THE ROLE OF THE TRINITY IN HUMAN REDEMPTION

 II Cor. 1:21-22 ... "He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge."

      In these two verses Paul refers to the Holy Trinity as God (the Father), Christ (the Son), and the Spirit (the Holy Spirit). Although he never gives a detailed theological explanation of the Trinity, Paul frequently mentions Them and indicates some of their related functions. In this epistle (13:14) he states that God loves us, that He manifests this love to us as grace through Christ, and that by the Holy Spirit  He has communion with us. In the above quoted text the apostle is content to show that the Holy Three work together in the purpose to save mankind from sin. In the original text Paul uses four participles, translated into English as verbs, to describe Their activity in the great work of human redemption.

      First, Paul states that God establishes us in Christ. The word used here was a legal term from the business profession indicating a binding guarantee of a sale. That is, it obligated the seller to sell at the agreed price and the buyer to come up with the money to purchase it. The idea is that God has bound Himself to redeem man at the cost of Jesus' blood. When anyone wishes to repent and obey the gospel, God always follows through on His commitment to redeem that soul. He never reneges, but is always ready and willing to follow through on His guarantee. It says in I Tim. 2:4 that God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Jesus affirmed God's commitment to save the penitent when (Jno. 6:37) He declared, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out."

      Second, Paul says that we have been anointed by God. In the Mosaic period, when a priest or a king was commissioned to his office, he went through a ceremony of being anointed. Jesus, who was commissioned to be the eternal King and eternal High Priest, is often referred to as the Anointed. Both Messiah (Hebrew) and Christ (Greek) mean "anointed." The reference to Christians as being "anointed" is quite unusual; the only other application of this term to them in the New Testament is in I Jno. 2:20 and 27. When a person is baptized into Christ, he receives the "gift of the Holy Spirit," (Acts 2:38). This gift is his anointing to life and service in the Lord. Therefore, our being anointed is to Jesus, the Anointed One, as Christian is to Christ. God has honored us with a spiritual distinction resembling that of His Son's.

      Third, Paul declares that God has sealed us. In ancient times, and to some extent at present, seals were employed to three purposes:  to preserve, to designate ownership, and to authenticate the contents of something. Thus, a seal was put on a jar lid to preserve its quality; a seal was stamped on an item to identify who possessed it; and a seal was put on a document to signify the truth of its contents. The Holy Spirit is the Christian's seal, (Eph. 4:30), a seal which is placed upon us at baptism, (Acts 2:38). The Spirit seals us to preserve us as God's people, to proclaim we belong to God, and to authenticate us as sons of God.

      Fourth, Paul states that God gives us the Spirit as an earnest. The word thus translated was another legal term from the business community. It indicated a deposit, or first installment, in the purchase of something. We still employ the word that way when we speak of "earnest money," a payment made on property to assure we will fully complete the purchase in time. God's gift of the Spirit to dwell within us is His "earnest payment" to declare He will fully claim our souls. We are assured in Rom. 8:11 that by the Holy Spirit, who has shared our Christian lives with us, we will be raised in the resurrection. In that great act God will complete the wonderful transaction of eternally redeeming our souls.

PRESCRIPTION FOR SPIRITUAL HEALTH

 I Cor. 16:13-14 ... "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."

      With economy of words the apostle Paul gave the Corinthian Christians this inspired prescription for their spiritual health. With only 13 words in English, and but 7 in the original Greek, he specified four things they had to do to maintain their Christian identity. Corinth stood at the crossroads of traffic between the western and eastern sides of the Roman empire. Commerce passed through the city in constant and heavy volume, and as always so did sin of every kind. The city became so notorious  for its variety and intensity of wickedness that the phrase "to Corinthianize" was coined to describe it. It was perhaps harder to resist the demoralizing influences there than in most cities, so the church in Corinth faced greater dangers than congregations elsewhere. The sins that Paul dealt with in this epistle emphasize this. Thus, as he was about to end his message to them, he felt it necessary to urge them to accept this brief, compact, but very effective formula, one that is no less effective or applicable to us today.

      First, he told them to be on the alert.  The context indicates the reference is to the presence of temptation. One thinks immediately of Jesus' warning in Mat. 26:41, "Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter not into temptation." Vigilance often signals the presence of temptation in the way just ahead. Then it may be possible to take a detour so that it is not necessary to encounter it. If one cannot avoid the forward path, he can at least prepare himself to resist it. We are told in Pro. 22:3 that "the prudent sees the evil and hides himself; but the naive go on, and are punished for it."

     Second, Paul urged them to stand firm in the faith. It is indeed by faith that Christians are able to hold their integrity against the pressure of evil. When faith grows weak, the individual becomes like a twig at the mercy of every eddy and current in a stream. Those whose faith is weak are described in Eph. 4:14 as being "tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming."

     Third, the Corinthians were told to act like men. The Christian life is designed to bring converts from the stage of spiritual childhood to the advanced level of spiritual maturity. Earlier (13:11), Paul had told them, "When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." There comes a time in our Christian development when childish attitudes and behavior should be a thing of the past and when mature attitudes formed through experience in the gospel cause us to "act like men."

     Fourth, Paul counseled them to be strong. This is a capacity which does not come to a disciple overnight any more than bodily strength comes to an athlete in one or two workouts. The power to resist temptation to refute false doctrine and to perform deeds of service to the glory of God comes by degrees through persistent effort. In Eph. 6:10 we are told to be "strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." The key words here are "in the Lord" and "in His strength."Alone, we have no power to endure and progress in the Christian life, but "in the strength of His might" we have access to all we need to make steady and sure progress. Paul put it well when he said to the Philippians, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." In his own strength he could do little, but through the power of Christ he could do "all things." And so it is with all Christians.