So redemption is deliverance from sin here, and from its consequences hereafter.  For in the next world it is either God or nothing.  And Hell is that nothing.  It is totally negative – an eternal emptiness.  And each human being is free to choose for himself or herself either God or that emptiness.  And sin is the soul’s No to God.  The Book of Job puts that No into words, “Leave us alone!  We do not desire to know your ways” (NRSV, 21:14).  And God can do nothing other than to take them at their word.  He was crucified for them.  What more can he do?

Redemption is an essential and major part of the work of our salvation which is at the heart of the Christian Gospel, the Good News that Christ died that we might be forgiven our sins and restored and united to God, and by his grace be changed into the likeness of himself.  It is a moral and spiritual resurrection and transformation, the soul’s passage from death to life.  As St Paul put it to the Christians at Ephesus, “…when we were dead through our trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up with him…” (NRSV, Ephesians 2:5,6, our emphasis).  And the Apostle added, “…by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” (NRSV, Ephesians 2:8).