REDEMPTION: PART 3

We have seen that the cross was the price that Jesus paid to secure our freedom from captivity to Satan, sin and death. But redemption in the Bible is not just about being set free from captivity, it is also about being restored to the family, tribe or nation to whom one rightfully belongs. 

The price of belonging

The blood of Jesus, therefore, is the price that He was willing to pay not only in order to secure our freedom from slavery to sin, but also in order to 'buy us back' for God. Through the blood of Jesus we are now 'a people belonging to God' (1 Peter 2: 9). We are no longer slaves to sin, held captive under Satan's control; we are servants of righteousness, enjoying true freedom as the people of God under His loving and gracious rule. There has been a dramatic change of ownership.

In 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 Paul reminds the Corinthians: 'You are not your own; you were bought at a price.'  In 1 Peter 1: 18-19, Peter says 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 but with the precious blood of Christ.' And in Revelation 5: 8-9 (NCV) we read that: 'the four living  creatures and the twenty-four elders...sang a new song to the Lamb: 'You are worthy to take the scroll  and to open its seals, because you were killed and with the blood of your death you bought people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.'

God's purpose from the beginning of time has always been to call out from the world a people who would be His own special people. In Old Testament times, Moses told the people of Israel that: 'the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth' (Deuteronomy 7: 6 ESV). Now, through faith in Jesus, that same privilege and designation is ours. The new covenant in His blood includes the promise: 'I will be their God and they will be my people' (Jeremiah 31: 33).

How Does The Death Of Jesus Purchase Our Belonging To God?

In the chapter on Did Jesus Die In My Place we looked at the two Greek words anti and huper which are both translated 'for' in the New Testament. I said that whenever the death of Christ is described as being 'for' us, the word huper (meaning 'for our benefit') rather than anti (meaning 'in our place') is always used. However, there is one exception to this which we must now consider.

When Jesus said that He had come to give His life as a 'ransom for many' (Mark 10: 45) the word anti is used and as we pointed out, this usually means 'in place of'. But it can also be translated 'in exchange for' and I suggest that this is the meaning here. That Jesus gave His life 'in exchange for' us does not mean that He was punished in our place; it simply means that His death was the price that He had to pay in order to buy us back for God. Just as an animal had to be sacrificed to 'redeem' the life of every first-born son in Israel, so Jesus' sacrifice was necessary to 'redeem' us from slavery to sin and restore us to God as His rightful possession.

There is substitution of a kind here in that one life is given in exchange for another but it is not penal substitution. The animal given in exchange for the first-born son was not being punished for his sins. It was the price his family had to pay in order to buy him back from God, to whom all first-born sons in Israel were said to belong, and restore him to his family. Similarly, Jesus was not being punished for our sins. He was paying the price that had to be paid in order for Him to buy us back from captivity to Satan and restore us to God. 

When you hand over your hard-earned cash to pay, say, for a bar of chocolate, one thing (your cash) is given in exchange for another (the bar of chocolate) and in a sense you could say that you were given the chocolate in place of, or as a substitute for, your cash. But this does not mean that your cash is now treated as if it were a bar of chocolate or that the bar of chocolate is now treated as if it were a sum of money! There is a transfer of ownership here - nothing more. 

Similarly, as result of the fact that Jesus has made full atonement for our sins, we have been set free from Satan and now rightfully belong to God. There is a transfer of ownership here - but this does not mean either that Jesus is now treated as if he were me or that I am now treated as if I were Him. Properly understood, the price Jesus paid for us resulted in a transfer of ownership, not in a transfer of either guilt or righteousness from one party to the other. In offering up His life as a sacrifice of atonement for us, Jesus paid the price that God required in order that He might justly set us free from captivity to Satan and restore us to Himself.

In a previous chapter we noted that there is a penal element in the atonement in that Jesus took upon Himself the penalty that needed to be paid for our sins but we argued that this was not penal substitution because Jesus died not as a substitute for us but in solidarity with us. We now see that there is also a substitutionary element in the atonement in that one life is given in exchange for another but again this is not penal substitution since there is no suggestion in this exchange that Jesus was punished in our place. Rather, He gave His life to make atonement for us and this is why we have now been released from captivity to Satan and have become 'a people belonging to God'. The right way to put this is to say that Jesus gave His life as a ransom for sinners, not as a substitute for them.

In the classic children's book by CS Lewis, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, it seems as if Aslan gives his life in place of the traitor Edmund. But Lewis is correct to show that the source of Aslan's suffering is the White Witch - not the Emperor Beyond The Sea. Aslan is not being punished by the Emperor in place of Edmund. Rather he is giving his life in accordance with the 'deeper magic' that had been decreed by the Emperor but was unknown to the witch, that if a willing victim who had done no wrong were to give his life in a traitor's stead, death itself would start working backwards and all the consequences of his treachery would be undone. 

This is a wonderful picture of what Christ has done for us on the cross. By giving his life for Edmund, Aslan paid the price that was needed to buy him back from the White Witch just as on the cross Jesus paid the price that was needed to buy us back from captivity to Satan. By giving his life for Edmund, Aslan was making atonement for his treachery in accordance with the Emperor's plan - a plan that had been established long ago, but kept secret until the time had come for it to be revealed. And in the same way, by giving His life for us Jesus was making atonement for our sins in accordance with God's great plan of redemption - a plan that had been 'kept secret from ages and generations past' (Colossians 2: 16) but has now been revealed to us. CS Lewis does not say that Aslan was punished in Edmund's place and nor does the Bible say that Jesus was punished in ours.

It was by making atonement for our sins, rather than by being punished in our place, that Jesus paid the price that needed to be paid in order that we might be set free from Satan and become 'a people belonging to God'.

What does this mean for us?

The fact that we are now 'a people belonging to God' changes everything for us. Peter reminds us: 'You have been redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors' (1 Peter 1: 18). As a result of the cross, any sense of emptiness, worthlessness, hopelessness or alienation we may have felt as a result of life lived apart from God has been replaced with at least four opposite 'senses' which are essential for a healthy inner life and which enable us to function as God always intended we should. As the people of God we have been given a new sense of worth, security, identity and purpose, all of which are rooted in the fact that, as a result of the price that Jesus paid for us, we now belong to Him.

A sense of worth

The fact that God was willing to give His own Son to purchase us for Himself shows just how precious we are to Him. I have always loved the words of a Graham Kendrick song, written in the seventies while he was working as a solo artist in the singer / songwriter tradition. Here are some of the lyrics:

'How much do you think you are worth, boy?

Will anyone stand up and say?

Would you say that your life is worth nothing

Until someone is willing to pay?

If you heard that your life had been valued

That a price had been paid on the nail

Would you ask what was traded,

How much and who paid it

Who was He and what was His name?

If you heard that His name was called Jesus

Would you say that the price was too dear?

Held to the cross not by nails but by love

It was you broke His heart, not the spear!

Would you say you are worth what it cost Him?

You say 'no', but the price stays the same.

If it don't make you cry, laugh it off, pass Him by,

But just remember the day when you throw it away

That He paid what He thought you were worth.'1

The cross reminds us that in Christ, God was willing to give everything He had in order that we might be His. No matter who we are, or what we have done, the cross tells us loudly and clearly that we matter to God. We are loved far more than we could ever possibly imagine. In sending His only Son Jesus, whom He loved, to give His life as a ransom for us 'He paid what He thought (we) were worth'. 

A sense of security

Paul says that we have been 'sealed with the promised Holy Spirit' (Ephesians 1: 13). Just as we might use an invisible marker pen to write our names on our most prized possessions in order to mark them out as ours, so God has given us the Holy Spirit to mark us out as His. This gives us a wonderful sense of security. Having been marked out as His, and knowing that we are His 'treasured possession' we can be sure that He will take care of us throughout our lives and bring us at last to be with Him forever. We are 'kept safe by God's power' (1 Peter 1: 5 GNT).

As someone once said, of the twin facts that 'I am His' and 'He is mine' the former is probably the greater. In spite of my best efforts I still sometimes lose the things that belong to me. But whatever belongs to Jesus can never be lost. 'I give them eternal life,' Jesus said, 'and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand' (John 10: 28). We are utterly safe and secure in His hands.

'If God is for us, who can be against us?' asks Paul. 'I am certain that...there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.' (Romans 8: 31, 38-39).

A sense of identity

The television programme Long Lost Family confirms how important it is for us as human beings to have a sense of identity - to know where we have come from and the family to which we belong. This helps us to understand and embrace the characteristics that are built into our DNA and to become who we truly are.

The apostle John says: 'See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!' (1 John 3: 1). This is our new identity in Christ. We are children of God.

And John's point is that since we no longer belong to the world, we should no longer allow ourselves to be shaped by the world's attitudes and values but instead live in a way that shows we are God's children. And that means living in obedience to God's commands and allowing His Spirit to transform us so that we become more and more like our Father in heaven - who is love. It is through our love for one another, John says, that we show ourselves to be God's children.

If we truly are children of God, we will increasingly share the family likeness. Jesus says: 'I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may (show yourselves to) be children of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5: 44-45). And Paul says: 'As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity' (Colossians 3: 12-14).

Remembering that we belong to God will help us to embrace the work of the Spirit in our lives as He enables us to grow in the family likeness. It will also help us to keep our lives free from sin. In the context of sexual morality Paul says: '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; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies'. (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20).

Similarly, Peter says that since we know that we have been redeemed 'not by corruptible things such as silver and gold...but by the precious blood of Jesus' (1 Peter 1: 18-19) we ought to lives that are characterised by 'reverent fear' (verse 17) - that is, we ought not to take lightly the privilege we have of calling God our Father and the responsibility that comes with this to live in a way that is worthy of the family name. 'Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do' (verse 15).

A sense of purpose

In 1 Peter 2: 9 Peter says that God has purchased us for Himself so that we 'may declare the praises of Him who called (us) out of darkness into His wonderful light'. God's purpose for us is that we might be witnesses of who He is and of what He has done to those around us who do not yet know Him. As a 'people belonging to God' we have been given good news to share and we have been equipped to make a difference. Our calling is to proclaim and demonstrate the good news of the gospel in the world around us and so bring God honour and praise.

In 2 Timothy 2: 20 Paul says that in God's house (the church) the members are like utensils set aside for the Master's use. 'If you keep yourself pure,' he says, 'you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work' (verse 21 NLT). As those who have been purchased by God and set aside for His use our aim should be to keep our lives free from sin so that He can use us to accomplish His highest purposes.

It is a wonderful privilege and honour that God should choose to use us as the means by which He makes Himself known and accomplishes His saving purposes in the world around us. We have been given the highest of all callings. We have been counted worthy of having a part to play in the work of the Kingdom.

As those who have been brought back from the dead and called into God's service, Paul says: 'Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God...and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness' (Romans 6: 13). Or as he puts it later on: 'So then, my friends, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer' (Romans 12: 1 GNT).

As God's blood-bought people our purpose in life is to declare His praises in all we do and say so that others in our family, in our neighbourhood and in our world will come to know Him as He is and give Him the praise that is due to Him as the One who calls us 'out of darkness into His wonderful light'.

The fact that we have been redeemed by 'the precious blood of Jesus' gives us a sense of worth: God has shown us how much we matter to Him. It gives us a sense of security: we belong to Him and are kept safe in His hands. It gives us a sense of identity: we are His children and are growing in His likeness. And it gives us a sense of purpose: we have been called into and equipped for service in His Kingdom. 

Notes

1. From the song 'How Much Do You Think You Are Worth' by Graham Kendrick.