Caspar Olevianus
Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1, Q1:
Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
In this post we will be examining two passages of Scripture, in order to find out what they can teach us about the “precious blood” of our “faithful savior Jesus Christ”. The first passage is found in I Peter:
I Peter 1:17-19
“And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Redeemed from Aimless Conduct
In order to fully understand what these passages mean, it will be helpful to first get a bit of background knowledge. Not too long ago, we studied Titus 2:14 and explored the depths of what it means to be redeemed. We saw that the word “redeemed” carries the thought of being bought with a price out of bondage, delivered, and set at liberty. In Titus 2:14, we are said to be redeemed from all lawlessness, that is, sin. Peter, however, writes to his audience that they have been redeemed from their “aimless conduct received by tradition from [their] fathers.”
What is the “aimless conduct” Peter is referring to? Continue Reading
The Sovereign Logos 