schizophrenic who called the police on himself because he went off his meds and needed help. Like George Floyd, Timpa was handcuffed, and for nearly fourteen minutes pleaded with the officers, saying, “You’re gonna kill me! You’re gonna kill me!” But the police only mocked him and made jokes. But eventually, Tony Timpa did die, and no officers were charged or convicted (pp. 54-56). Why not? Because Tony Timpa was white and his death doesn’t fit the narrative. Few even know his name. And Tony’s case is not alone. There are many others just like him.

Dr. Baucham knows that one common objection to this is that even though unarmed white people die in far greater numbers than unarmed black people, this is because black people only make up 13%  of the population, and so when this is factored into the equation, black people die in higher proportion. Baucham completely dispels this myth as well, and shows that the only reason people skew the statistics to make this claim is because they have an agenda to create division and strife in our country, because this false narrative helps them gain money, power, and control.

But I’ve spent too much space on this already, so I encourage to (#AmazonAdLink) read the book to find out more about what Baucham says. As instructed by Proverbs 18:17 (one of my life verses, by the way), stop listening to one side of the issue, and instead consider both sides before making a decision.

A Letter from A Listener

I have been wondering about the nature of hell for a while. I’m a former Christian and for years I didn’t fear the idea of hell. Perhaps now as I’ve gotten older and I realize I’m not immortal the fear of potentially going to hell scared me. However, I don’t think someone should come back to Christianity because of fear of hell. That is assuming hell is a place of torture. I have been thinking about Christianity again but still have some objections. What does the hell course discuss?

I have written (#AmazonAdLink) a book about hell, and also have an online course about hell that is based on the content of the book. When you take the course, you can download the book for free.

(#AmazonAdLink) What is hell bookThe book begins with a history of hell, and why we believe it is a place of suffering and torment. The book then considers several of the Hebrew and Greek words that sometimes get translated as “hell” in our English Bibles. Words such as Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus, as well as the concept of “outer darkness” and “lake of fire” are all considered. Following this, I provide in-depth explanations of many key biblical passages that are often thought to be referring to hell. The book concludes with an explanation of what I believe the Bible teaches about hell.

I do not end up in any of the three major positions about hell. The three common views of hell are (1) annihilationism – that people might go to hell for a while, but are ultimately destroyed so that they do not suffer forever, (2) Universalism – the view the people might go to hell for a while, but will eventually be able to escape hell and spend eternity with God, and (3) infernalism – the view that hell is a place of eternal conscious torment for the damned, where they will suffer and burn for all eternity.

I explain and reject all three views in my book.

My view – and this may be a shock to you – is that when the Bible teaches about hell, it is referring to the current experience of some people on this earth now. When the Bible exhorts us to deliver and rescue souls from hell, it is not telling us to make sure people don’t go the burning place after they die, but to go out and rescue people from how their life is being destroyed right now.

Whether you are skeptical of that view, or find it attractive, I encourage you to read my book or take my course to discover how I arrive at that conclusion.

By the way, if you go to Amazon and see that the book has some negative reviews, this is because there are many Christians who leave negative reviews of books without even reading the books. I have read the negative reviews, and it is obvious that they never even read the book. They claim I am teaching and saying things in the book that I never say.  So anyway, do your own research. (#AmazonAdLink) Read the book to discover a love-based, grace-oriented approach to all the biblical texts in the Bible about hell.

Redemption and Forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7-8)

Ephesians 1:3-14 is one long sentence in the Greek language, and it contains a long list of some of the great riches and blessings we have in Jesus Christ. We’ve looked at some of these already, such as Election, Predestination, and Adoption. In Ephesians 1:7-8, Paul lists two more blessings: Redemption and Forgiveness.

Ephesians 1:7-8. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Let us consider both key terms:

1. Redemption through His blood

The first term to consider is redemption.

redemption through his blood Ephesians 1:7

In our study on adoption, I explained that when God adopts us as His sons, He is taking his own children, and adopting them as heirs.

Redemption is a similar idea. Redemption occurs when God takes something that was already His, and is buying it so that it is twice His. In the ancient world, when a soldier was captured in battle, his country could buy him back from the enemy. Or, when a family was in a desperate financial situation, sometimes they would sell one of their family members into slavery, and then—hopefully—when they got enough money, they would buy back their family member (Lev 25:39-55).

We can do the same thing today with pawnshops, except we do it with possessions rather than family members. If you need money, you can go down to the pawn shop and they will give you money for your watch or a ring, and you then have a certain amount of time to go back and redeem your item. If you do not, then they keep it and can sell it for a profit.

So we see here that Jesus redeemed us, or bought us back, through His blood.

But there is an important concept here to understand. When Paul writes about Jesus redeeming us through His blood, we shouldn’t think that Jesus was paying off God or Satan with His blood. It is not as though there was a debt of sin to God or to Satan which could only be paid with the blood of Jesus. Lots of Christians teach this, but it is not a biblical idea. God does not and has never required blood sacrifice or blood payment as a way to forgive us for our sins. Not even Hebrews 9:22 teaches this.

blood of Jesus redeems usThe redemption that Jesus accomplished through His blood was a rescue or deliverance of humanity from humanity. We were enslaved to an endless cycle of sacred violence and the spilling of blood in God’s name, and Jesus, by dying as He did, exposed the myth of redemptive violence and the lies of sacred violence for what they were so that we can be redeemed or rescued from this endless cycle of violence and bloodshed once and for all. I explain this idea further in my Gospel Dictionary course in the entry on Blood.

So when you think about redemption, think of it as Jesus buying us back from our slavery to sin. His blood shed for us was not actually “paid” to anyone, but was instead shed for us to show us that we kill other people in God’s name. His shed blood for us was to show us what we do and to call us to stop it. Yes, Jesus needed to shed His blood, but not so that He could pay off God. God is not a mafia boss who needs to be paid for His protection. Jesus shed His blood to show us the truth about ourselves that could not be shown to us in any other way. (see my book (#AmazonAdLink) Nothing but the Blood of Jesus for more on this).

Redemption shows us how to no longer be slaves to sin, and instead becomes friends with God. We have been redeemed from slavery to sin, and set free to love and serve God with our lives. So that’s redemption.

This idea is further seen by what Paul says next in Ephesians 1:7.

2. The forgiveness of sins.

There is so much confusion in Christian circles about forgiveness. But as I have pointed out in my Gospel Dictionary course, in my book The Atonement of God, and in numerous other places, there are two main types of forgiveness sin the Bible.

Forgiven and forgiveness

The first is charizomai forgiveness. It is free and unconditional. God extends this forgiveness to all people in all the world for all their sins no matter what. It has been freely extended from the beginning of time simply because God is a loving and forgiving God. Jesus did not have to die to earn this forgiveness. God does not demand blood sacrifice to offer this forgiveness. It is free and unconditional, based solely on the grace of God.

The second type of forgiveness is aphesis forgiveness. But it is not really what we think of when we think of forgiveness. It is closer to the idea of release, or liberation. It is the type of release or liberation we get when we gain freedom from the damaging and destructive power of sin in our lives. This type of forgiveness does have conditions. We must confess and repent and forgive others in order to experience this kind of forgiveness in our lives.

What type of forgiveness is Paul referring to here?

It is aphesis forgiveness.

Paul is talking about how we can experience the riches and blessings of being in the family of God, and how God seeks to unify us into one family, and how we can live for the praise of His glory. While all of these things are riches of God’s grace, they also are conditional upon our living in light of them. Of understanding what we have in Christ and how to access and use these blessings.

So this makes sense that aphesis forgiveness is in view, because we must know how this form of forgiveness works and how to make use of it in our lives.

forgiveness aphesis releaseEven though God has freely forgiven us (charizomai),  for all our sins, we still sin and need to be set free from our slavery to sin. This is where aphesis comes in. God has provided steps and instructions in Scripture about how to break free from the devastating and destructive consequences and patterns of sin in our life. And as we follow these steps toward aphesis, we will be released, set free, or redeemed, from sin, so that we can live as we were meant to live. So we can see that redemption and forgiveness are closely connected terms.

Paul moves on from here to talk about the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. These terms are just further ways of describing the great riches and blessings we have in Jesus Christ, which is Paul’s great theme in these opening verses of Ephesians 1.

All of these gifts and blessings which God provided for us are due to His grace, His wisdom, and His prudence (or insight and understanding). God knows what we need to live our lives to the fullest and to live as members of His family, and He has made sure to provide us with everything we need for life and godliness.

We will continue to see more riches and blessings from God next time when we pick up with Ephesians 1:9.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: aphesis, blood, charizomai, critical race theory, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 1:7-8, forgiveness, grace, redemption, violence

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How the blood of Jesus Redeems and Rescues Humanity (Ephesians 1:7; 2:13)

By Jeremy Myers
6 Comments

How the blood of Jesus Redeems and Rescues Humanity (Ephesians 1:7; 2:13)
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/424846548-redeeminggod-113-how-the-blood-of-jesus-redeems-and-rescues-humanity-ephesians-17-213.mp3

In Ephesians 1:7, Paul writes that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

I have written previously that the blood of Jesus does not purchase forgiveness of sins for us from God. But does Ephesians 1:7 refute this idea? No. In fact, it supports it. Let me show you why.

Ephesians is a book that has been widely misunderstood, especially in light of what it teaches about salvation. Some of my sermon manuscripts on Ephesians might help clarify the book as a whole, but most of the main ideas can also be found in various entries in my Gospel dictionary.

The Basic Summary of Ephesians

redeemed by the blood of JesusThe basic message of Ephesians is that due to religion, humans have lived in rivalry and violence with each other since the foundation of the world, but now, in Jesus Christ, we have been shown a new way of living life so that all the hostilities can now cease.

There is still a struggle, but it is not against each other, but against the forces which seek to drag us back into rivalry, accusation, and scapegoating violence.

The Introduction to Ephesians

Paul introduces some of these themes with one long sentence in Ephesians 1:3-14.

Leading up to Ephesians 1:7 where Paul refers to redemption through the blood of Jesus, it is important to also understand what Paul means when he writes about adoption and election as these words also form a foundation for Paul’s ideas about the blood of Jesus. These words are also carefully defined in my Gospel Dictionary online course.

The basic idea in Ephesians 1:3-14 is that God made us His heirs so that we can have the resources necessary to fulfill our purpose and role within His family.

So what is Paul teaching in Ephesians 1:7?

It is in the context of these ideas that Paul mentions redemption through the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7).

Redemption is when God takes something that is already His, and buys it so that it is twice His. So redeemed us, or bought us back, through His blood.

redemption through his blood Ephesians 1:7

When Paul writes about Jesus redeeming us through His blood, however, we must not think that Jesus was paying off God or Satan with His blood. It is not as though there was a debt of sin to God or to Satan which could only be paid with the blood of Jesus. This is not a biblical idea. (We’ll look at Hebrews 9:22 next week.)

So what did Jesus redeem us from? What did He buy us back from?

The redemption that Jesus accomplished through His blood was a rescue or deliverance of humanity from humanity.

We had enslaved ourselves to an endless cycle of sacred violence and the spilling of blood in God’s name.

By dying as He did, Jesus exposed the myth of redemptive violence and the lies of sacred violence for what they were so that we can be redeemed, bought back, or rescued from this endless cycle of violence and bloodshed once and for all.

We know that this is what Paul means because he explains the phrase “redemption through His blood” with the phrase “the forgiveness of sins.”

The two phrases explain each other, so let’s look at the forgiveness of sins first.

The Forgiveness of Sins

As we discussed previously, there are two main types of forgiveness sin the Bible, one that is free and one that is conditional. The type of forgiveness Paul mentions here is the conditional forgiveness (aphēsis). A good synonym for this type of forgiveness is “release.”

Furthermore, the term “sin” in the Bible primarily refers to the sacred violence that has enslaved all of humanity in a never-ending cycle of rivalry, accusation, and scapegoating sacrifice. I defend this idea in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.

So when Paul writes about “the forgiveness of sins,” he is referring to our release from the cycle of sacred violence.

And since this phrase explains or defines the first phrase about the redemption through the blood of Jesus, it too can be understood similarly.

Redemption through His blood

Jesus redeemed us, bought us back, rescued us, released us from the never-ending cycle of sacred violence and sin by subjecting Himself to it. He went to the cross and shed His blood for us, not as a payment to God or to Satan, but as a revelation to humanity about the sin which had enslaved humanity since the foundation of the world.

Now that we have this redemptive revelation through the sacrificial death of Jesus, we are able to live in a new way with other human beings.

We can now live at peace, no longer subjecting ourselves to the ways of death and violence founded upon religion, but instead follow Jesus by faith into the ways of love and grace.

If some of this sounds similar to what Paul writes in Ephesians 2, that’s because it is. Paul takes this theme of how humanity has been delivered from violence and death through the blood of Jesus and expands upon it in Ephesians 2.

How Paul Elaborates on this Theme in Ephesians 2:13

Here is what Paul writes in Ephesians 2:13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Ephesians 2 is a powerful chapter, but it has been terribly misunderstood and misapplied by the church today. The traditional understanding of Ephesians 2 goes something like this:

We humans are evil sinners, under the control of the devil and our sin nature. We were dead and unable to do anything to change. Worse yet, because of sin, God’s wrath burns against us, and He wants to send us all to hell (Ephesians 2:1-3).

But God also loved us, and so wanted to do something to fix what had gone wrong. Someone had to pay the price for our sin, and God knew we couldn’t, so He sent His Son Jesus to die in our place and pay for our sin. Now, if we believe in Jesus, we get eternal life. But this still doesn’t get us off the hook. God still wants us to obey Him and do the good works He prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:4-10).

But these good works don’t involve keeping the law and commandments, because those have been done away with. Instead, let’s just live in peace and unity with each other (Ephesians 2:11-22).

Yet this sort of summary of Ephesians 2 does not logically follow what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, nor does it fit well with the rest of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

Furthermore, it does great injustice to the expanded discussion about peace in Ephesians 2:11-22. Most Christian sermons and messages on this chapter focus an inordinate amount of time and space on Ephesians 2:8-9, and very little on Ephesians 2:11-22, which is where Paul focuses his time.

The best way to approach Ephesians 2 is to “reverse engineer” it. By beginning where Paul concludes, we can better understand how Paul starts.

Reverse Engineering Ephesians 2

Paul has a clear progression in Ephesians 2, following the “Problem (Ephesians 2:1-3)—Solution (Ephesians 2:4-10)—Application (Ephesians 2:11-22)” format. By starting with the application, we can better understand the solution and the problem.

The Application (Ephesians 2:11-22)

In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul explains how groups of people who formerly were hostile enemies can now live together in peace and unity because of what Jesus Christ has done. Feuding groups throughout history have used race, religion, and politics (the Jew-Gentile division was a toxic combination of all three) to look down upon each other and accuse one another of being less than human and less-loved by God.

But now Jesus has broken down the walls of hostility and brought everybody into one family where we live by new rules. This new way of living was revealed and explained through the life and death of Jesus Christ.

When we build upon the foundation He laid, we grow into the people that God has always wanted and desired, and it is then that God is truly manifested in us, just as He was in Jesus.

The Solution (Ephesians 2:4-10)

So if Paul’s concluding “Application” is that people who were formerly at odds with one another (in an accusatory violent way) can now live at peace by following the example of Jesus, it only makes sense that in the “Solution” section, Paul talks about how Jesus brought the warring groups together and showed us how to live in peace.

Not surprisingly, this is exactly what Paul explains in Ephesians 2:4-10. These verses, though quite popular as texts about how to receive eternal life by grace alone through faith alone, are actually about what God has done to rescue us from the condition described in Ephesians 2:1-3 (see below), so that we can become what is described in Ephesians 2:11-22.

blood of Jesus redeems usPaul’s point in these verses is that even though we humans accusation, blame, condemn and kill others in God’s name (Ephesians 2:1-3), God Himself does not behave that way toward us.

God does not bring an end to life, but raises us up to new life in Jesus Christ. Beyond that, He also raised us up with Jesus Christ and seated us with Him in the heavens so that we can live according to the heavenly rules, rather than the ways of this world.

God acted this way toward us by grace. And by grace, we can act this way toward others since we now are seated with Christ in heavenly places.

But we can only live this way if we follow Jesus by faith. Ephesians 2:4-10 is not talking about how to receive eternal life, but is instead talking about how God rescued us from our enslavement to the sin of death and showed us a new way of life in Jesus Christ.

This new way of life is what we were made for originally, and what God has always modeled for us, and what we are now to walk in, as we follow Jesus by faith. In other words, this text is not about how to go to heaven when you die, but rather about how to go from slavery to death in this world as we war against others (Ephesians 2:1-3), to unity and peace with others as we live in the family of God (Ephesians 2:11-22).

The Problem (Ephesians 2:1-3)

This brings us back to the beginning of the argument in Ephesians 2:1-3 where Paul presents the human “Problem.”

A proper understanding of this passage requires us to accurately define the words “dead,” “flesh,” “sin,” and “wrath” (which I will do in the Gospel Dictionary course), and to understand what Paul means when he refers to the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

When all of these concepts are understood, we see that Paul begins Ephesians 2 by teaching that we humans live in a world of sin and death, which we inflict upon ourselves by accusing, condemning, and killing one another, and justifying it all by doing these things in God’s name. We do these things because in our flesh, we know of no other way to live.

Even we religious people kill and are killed, just like everyone else (Ephesians 2:1-3). This is the human problem, and we are enslaved to it because we know of no other way to live (though such life is ruled by death).

So the overall summary of Ephesians 2 is that while we humans tend to live in hatred and violence toward one another (thinking that this was also God’s way), now Jesus has revealed a better way, and we can follow Him in this way by faith.

If we do, we will live at peace with one another and in so doing, truly reflect God to a watching world.

What is Paul teaching in Ephesians 2:13?

So then, with all this in mind, the explanation of Ephesians 2:13 is quite simple.

The violent death of Jesus on the cross revealed the truth about religious-political violence: that it is we humans who want and desire it; not God.

The blood of Jesus reveals that God never wanted or needed blood sacrifice or sacred violence of any kind in order for people to draw near to Him. All people were always welcome.

As a result, Gentiles are just as near to God as anyone else. Gentiles are not to be kept at a distance from God, nor are they more sinful or less pure in God’s eyes. There is no dividing wall of separation or religious commandments and ordinances which keep some people cut off from God’s love and grace.

No, all are invited in. All are welcome.

The blood of Jesus has brought everyone near, by proving that no one was ever kept at a distance.

All divisions of men are nothing more than man-made divisions, and now Jesus has torn them all down.

So how does the blood of Jesus Redeem us?

Ephesians 1:7 redemption through his bloodBy looking at Ephesians 1:7 and Ephesians 2:13, we now understand how the blood of Jesus redeems us.

Jesus did not buy off God or pay the debt of our sin to God. After all, if God had been “paid for our sins” then He would not be able to forgive us. (When someone owes you a debt, you can either get re-paid or forgive their debt, but you cannot do both. Payment of debt and forgiveness of debt are mutually exclusive.)

But Jesus did need to die, and He needed to die in a bloody, violent, sacrificial way. Why? To redeem, rescue, and deliver humanity from the sin and violence that we have always committed against each other (but blamed God for doing).

Jesus wanted us to be released from our sin, and so He died to reveal our sin to us.

Now that our eyes have been opened, we can live in a new way with God and with others. We can live in peace, without the dividing walls of hostility, and without the blame, violence, and scapegoating that we perform in God’s name.

Jesus came to show us a new way to live, which is exactly what He did through His life, death, and resurrection.

We have redemption through His blood because He redeemed us from our sinful and violent way of living and revealed to us God’s way of living. His bloody death released us from addiction to sin and scapegoating, and showed us how to live in the way of love and forgiveness.

Here is how to understand Ephesians 1:7 and Ephesians 2:13:

Through the blood of Jesus, we have been bought back from our slavery to sin and violence. We have been released from our addiction to scapegoating others in God’s name. He did this out of His great love and grace for us. Therefore, now we who were once far off from God have been brought near to God through the blood of Jesus. Through Him we see a new way to live, a way which leads to peace with God and peace with one another.

If you want to learn more about this entire idea, read my book (#AmazonAdLink) Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: blood of Jesus, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2:13, forgiveness, forgiveness of sins, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus, peace with God, redemption

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Why Christians should not Celebrate Christmas or Easter, Drive a Mazda, or Use a Calendar

By Jeremy Myers
51 Comments

Why Christians should not Celebrate Christmas or Easter, Drive a Mazda, or Use a Calendar

pagan ChristmasThis time of year I see article after article from Christians about why it is sinful to decorate Christmas trees, wrap presents, and sing “Deck the Halls.”

Here is an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1xqD9-9RA0

Whenever I see these blog posts, Facebook articles, and YouTube videos, I always want to ask if they celebrate Easter, drive a Mazda, or use a Calendar.

Why?

Because the exact same logic people use to say that Christians should not celebrate Christmas can also be used to say that Christians should not celebrate Easter, should not drive a Mazda, and should not use a Calendar.

Here is the logic some Christians use to teach that it is sinful to celebrate Christmas:

  1. Christmas has roots in the pagan holiday of Saturnalia. It was celebrated with decorating trees, baking cookies, putting up lights, passing out presents, and singing songs.
  2. If we do these things for Christmas, then we are participating in a sinful, pagan holiday.

This is the basic logic, and some Christians occasionally find passages like Jeremiah 10:1-5 to support this view.

But let us plug the same logic in to the holiday of Easter:

  1. Easter has roots in the pagan holiday that celebrated Ishtar, the sex goddess. Among other things, the spring celebration of Ishtar was observed with sunrise celebrations, decorating eggs, giving candy, and cute bunnies. It reminded people of new birth and new life.
  2. If we do these things for Easter, then we are participating in a sinful, pagan holiday.

Ishtar Easter

And how about driving a Mazda:

  1. The Mazda car is named after the chief Persian deity, Ahura Mazda. Even the early symbol of the Mazda line of cars (1936-1962) resembled the dual-winged image of Ahura Mazda   and can still be seen in the modern winged “M” logo of the Mazda (see the three images below).
  2. Therefore, driving a Mazda is a tribute to Ahura Mazda, the pagan Persian deity, and is sinful for Christians. The same thing can be said, by the way, about driving a Saturn or a Mercury.
Ahura Mazda
The early Mazda Logo
The modern Mazda Logo

Following the Christmas logic, we also cannot use a calendar:

  1. All the days of the week are named after pagan deities.
  • Sunday = Sun’s Day
  • Monday = Moon’s Day
  • Tuesday = Tyr’s Day
  • Wednesday = Woden’s Day
  • Thursday = Thor’s Day
  • Friday = Frey’s Day
  • Saturday = Saturn’s Day

And most of the months of the year are also named after various pagan deities.

  • January = Janus’s month
  • February = month of Februa (pagan purification)
  • March = Mars’ month
  • April = Aphrodite’s month
  • May = Maia’s month
  • June = Juno’s month
  • July = Julius Caesar’s month
  • August = Augustus Caesar’s month
  • September = the seventh month*
  • October = the eighth month*
  • November = the ninth month*
  • December = the tenth month*

*The Roman calendar originally only had 10 months, with the first 60 days of the calendar being “monthless.” January and February were later added to the Calendar, but the final four months of the year retained their numbered names.

  1. Therefore, to talk about the days of the week or the months of the year is to give honor to the false gods and deities after which they are named.

As long as we are at it, we should also stop wearing Nike clothes and shoes, eating Mars bars, using Venus razors, buying Hermes handbags, or investing in Janus funds. And since all the planets are named after pagan Roman deities, we shouldn’t talk about our study our solar system. We also shouldn’t visit the Statue of Liberty. And no matter what, we should definitely stay away from the Washington monument and churches with steeples since they are symbols that come from pagan rituals that celebrated the male phallic.

Do you see where all this is going? As soon as Christians start to try to avoid and condemn anything and everything that has pagan roots or symbolism, we end up having to just sit at home twiddling our thumbs. Of course, even that is fraught with danger, because as Paul himself writes, every single human being has a background that is filled with paganism (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-11). So we cannot even be around ourselves!

Yes, this has now crossed over into the realm of the absurd.

But that is exactly the point.

All these condemnations of various aspects of life because those areas of life have pagan origins are nothing but absurd.

They also deny and reject the absolute fact that our God is a redeeming God. That Jesus Christ is a redeemer. That everything in heaven and on earth has been placed under the feet of Jesus so that He is all in all. That everything can be received with joy and thanksgiving in the name of Jesus. That everything is “Yes” and “Amen” through Jesus Christ, the Lord of all.

So this Christmas season, go put up lights on your tree. Go bake cookies and pass out presents. Go drive your Mazda to your job on Monday while you wear your Nike shoes and snack on a Mars bar. And while do you do all these pagan things, give praise to Jesus because He has redeemed everything, including you and me.

Jesus is a redeemer

So go ahead! Cut down the tree, decorate it with silver tinsel and gold ornaments, bake the cookies, hand out presents, sing the carols, and do it all with praise to Jesus Christ, who is our Redeemer!

If you want to read more about this, I have written a short eBook on the subject, titled Christmas Redemption. Get your copy on Amazon today for $2.99.

Better yet, “Hope” and “Love” Members of RedeemingGod.com will get this book for free a few weeks after signing up. Join now.

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Christmas, Christmas Redemption, Easter, pagan, redemption

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[#51] Genesis 3 Summary – The Redemption of Sin

By Jeremy Myers
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[#51] Genesis 3 Summary – The Redemption of Sin
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/285041924-redeeminggod-51-genesis-3-summary-the-redemption-of-sin.mp3

Genesis 3

This episode of the One Verse Podcast provides a summary of what we have seen from Genesis 3. There is still some new stuff in this episode, so if you have listened to all the previous episodes on Genesis 3, you will still want to listen to this one.

But if you are just joining us on the One Verse Podcast and have missed most of the previous episodes, this one will get you up to speed. Of course, since what I share today might be a bit challenging, you might also want to go back and listen to some of the episodes from Genesis 3 to get a further explanation and understanding of what we discuss today.

In this Summary of Genesis 3 we look at:

  • The basic question “What has gone wrong with the world?”
  • The fact that Genesis 3 does not talk about sin
  • What God’s response to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 reveals what God thinks about our own disobedience
  • Three truths about sin that most of us fail to understand

Resources:

  • Take my online Bible and Theology Courses
  • Become a Member of RedeemingGod.com
  • Biddle, Missing the Mark
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

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Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Genesis 3, One Verse Podcast, redemption, sin

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[#25] Summary of Genesis 1 – The Redemption of Religion

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

[#25] Summary of Genesis 1 – The Redemption of Religion
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/242850099-redeeminggod-25-genesis-1-summary.mp3

This is a summary episode for everything we have looked at in Genesis 1–2 so far.

Genesis 1 SummaryThe reasons for this summary are numerous:

  1. To remind you of what we have seen so far.
  2. To provide the big picture overview of what we have seen. Sometimes it is easy to miss the forest for the trees, and while my detailed explanations of individual verses are important for the study of Scripture, we don’t want to miss out on the overall theme and focus of Scripture.
  3. New listeners might get overwhelmed with having to listen to 23 podcast episodes on one chapter of the Bible. If you are new here, these summary episodes can help get you up to speed more quickly. Of course, after hearing the summary, you may want to go back and listen to several of the more detailed episodes to the get the fuller explanation of what these verses mean.
  4. Even if you have listened to all the other episodes, you will still want to listen to this one, because in this episode I tie together all the strands and themes that we have looked at so far and present you with the overall big picture truth.

In this Discussion of Genesis 1 we look at:

  • How Christmas, Easter, the cross, and the Gospels helps us understand Genesis 1
  • The truth that redemption is a key theme in Scripture
  • A summary of how Moses interacts with the religions of his day
  • How God sought to redeem the religions of Moses’ day
  • How God can also redeem our own religion – especially the Christian religion

Resources:

  • Subscribe to my Newsletter and get updates about books and events
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: creation, Genesis 1, One Verse Podcast, redemption, religion

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