More on the basic theological concepts underlying Christianity. Today, it is Jesus Christ and redemption. To redeem, in simple English, simply means to get something back. Something awful that occurred in the human story, the deliberate misuse of freedom, had separated the human family from its Creator. God’s invitation to share his infinite life is still on the table. How do we reconnect a sinful humanity with an infinitely loving God? How do we buy back, redeem, that which has been lost by human sinfulness?

Into the human story comes that loving God who brought us into existence by his infinite generosity. He knows of our plight and steps into our story. The vast majority of Christians believe that the second person of the Blessed Trinity assumed a human nature and dealt with us in a way that we could understand and grasp and that while he was present among us, he offered an infinite act of love and obedience to his Heavenly Father to atone for human sinfulness.

I feel silly trying to talk about the essence of redemption in a couple of paragraphs, but that is the constraint that this format demands. So, let’s just say that the next awesomely important truth is JESUS CHRIST and REDEMPTION. To date, we have had God, creation (including humanity), sin and now redemption. There is only one more major point to be touched on in this series and that is the story of faith carried out in history.

This is the story of the CHURCH. We will turn to that in a day or so.

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