Redemption
“DURING N.T. TIMES THE ROMAN EMPIRE HAD AS MANY AS 6,000,000 SLAVES, and the buying and selling of them was a major business. If a person wanted to free a loved one or friend who was a slave, he would buy that slave for himself and then grant him freedom. He would redeem him. The legal evidence of this deliverance was a written certificate. The Greek verb for ‘redemption’ (to be discussed below) was used to designate the freeing of the slave in that way. This is precisely the idea carried in the N.T. use of the term to represent Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross. He paid the redemption price to buy for Himself fallen mankind and to set them free from their sin.” – MacArthur/TAR…
YOU WILL REMEMBER IN OUR STUDY FORM LAST WEEK, “ACCEPTED in the Beloved,” one of the things we learned was that salvation is all of God. It is all but impossible to read the first chapter of the great book of Ephesians and not see that our salvation is from beginning to end a result of God’s goodness and grace. Paul’s words seem to be so clear and all-inclusive that– to me, at least – it is impossible to miss. Listen once more to vv. 5-6…
ALLOW ME TO REMIND YOU THAT VV. 3-14 OF CHAPTER 1 ARE ALL ONE extended sentence in the Greek text…
NAS Ephesians 1:5-6 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
“VERSES 5 AND 6 TELL US WHY THE INFINITE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE SHOULD stoop to choose weak, failure-prone, sin-ridden creatures like you and me as part of His ultimate plan. Paul’s words make it clear that we have no reason to feel important because we have been chosen by God. On the contrary, we should be humbled by the truth. There is not anything in us that God needs to fulfill His plan. His choice is based not on our intrinsic merit, but on the kind of God He truly is. Verses 5-6 tell us that God chose us for adoption as His sons and daughters for two reasons: (1) His sovereign, free choice is ‘in accordance with His good pleasure and will’; and (2), it was to the praise of His glorious grace.” – Steadman…
“IT IS ALL OF GOD. NONE OF IT IS US. It begins with God’s pleasure and will. It gives Him pleasure to save us for his use. And the final result of His choice is praise – all the universe responds with joy, praising God throughout creation.” – Steadman…
WHEN I SAY “GOD,” I AM SPEAKING, OF COURSE, OF GOD THE FATHER. Scholars make a major point of saying that in Paul’s introduction in vv. 3-14, we see the three persons of the Trinity distinctly presented: first God the Father in vv. 3-6, and then God the Son beginning in v. 7. When we get to v. 13, we will see the work of God the Holy Spirit…
WITH V. 7, WE FOCUS ON GOD THE SON, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. This is such a beautiful passage of Scripture!…
NAS Ephesians 1:7-8 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8 which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight
“IN HIM,” THAT IS IN “THE BELOVED,” JESUS CHRIST. This little word “in” denotes the spiritual sphere in which we exist as Christians. We should take great comfort that we are in Christ; we are in all that Christ is. The little word “in” here indicates “an internal, intimate relationship” (Hoehner)…
THIS TELLS US THAT “REDEMPTION IS INTEGRALLY CONNECTED WITH Christ.” –Hoehner…
“WE HAVE”… The verb is a present tense verb in the active voice. That means we have it redemption now (as completed action in the past) and we have the results of this past action continuously…
“REDEMPTION IS AN ONGOING STATE. The present tense implies redemption and forgiveness are present possessions. This is in keeping with Paul’s stress on the present nature of salvation.” – Hoehner…
I ENCOURAGE YOU NOT TO MISS THIS POINT. In clear terms the Bible tells us that when we place our trust in Jesus, immediately we have salvation…
MORE THAN ANY OTHER WRITER IN SCRIPTURE, JOHN STRESSES THIS present tense nature of salvation. His memorable statements about salvation all include present tense verbs…
NAS John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
YOU BELIEVE, YOU HAVE. There is no second step, nothing else to do; nothing that has to be done by God. You believe, and instantly and completely you have…
NAS John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
NAS John 6:47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
THERE IS GREAT PEACE AND COMFORT IN THESE WORDS, brothers and sisters. Amen?…
PAUL SAYS, “IN HIM, IN THE BELOVED ONE, WE HAVE REDEMPTION”…
THE GREEK WORD FOR “REDEMPTION” IS ἀπολύτρωσις (a-pa-lu-tro-sis). The word literally means as an action the buying back of a slave or captive through the payment of a ransom. Figuratively, which is how Paul is using ἀπολύτρωσις (a-pa-lu-tro-sis), it means rescue from sin, deliverance from sin, setting free from sin. It is a beautiful word to hear and to gratefully ponder…
ἀπολύτρωσις (a-pa-lu-tro-sis) IS USED 10 TIMES IN THE N.T., seven of those times by Paul and three of those seven times in the book of Ephesians. It is used again in v. 14, where it is referring to the Holy Spirit and the future dimension of our redemption. The N.T. consistently speaks of the three dimensions of our salvation: past, present, and future. Rather than saying we are saved, it would be more accurate, based upon a careful study of the Scriptures, to say, we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. While our salvation is real and eternal now, there is also a sense in which our salvation will not be completed until we get to heaven…
“ALREADY NOT YET” COMES TO MIND…
VERSE 14 IS PAUL’S SECOND USE OF ἀπολύτρωσις (a-pa-lu-tro-sis) in Ephesians…
NAS Ephesians 1:14 who is given as a pledge (or guarantee – NKJ, or down payment – NET, or deposit – NIV) of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
AND AGAIN IN CHAPTER 4, V. 30…
NAS Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
BACK TO OUR VERSE FOR THIS BLOG… Paul says our redemption is through the precious blood of the Beloved…
NAS Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood…
“IN THIS CONTEXT, THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.” – NET Notes…
“IT COST THE BLOOD OF THE SON OF GOD TO BUY MEN BACK from the slave market of sin.” – MacArthur…
NAS Hebrews 9:22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
“SHEDDING OF BLOOD” IS ANOTHER WAY OF REFERRING TO DEATH, which is the penalty and the price of sin…
NAS Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“CHRIST’S OWN DEATH WAS THE SUBSTITUTE FOR OUR DEATH. That which we deserved and could not save ourselves from, the beloved Savior, though He did not deserve it, took upon Himself. He made payment for what otherwise would have condemned us to death and hell.”– MacArthur…
NAS Leviticus 17:11 ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’
“IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE BLOOD OF SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS was continually offered on the altars of the Tabernacle and then the Temple. But that blood was never able, and was never intended to cleanse the offerers from sin. Those animals were only symbolic, typical substitutes.” – MacArthur…
THE WRITER OF THE BOOK OF HEBREWS SAYS THIS VERY THING…
NAS Hebrews 10:4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
AND IN HEBREWS 10:10…
NAS Hebrews 10:10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
LIKE A SACRIFICIAL LAMB, CHRIST OFFERED HIMSELF AS A SACRIFICE to God for the final payment of sins. This offering, Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:2, was like the sweet smell of incense to God…
NAS Ephesians 5:2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
NAS Hebrews 9:12-14 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
CAN WE NOT GET A SENSE OF WONDER OF OUR SALVATION through these bloody, sacrificial verses? What Paul is telling us is so awesome, so overwhelmingly beautiful, that it should inspire us daily to live our lives in tribute to the One – the “Beloved One” – who bought us back from sin and death with His precious blood…
THE MORE I STUDIED THIS PASSAGE THIS WEEK, THE MORE IT HUMBLED ME… Jesus is our Savior. He saved us. Our lives belong to Him…
NAS 1 Corinthians 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
NAS 1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
ALL OF THIS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GOD’S GRACE, God’s unmerited favor, God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense…
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,
WE ARE SAVED NOT BY OUR GOOD WORKS, BUT BY GOD’S GRACE…
NAS Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
GOD GIVES US THIS SAVING GRACE IN ABUNDANCE…
Ephesians 1:8 which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight
THE GREEK WORD FOR “LAVISHED” IS περισσεύω (per-i-sue-o). One lexicon defined this verb, to be over and above, to abound. We receive God’s grace in overabundance. And as I studied this word this week I developed a sense of the word that led me to believe that this grace may not only be seen as being sufficient for all God demands of us in salvation, but that his grace continues to flow from God to us throughout our lives on earth. God takes pleasure in being extravagant in blessing us. He blesses us in profusion. I think we all know that, even if we don’t focus on it in thanksgiving as much as we should…
LISTEN TO WHAT JESUS SAID IN MATTHEW as He explained why He often spoke in parables…
NAS Matthew 13:12 “For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
AND IN JOHN 1:16…
NAS John 1:16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
WHILE THE MEANING OF THIS ELLIPTIC EXPRESSION MAY BE DEBATED, it most probably means literally “grace on top of grace”…
TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR WORDS…
A WORD IN CLOSING ABOUT FORGIVENESS…
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,
“THE PRIMARY RESULT OF REDEMPTION FOR THE BELIEVER IS FORGIVENESS. Redemption brings forgiveness.” – MacArthur…
TO ANYONE WHO HAS EVER EXPERIENCED IT SURELY CAN TESTIFY, forgiveness is one of the dearest blessings we can experience. I’d like to say more – surely there is more to say – but maybe that is enough…
THANK YOU, LORD, FOR THE REDEMPTION from and forgiveness of sins that astoundingly ours because of Your grace…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
