God’s Wisdom in Redemption¹

W S Plumer

In this matter it may assist us to keep clearly in view these truths:

1. God is a holy God. Because of the unchangeable uprightness of His nature, He hates sin. To Him it is abominable.

2. God is the Creator of all things, and therefore He has a perfect right to treat all His creatures as He pleases. His awful challenge is, Shall I not “do what I will with Mine own?” Who dares to take it up?

3. God is every way fit to govern the world and all its inhabitants. All His perfections are infinite. He justly claims and exercises the right of universal empire and control.

4. Man is a creature. He is therefore not independent. He is bound by his Maker’s will. Nothing can release him from these everlasting bonds.

5. Man is a rational agent. He is therefore a fit subject for moral government. He is rightly and justly accountable.

6. Man is a sinner. He has violated the law of his being. He is thus guilty,

¹An edited extract from Plumer’s The Rock of Our Salvation.

depraved, and miserable. He is under a curse, in a state of pollution and a child of sorrow. He is not so unfortunate as he is criminal.

1. Sin is an evil of such magnitude as not to be manageable by finite beings. “It seems to be a law of mind that, once perverted, it should never be able to recover itself.” It is easier to make breaches than to repair them, to pull down than to build up, to kill than to make alive. “He who cannot build a hut, may destroy a palace.” One man may kill another, but all men united cannot give life. This is the law of our nature. Let it never be forgotten.

2. The whole problem of redemption was therefore beyond being solved by a finite mind. The limits of man’s understanding and faculties are narrow. Our wisdom consists not a little in confessing our ignorance, in seeking instruction, in shunning dizzy heights. For human weakness to meddle with the great affairs of God can never be safe.

3. Let us all therefore learn what we can, and pretend to have learned no more than we have. Let us refresh ourselves in the river of truth, but let us not venture beyond our depth. Creation is beyond the reach of fair-minded criticism. So also is redemption. Let us be lowly. There is a connection between humility and solid advancement in knowledge. Paul confessed his insufficiency to fathom the deep things of God: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God”. Such ignorance is wiser than all boasting.

4. At times all feel the necessity of some redemption-price being paid to God for them – some satisfaction being made to divine justice. Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations, whom none will suspect of too strong an inclination to Christian doctrines, says, “Man, when about to appear before a Being of infinite perfections, can feel but little confidence in his own merit, or in the imperfect propriety of his own conduct. To such a Being he can scarce imagine that his littleness and weakness should ever seem to be the proper object either of esteem or regard.” Thousands feel as much as is expressed by this author; as he says, it is very natural that they should. A sense of guilt renders the existence of many almost intolerable; nor can it ever be effectually removed but by some great sacrifice like the blood-shedding of Jesus Christ.

5. Wisdom marks all the divine conduct. In actual operation, wisdom selects good ends and right means to accomplish those ends.

Much of the spirit of true devotion in heaven and in earth consists in the lively exercise of gratitude. And when any are brought under true conviction of sin, no view of their disobedience affects them so deeply and tenderly as their ingratitude. These are the views which melt the hard heart and produce genuine contrition of spirit.

Archibald Alexander