Redemption (Christianity)

In Christian teaching, redemption refers to the delivery of mankind from the slavery of sin and restoring man to a state of grace as sons "by adoption" through the life and death of the incarnate Word of God, the "only begotten son" Jesus Christ. This act of redemption is seen as one of the great mysteries spanning the whole history of mankind, an act for once and for all in which mankind is in the position of recipient, each individual having the free choice to respond or not. Man cannot, by himself, remove the guilt of rejection established by original sin; but divine love freely and permanently asserted over this rejection overcomes guilt and makes forgiveness possible.

Objective redemption is seen as an event preceding justification and subjective redemption or [sanctification]

. The event which makes objective redemption possible is the cross of Jesus Christ, making mankind always and everywhere open to God's forgiving love, as a whole and despite their culpable destiny. As Christ's suffering accomplished redemption, so it is on the path of suffering that the Church meets man. In Christ "every man becomes the way for the Church".