What is Redemptive History?

Redemptive history may best be defined as God the Father’s purposed and determined direction for history, as it is summed up in the redeeming work of Christ in the world, with the ultimate goal of history being the new heavens and new earth.   Richard Lints says this about redemptive history,

 “A fundamental fact about the Scriptures is that they constitute a text with a developing story.  It is a story that clearly progresses toward the accomplishment of specific goals.  Redemption is an activity of God that unfolds over time.  This unfolding movement in the biblical text is profoundly important to the accomplishment of its purposes.  We must remember that Scripture not only witnesses to God’s redemption but it is also an effective agent of that redemption.  Biblical revelation progresses because it mirrors the progressive nature of redemption.  The ‘story’ of God’s involvement with and redemption of his people is acted out on the stage of history with many distinct but related parts.”[1]

These related ‘parts’ of the developing story of Scripture are broken down into four segments: creation, fall, redemption, and new creation.  This progression of God’s redemptive plan through these 4 stages of history (specifically creation, redemption, and new creation) must be seen individually in how God works within the Trinitarian relationship.  In reading Scripture Christo-centrically, we come to learn that the hero of the Bible is Jesus.  Redemptive History tells the story of the Father’s plan for his creation through the complete exaltation of the Son.  

[1]Lints, Richard, The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1993), 262-63.