The gracious work of redemption has two parts:
A. The removal of the evil into which we had fallen
B. The restoration of the good we lost through the fall (elsewhere he notes that we are raised higher than we fell!)
A.1 The cleansing from sin.
A.2 The extinguishing of God’s wrath (cf. Is 63:3; 1 Thes. 1:16)
A.3 The redemption from the curse of the Law
A.4 The deletion of the handwriting that was against us.
A.5 The destruction of the devil’s kingdom and power.
A.6 The liberation from death and damnation.
B.1 The restoration of perfect righteousness which avails before God.
B.2 The reconciliation with God.
B.3 The restoration of life under God’s blessing.
B.4 The tranquility of conscience (Romans 5: justified by faith, we have peace with God)
B.5 The inheritance of the great gift of grace of the Holy Spirit
B.6 The restoration of eternal salvation.
“What the devil had corrupted through sin, [God] once more made restored by Christ taking away sins, so that everything might be made right again, and that mankind might attend the end result of his creation.”—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis I:50
“The world now seems to operate according to the motto, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ All sinners proceed on the assumption that there is no God whom men must fear and no judgment in which men must give an account. People make no secret of their sins; they even boast about them.”—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 25.
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