The elite in our world are preaching with vigor their brand of freedom and tolerance all the while attempting to enslave us to their ideologies and open-minded intolerances. These nice activists you meet on the street or on streams of social media are perfectly willing to force you to comply to their demands and if you stubbornly refuse, then you shouldn’t be allowed in their enlightened society. Governments and corporations have largely bowed the knee to these woke philosophers all in the name of tokenism. They’ll embrace almost anything so long as it benefits their institutions financially. The goal of these woke warriors is to bring a so-called equity to all and how they plan on doing this is to tear down societal institutions in hopes that they can build better ones. While I’m sure the intentions of some are noble, they are peddling a mirage and sadly they think we’re gullible enough to believe that their utopia will be less oppressive than the last. They themselves are fooled in believing that they won’t rebuild without repressing those they see as different or deemed less than them. You know, like those religious folk? What we must not miss, is that while our society has done atrocious things towards those they deemed as inferior, these self-enlightened activists will do something far worst. Before you drink the proverbial cool aid of our modern-day sages, consider that we are already seeing the results of their solutions and we’ve seen nothing but death, fire, perversion, and chaos. When they don’t get their way, they bring suffering, violence, and demise. The solution to our problem of oppression is not in the destruction of western civilization or uniting behind a rainbow flag but in redemption and forgiveness. For the Christian, this is the ultimate solution. Before moving on to fix our societal wrongs, we need to receive restoration and reconciliation in Christ, and grant to others the same.
The Text
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight (Ephesians 1:7-8)
In our previous segment, we saw that our election and predestination were found in Christ. In this same beloved One, we now see the fruit of His sacrifice on the cross. While the election and predestination were granted to us before the foundation of the world, forgiveness and redemption are what we, as believers, experience in history. This heavenly blessing is a current possession for believers in Jesus Christ. We “now” possess redemption in His blood and the forgiveness of our trespasses. Not in some potential provisional form, but just like our election and predestination, these blessings of redemption and forgiveness are assured and meant to be experienced by a particular people.
The Shackles Are Released
There is a dynamic in scripture in which the believer in Jesus Christ is transferred from one state to another. An example of this might be the relocation of a person spiritually from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son (Colossians 1:13). Another similar transference can be found in our identity. As believers in Christ, the scriptures tell us that we’ve moved from slavery to freedom. Our state converts from being a slave of sin to the position of the freed man (Romans 6:17). Every man born in this world is born into spiritual slavery, inclined to sin and against God’s righteousness, and all men are called to seek the freedom found in Christ. For the slave to find freedom, he needs a liberator and Christ is that liberator. First century Christians were quite familiar with the demands of slavery since many were literally slaves. The term often used to communicate the action of being freed from slavery was redemption. Redemption (απολυτνωσις) was a price paid to release a slave from his/her bondage (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23). While we use it in a more religious sense today, it had a physical connotation to it in those days. Christians in the first century borrowed from the common concept of the term redemption to communicate a biblical truth. Under the Old Testament, an individual could sell themselves into slavery to pay off a debt and there were strict laws on how this was to happen. As an example, the owner couldn’t keep them in this state of slavery their whole lives, and a family member was allowed to pay the price to redeem them (Leviticus 25:47-49)[1]. In the Greek world, many became slaves through being the plunder of a victorious army. They were lead away as a conquered people to showcase the victory of the army and then sold as slaves. If the individual was deemed as important in their homeland, someone may pay a price (ransom) to free (redeem) them to return them home. If no one paid the ransom to liberate them from the enemy, they were left in their state of slavery for the rest of their lives.
Slavery to Sin
During His earthly ministry, Jesus addressed the problem of slavery and freedom. Christ engaged a group of Jews with the reality that they were not free men:
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32).
Their reply to His accusation was that they never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” (v.33). The basis for this reply was that they were physical descendants of Abraham and not enslaved to a foreign nation. The Lord Jesus wasn’t talking about a slavery to another nation but a slavery to sin:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:34-36).
The practice of sin demonstrated that they were slaves. While convinced they were freemen in Abraham, the Lord Jesus confronted them with the reality of their state as slaves. They were not genuine sons of the household but took the position of the slave in the household because of their sins. In God’s house, Jesus is the Son, and they are the slaves who had no permanent place in the family[2] If they wanted a part in the family of Yahweh, they needed to become sons. Being brought into the family as sons required them to be set free from their slavery through redemption found in God’s Son.
The Redeemer
The one who made the payment for the liberation of the slave was known as a redeemer. The redeemer would purchase the slave and have ownership over them which in return meant that he had the right to determine what to do with them. As we can see, the redeemer is Christ. The New Testament writers demonstrate that very purpose of His coming as the Saviour was so that He would pay our ransom from slavery. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). This ransom has freed us from sin and our bondage (Romans 6:14).
This redemption takes on another dynamic when applied to the law. Those who attempt to justify themselves by the law are under a curse and Christ comes as the redeemer to free them from that curse (Galatians 3:11-13). Those who were under the law who exercise faith in Christ are now free from its penalty and should never consider returning to it (Galatians 5:1). Paul tells us that our justification before God comes through this redemption (Romans 3:23-25). The purchase price of this redemption was not in gold or silver but by the shed blood of the Redeemer who offered Himself as the payment for sin. This redemption brought by the Redeemer has permanent effect (Hebrews 9:12).
The Life of Freedom
If the result of this redemption is a freed life, then our lives are to be lived as free men and by not returning to sin. We are to live in a very different way. We should live our lives as a people who have now become servants of Christ (1 Corinthians 7:21-23) and a people free to worship the True and Living God.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Future Redemption
While this redemption we’ve been speaking of is something we currently experience, we are still looking towards the day when we receive the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). As we will see later, Christians still have a coming day to look forward to in the future called the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30)
The Forgiveness of Sins
What we also find in our text is Paul further describing this heavenly blessing of salvation by stating that through this blood, we also have the forgiveness of our trespasses. We receive this forgiveness of our sins through faith in Him (Acts 10:43) and our mandate as Christians is to proclaim this forgiveness to the nations (Acts 13:38). This is exactly what the apostle was called to proclaim. They were sent to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ (Acts 26:18)
The Lavishness of God
The salvation that we experience are accorded to us by the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. Our blessings of salvation find their root in the divine act of God showing favour towards those who are unworthy sinners. This grace is described as riches, a term that Paul will use many times in this epistle to describe the value of the blessings of God (1:18; 2:7; 3:8,16). The quality of the grace is that of richness while the quantity is found in the abundance by which He showered us with them. God truly lavished upon us his riches! He made our cups to overflow in the grace He has poured out in abundance upon us through the Messiah.
The Knowledge Perception
The apostle Paul continues His glorious eulogy by expressing how it was manifested to those who received it, mainly in all wisdom and insight. In other words, it was granted to believers by opening their minds to the reality of the cost of this redemption. In light of this, the wisdom and insight have become heavenly blessings in of themselves (Colossians 1:9) and create a cause to offer our gracious God praise for this heavenly understanding.
The Impact of God’s Forgiveness
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the proclamation of the redemption which results in Him forgiving our sins. This is the driving force behind the good news of the Christian message. It is good news that we have been made right with God! While social reforms and reconciliation are unquestionably significant especially in the present chaos in our country, we really need to discover the true meaning of redemption and forgiveness. There is no man-made utopia that can bring about this type of peace. It is only through those who have experienced the peace of God through a right standing with Him and a unity in this salvation that can bring about societal change. Transformation comes in the interlocking of love for a people who stand as brothers and sisters in Christ. A reform based upon God’s standard of goodness, not ours. We need to turn to a unifier in Jesus Christ who is the true example of love and forgiveness like no other.
We must also not forget that the message of redemption and forgiveness needs to be prevalent in the church. We should live out these blessings in Christ by demonstrating our redemption to fellow believers. We can accomplish this through the forgiveness for their trespasses against us. We must think of ourselves as family members who have been unified and desire to live in harmony together, no matter how challenging that might be at times. There is nothing more precious than to have someone who has offended us come with a desire to be redeemed and we must be willing to forgive them (Matthew 5:24-26). This is precisely how we will truly be appealing to the eyes of the world.
[1] This isn’t the only way that redemption is accomplished in the OT. Sometimes, redemption came, not with a payment, but as a rescue. When Israel went into slavery at the hands of the Egyptians, Yahweh promised to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments (Exodus 6:6). It wasn’t with a payment that He accomplished this, but with the right arm of power (Exodus 15:20; Psalm 77:14-15)
[2] See Pillar New Testament Commentary, D.A. Carson, Page 350
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