Unto Redemption – Foundations of a Worldview

Unto Redemption
Foundations of a Worldview

Exodus 20:1

And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

The Biblical worldview contained in the Law of God is a redemptive worldview. That is, it reveals the way to full and abundant life in a covenantal (grace unto faith and obedience) relationship with the living God. The Law of God does not accomplish redemption, and people do not attain redemption through obedience to the commandments, statutes, precepts, and rules of God’s Law. God alone is Israel’s Redeemer, and the redemption He provides comes to His people as a work of grace, based on His covenant.

But the Law of God is unto redemption in that those who have come to know the saving deliverance of God may now expect, through obedience to God’s Law, to realize with ever-increasing fullness and power the benefits of that redemption by practicing love for God and neighbor in obedience to the Law.

The redemption God’s people experienced from the tyranny of Pharaoh was merely the beginning of God’s plan for them, a plan for good, and not for evil, to give them a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11). God intended His people to know blessings in every aspect of their lives (cf. Deut. 28:1-14), and He determined to leave nothing to chance or their sin-tainted imaginations when it came to figuring out how to obtain the blessings He had prepared for them.

Thus the Law of God came to bring life full and abundant to a people who had been redeemed by the gracious and powerful hand of the God of the covenant. The Law does not accomplish redemption, but the Law enables the people of God to enjoy the redemption God has graciously provided.

It was by spiritual power that Pharaoh was overcome, the Red Sea parted, and the Law of God given to His people. It was on the basis of His covenant and the promises made to Abraham that Israel—now no longer a tribal group but a considerable nation—was shown the way to greater fullness through the elaboration of God’s covenant at Mt. Sinai and on the plains of Moab.

The redeemed of the Lord cannot know the full value of this great gift apart from seeking the Lord and obeying His Spirit according to His Word, beginning with the Law of God. The Law of God outlines the broad parameters of covenant blessing which God intends for His people as they approach Him in fear and wonder, and go forth from His presence in faith and obedience.

Act: The Law doesn’t save us. But it helps to know and enjoy the salvation we have received. So when Paul commands us to work out our salvation (not for it), Philippians 2:12, 13, what place should the Law of God have in this?

Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God—another primary theme of Scripture. Order a copy of The Gospel of the Kingdom from our online store, and learn how you can become more effective at proclaiming this wonderful Good News.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).