Author: Joe
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99-12-12-B.JSH-241 / 

© 1999  Joe Griffin

Faith-Rest Drill: Principles of Redemption; The Inscrutable Question: Preface; The Creation & Essence of Angels, Psm 148:2,5-6; Col 1:16

3-	Principles on Redemption:
1)	Redemption must be viewed from the standpoint of a ransom paid on the cross for our salvation.
2)	Redemption views mankind as born into the slave market of sin through the imputation of Adam’s original sin to the genetically formed old sin nature.
3)	Redemption is the saving work of Christ on the cross by which he purchases our freedom resulting in our salvation.
4)	Redemption is a part of the division of systematic theology called “soteriology.”
5)	Soteriology is made up of a number of concepts but six are important to understand with regard to our study:
a.	Atonement: Jesus Christ is the chosen and willing substitutionary sacrifice Who executed the salvation plan of God.
b.	Propitiation: God was satisfied with the work of Christ on the cross appeasing His wrath toward the human race.
c.	Reconciliation: mankind is brought into a personal relationship with God by the removal of the barrier of hostility placed between them by human sin.
d.	Expiation: by voluntarily receiving the imputation of our sins and suffering their punishment, Christ removed the guilt of sin for all mankind.
e.	Redemption: all of the above was the purchase price that removed every member of the human race from the slave market of sin and placed them into the freedom of God’s grace.
f.	Forgiveness: faith alone in Christ alone results in all presalvation sins being forgiven.  After salvation, confession alone to God alone results in the forgiveness of all postsalvation sins.
6)	Redemption also emphasizes the principle of unlimited atonement which asserts that Christ redeemed the entire human race out from the salve market of sin, not just a predetermined few.
7)	Redemption is realized and freedom attained when any member of the human race expresses faith alone in Christ alone.
8)	Whenever anyone expresses this faith in Christ that person takes the Redemption Solution.
V.	The Inscrutable Question:
	Preface
In July of this year I submitted on behalf of members of Grace Doctrine Church a number of theological questions addressed to Colonel Robert B. Thieme, Jr., pastor of Berachah Church.  In August he responded to our inquiry.  Among the questions asked was the following:
Grace Doctrine Church.  “Theological Questionnaire.”  Enclosure with letter to R. B. Thieme, Jr., 15 July 1999:
In your series, Spiritual Dynamics, you make the following statement:
(Satan) has a false conclusion, “If I and all fallen angels are sentenced to the lake of fire for our failure, why should not Adam and Eve, who also failed in perfect environment, be sentenced to the same lake of fire?” Satan's argument ignores the fact that fallen angels had the volition and options to accept God’s solution, but rejected it.
With this final remark, are you indicating that after the Luciferian revolution, Satan and the fallen angels were offered a “way of salvation” (so to speak) which if accepted would have cancelled their sentence to the lake to fire?  If so, what was their volitional test?  Do certain passages document the answers, or, instead, a set of doctrinal rationales?
The answer came in the form of an eleven-hour special study called the “Inscrutable Question.”  I will now relate to you this answer as part of our paragraph, “Promises and Rationales Related to the Angelic Conflict.”
A.	The Creation and Essence of Angels
Thieme, R. B., Jr.  “The Inscrutable Question.”  Audiotapes 1563-1573 in Spiritual Dynamics.  Houston: R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, 1999.
1)	The Greek word for “angel” in the New Testament is ¥ggeloj / angelos / and means, “messenger.”  That of course is a very basic description of their duties and doesn’t really give us much information about what an angel is.
2)	Suffice it to say they are an order of beings whose original abode was heaven.  They are superior to man and were created in eternity past before the creation of the universe.
Psalm 148:2a -	Praise Him, all His angels …
v 5 -	Let them praise the name of the Lord for He commanded and they [ simultaneous for all angels ] were created [ bara’: used exclusively with God as the subject; creation by divine fiat; to create from nothing: ex nihilo (L) ].
v 6 -	He has also established them forever and ever.  He made a decree which will not pass away [ imputation of Eternal Life ].
3)	From this passage we learn that all the angels were created ex nihilo by the word of the Lord.  All were created simultaneously with Eternal Life.  Their simultaneous creation is taught in:
Colossians 1:16 - By the agency of Christ all things were created in the heavens [ this refers to the angelic creation ] …
4)	The verb “were created” is the aorist passive indicative of:
kt…zw / ktizo /: same as bara’ in the Hebrew and ex nihilo in the Latin: to create something out of nothing.
	aorist:	Constative; views the action of the verb in its entirety and indicates that the action took place in a moment of time.  The words “all things” [ t¦ p£nta / ta panta / ] refer to the entire angelic creation, thus all angels were created simultaneously at a moment of time in eternity past.
	passive:	The angelic creation received the action of ex- nihilo creation.
	indicative:	A statement of prehistoric fact.
2 Peter 2:11a -	Angels are greater in might and power …
5)	Peter’s discussion has to do with false teachers.  In that context he remarks that even the angels who are greater in might and power than humans do not enter into judgement of them but defer to the Lord.
6)	The question arises as to the total population of the angelic creation.  According to Hebrews 12:22 their number is said to be “innumerable.”  However that does tell us that their census is quite large.  Several passages of Scripture support this fact:
Deuteronomy 33:2 -	The Lord came from the midst of ten thousand angels …
7)	The number “ten thousand” is the translation of the Hebrew word rebaba and simply stands for a large number.  It is used to communicate the enormity of the number involved.  It is never used for precise enumerations.  The best English translation is “myriads” which also can be translated “innumerable.”
Matthew 26:52 -	Then Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its place for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
v 53 -		“Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
	8)	The word “legions” is the Greek noun legièn / legion /. The precise number of Roman soldiers in a legion is unclear but we can narrow it down to a round figure.  One of the best sources of information on the Roman military is:
Watson, G. R.  The Roman Soldier.  Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1969 (159-160 fn 7):
Hyginus / Ha-JYE-nus / gives 480 men for Cohorts 2 through 10 and 960 for Cohort 1.  Ten cohorts make up a Legion thus the total would be 5,280 men.  Vegetius / Va-GEE-she-us /, Lydus, and Isadore tend to give the round number of 6,000.
W. E. Vine in his An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words informs us that the “New Testament use of the word has a general significance of a large number.”
9)	Nevertheless, if we go by the round figure of 6,000 troops per legion the Lord had at His command some 72,000 angelic legionaries in the Garden of Gethsemane.
10)	In Mark 5, Jesus, while visiting Gerasa / GER-a-sa /, encountered a man possessed by a demon.  The manifestations of this demon assault included the desire to live naked in catacombs, inhuman strength to the point of breaking shackles and chains designed to bind him, and self-mutilation.  When the Lord spoke to the man He did not address him personally but rather the demon that indwelt him:
Mark 5:8 -	“Come out of this man, you unclean spirit!”
v 9 -	And He was asking him, “What is your name?”  And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”