Christ's Work as Root, Fruit, and Brute

A man who was a minister when Sinclair Ferguson was as student use to speak of these three things about the work of Christ. Sinclair mentioned this in one of his sermons:

"Christ gives us deliverance from the bondage to sin, deliverance from the guilt of sin, and the deliverance from the power of Satan, as the root, the fruit, and the brute."

1. He delivers us from the root of the dominion of sin that binds our lives. That is the bondage to sin, the root.

2. He delivers us from the condemnation of sin. That is the guilt of sin, the fruit. He gives us forgiveness that we may live (however imperfectly we may live) with free and full hearts.

3. He delivers us from the dark and sinister powers. That is the deliverance from the power of Satan, the brute. He does this all because we have come to fullness of life in Him in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells.