Ephesians 1:7 NIVUK
[7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Many years ago, my relatives would buy a newspaper. They would read it back to front, then take a pair of scissors and cut our parts of certain pages. Why? Because they contained a coupon for money off something – maybe for four and drink, or transport, or even a holiday.
When they exchanged this coupon for the reduction in price, they said they were ‘redeeming’ it. In fact, some coupons had small print at the bottom that stated their ‘redemption value’ if you ever wanted to exchange them for cash. It was
usually something like a hundredth of a pence – a value so small that it had less of a redemption value than the cost of ink and paper that it took to print it.
That concept of redemption had been around for decades.
However, I don’t think that it's entirely helpful.
The Biblical concept of redemption is quite different. We are not all coupons printed on thin paper in ink that comes off easily enough on your fingertips, but is really difficult to wash off. Yet the Bible repeatedly tells us that if we believe in Jesus Christ, then we are redeemed. For example:
Deuteronomy 15:15 NIVUK
[15] Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
Isaiah 52:3 NIVUK
[3] For this is what the Lord says: ‘You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.’
Galatians 3:14 NIVUK
[14] He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. https://bible.com/bible/113/gal.3.14.NIVUK
1 Peter 1:18-19 NIVUK
[18] For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, [19] but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.1.18.NIVUK
As coupons have largely moved online, the concept of redemption has slipped out of modern parlance.
But what does it mean? And what relevance does it have for how we see ourselves in Christ?
Let’s start with our first question: What is redemption?
The Bible’s pictures of redemption are a little alien to our culture.
For example, a slave was redeemed when either they or a close relative bought them out of slavery to a rich foreigner (Leviticus 25:47-53).
Animals – or even people – who were dedicated to the Lord could be redeemed through the payment of redemption money (Numbers 18:14-16).
A poor widow who inherited land through their husband’s demise could be redeemed from poverty by a close relative, who could agree to purchase both the property and the widow (Ruth 4).
Redemption in Bible times was the transition from a bad state to a good state through some form of payment. It was a transaction – a transaction that was not at all meaningless, but instead highly meaningful for those who participated in it.
Although modern slavery still exists and is a heinous crime against humanity, a stain on our collective conscious and utterly abhorrent in all its forms, a picture that would help us understand redemption better is actually another abhorrent crime – that of kidnapping, where a human being is held illegally against their will until a ransom is paid.
Kidnapping was absolutely illegal in Bible times too, and was a capital offence under Jewish law (Deuteronomy 24:7). However, this picture was actually used in the New Testament to describe what Jesus did for us on the cross:
Mark 10:45 NIVUK
[45] For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
1 Timothy 2:5-6 NIVUK
[5] For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, [6] who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
While someone could be redeemed from a situation they had entered into willingly (for example, someone choosing to be a slave or servant of someone else in order to make a living), the New Testament writers also talk of their captivity being forced.
Another picture we could use to understand this is equally as distressing: that of addiction. Those who choose sin are often like someone being offered a drug or a certain behaviour as a means to alleviate their pain or fulfil their desires. Before they know it, and despite their hollow protestations, they become addicted.
James describes this awful situation here:
James 1:13-15 NIVUK
[13] When tempted, no-one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; [14] but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. [15] Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. https://bible.com/bible/113/jas.1.13.NIVUK
And Paul here:
Romans 7:14-25 NIVUK
[14] We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. [15] I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. [16] And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. [17] As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. [18] For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. [19] For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. [21] So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. [22] For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; [23] but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. [24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? [25] Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Redemption is the process of getting them out of that addiction, out of that slavery, while paying the price to repair the deep damage caused.
I don’t doubt for a second that there may be people reading these lines that are thinking to myself, ‘This sounds like something I need. I need to be redeemed.’ That wouldn’t surprise me. Because we all do. At different times in our lives, perhaps even right now, we find ourselves on the wrong side of the tracks and we need someone to help us cross over to the right side.
That’s why after looking at what redemption is, we are now going to look at How are we redeemed?
But before we look at that, did you know that there is a verse in the Bible which says that no human being can redeem the life of another?
Psalms 49:7-9 NIVUK
[7] No-one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them – [8] the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough – [9] so that they should live on for ever and not see decay.
Now, before we look at this verse in utter dismay, we need to understand what it is referring to. It is referring to people who are very rich and trust in that wealth to save themselves. The psalmist is saying that it is a waste of time – all the money in the world cannot save them.
Believe it or not, there is a similar saying in the Koran, which teaches that ‘no-one laden carries the burden of another’. This has often been used to argue against Christian teaching about Christ bearing our sins and redeeming us on the cross.
But Jesus did find a way. He did redeem us.
We’ll go on to see how.
The first mention of the concept is when God redeemed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, where He reassured them by saying:
Exodus 6:6 NIVUK
[6] ‘Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. https://bible.com/bible/113/exo.6.6.NIVUK
That took place when the final plague visited Egypt and took the firstborn of every human being and every beast, except those whose houses had blood over the door – these were passed over by the angel of death (Exodus 11).
Why?
Because God gave them the means of redemption in the lambs that were killed as part of the Passover meal.
There us something very important here. Those lambs that were slain had a very important aspect:
Exodus 12:5 NIVUK
[5] The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
Without defect.
They needed to be perfect.
If we fast forward now to see how John the Baptist told the people about Jesus, we see this:
John 1:29 NIVUK
[29] The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
We are redeemed by Jesus because He is the lamb without defect; He is the unladen One who carries the burdens of others, and it is His sacrifice and His blood that redeems us, as we saw earlier:
1 Peter 1:18-19 NIVUK
[18] For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, [19] but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.1.18-19.NIVUK
And again:
Romans 3:22-26 NIVUK
[22] This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. [25] God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – [26] he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Jesus paid the redemption price for us.
And what a high price it was!
We ought to respond with the deepest of faith and the utmost of gratitude.
But there is another very serious application:
It ought to change the way we live.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIVUK
[19] Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; [20] you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.
In other words, now that Jesus Christ has paid the price to redeem us and free us from slavery to sin and the poverty of a godless life, why on earth would we go back there? Why would we do the empty things we used to do? Why would we think the empty thoughts we used to think?
When we realise who we are – that we were slaves, reduced to poverty by sin, but Jesus Christ has redeemed us by dying for us on the cross, then sin and temptation have to lose their Siren-like appeal to us. They cannot be who we are. We cannot go back there. We cannot have a kind of Stockholm Syndrome for our sin.
Because we do not want to be enslaved again.
Apart from what redemption is and how we are redeemed, lastly, we also see What do we gain?
The verse we are examining from Ephesians covers this beautifully:
Ephesians 1:7 NIVUK
[7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
So in Jesus, or, if you like, because of what He has done on the cross we have...
Redemption – paid-for freedom from all that brutally enslaves us
Forgiveness – our sins are forgiven by the only One who has the power to forgive them
Grace – God’s infinite resources at our disposal that cover over all that we have done and allow us our freedom.
We read these words in the psalms:
Psalms 32:1-2 NIVUK
[1] Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. [2] Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.32.1-2.NIVUK
That blessedness is ours in Christ. That freedom from condemnation is ours in Christ:
Romans 8:1-2 NIVUK
[1] Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, [2] because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.8.1-2.NIVUK
Redemption does all this for us. It sets us free. If gives us agency and the ability to choose.
We no longer have to wear the heavy, unbearable chains of our own sin. We can lay them down and walk away. The challenge Jesus gave to the woman caught in adultery is ours too:
John 8:10-11
[10] Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no-one condemned you?’ [11] ‘No-one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’
But there is a twist in this.
Under Jewish law, during every fiftieth year following the Exodus, the Jews were commanded to let their slaves go, just as they has been freed from slavery. But if a slave felt they did not want to leave, they could opt to stay. If they did so, an awl was banged through their ear lobe into the door of the house to signify that they were a slave for life (Deuteronomy 15:12-18).
Jesus’ payment of our redemption price is a glorious, wonderful thing that frees us and allows us to gain all the benefits freedom brings, and with them eternal life.
But even when faced with the beauty of redemption, there are those who still choose to stay behind in slavery to their base instincts, or to substance abuse, or to unhealthy habits.
Don’t be among them.
Jesus died to set you free. He has redeemed you.
Accept that freedom. Today.
I recently read of a group of people who are suing a company that runs dating apps. Their accusation was definitely interesting. They believe that by ‘gamifying’ the most intimate of human relationships, they have turned human beings into nothing more than a commodity to be traded, a prize in a game, an object to be desired and then cast aside when it no longer seems to be useful or when a better model comes along.
I have to say, I am not surprised.
I worked for a while in an HR department – Human Resources. Even there, human beings were routinely described as ‘headcount’ or ‘FTEs’ (Full Time Employees).
I now work in IT Service Management. Our standards dictate that we refer to people as ‘users’.
For our governments, we are just a social security number.
For our companies, an employee number.
For our banks and financial organisations, an account number.
For our IT systems, a user name.
For our utility providers, a customer number.
For our health authorities, a patient number.
For casinos, gambling and con-men, a mark.
For racists and xenophobes, one of ‘them’.
Our culture dehumanises from our birth to our death, when we become just another statistic.
The trippy, but classic 1967 TV show ‘The Prisoner’ brilliantly satirised this. However, I don’t think anyone was really listening, because since then things have only gotten way worse.
In the show, the lead character, played brilliantly by Patrick McGoohan, refused to accept his designation as ‘Number Six’ and yells, ‘I am not a number. I am a free man.’
But he might as well have been yelling into the wind.
It has made no earthly difference.
But Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross changes everything. Now we are made in the image of God, loved by God, precious to Him, lost but sought out by Him, and redeemed by Him.
He paid an extraordinary price so that we could be redeemed. No-one else could pay that price, and even if they could, they wouldn’t.
You can be free. You should be free.
So be free. Today.
Accept your redemption in Jesus Christ. Walk away from your sin.
And live life to the fullest.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I understand my redemption much better now. It is truly an awesome thing. Thank you from the depths of my heart for redeeming me. I want to be free. Help me to live in the freedom You have given me. Amen.
Questions
1. Describe what it means to be redeemed in your own words. What does this mean for you, right now?
2. Who has redeemed us? Why could only He do it?
3. Will you accept the redemption price paid for you by Jesus on the cross today? What will it mean for you to be free?
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