Concerning the believers’ present, we have seen that the believers have been called, that they have been sanctified by the Spirit, that they have repented, and that they have believed, have been baptized, and have been joined to the processed Triune God. Now we shall see that, as a crucial part of their present, the believers have been redeemed.
Many precious biblical terms, terms which are very important in the Word, have become common and religious. We may even say that they have been spoiled. The word “redeemed” is an example of a biblical term that has become religious because of the way it is commonly used. Therefore, when we read this word in the Bible, we may not have much feeling within us concerning it.
The word “redeemed” means to buy back something that originally was yours but has been lost. Redemption, therefore, means to repossess something at a cost. Originally we belonged to God; we were His possession. However, we were lost. Because God was not willing to give us up, He paid the price to get us back, repossessing us at a great cost. This is redemption. It was not a simple matter for God to redeem us, because our being lost involved us in sins and in many other things that are contrary to God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory. Many requirements were laid upon us—the demands of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory—and it was impossible for us to fulfill them. But God paid the price to redeem us and thereby repossessed us at a tremendous cost. This was accomplished when Christ died on the cross to obtain eternal redemption for us (Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:12; 9:28). His blood obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12, 14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
In Titus 2:14 Paul says that Christ “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.” The words “for us” in this verse mean on our behalf; they do not mean instead of us. To redeem means to buy with a price (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 Tim. 2:6). Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness.
First Peter 1:18 says, “Knowing that you were redeemed not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers.” The blood of Christ (v. 19) has redeemed us from our vain manner of life. This vain manner of life is in contrast to the holy manner of life. According to most other references in Scripture, the blood of Christ redeems us from sins, transgressions, lawlessness, and all sinful things (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:15; Titus 2:14). In 1 Peter 1:18 and 19 we have an exception: Christ’s blood has redeemed us from our old, vain manner of life because the emphasis here is not on sinfulness but on the manner of life. Chapter one of 1 Peter emphasizes the holy manner of life which God’s chosen people should have in their sojourn. Not only is the Spirit’s sanctification for this; even Christ’s redemption is for this—to separate us from our vain manner of life handed down from our fathers. Knowing that this was accomplished with the highest price, the precious blood of Christ, we pass the days of our sojourning in fear.
We may consider Christ’s redemption a simple matter, thinking that it includes only the matter of Christ’s dying on the cross and shedding His blood for our sins. However, redemption includes much more than this, for it is rich in content. This unique redemption is called eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). Christ’s redemption is eternal because He offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14). On the cross Christ offered Himself to God in a human body, which is a matter of time, but He did this through the eternal Spirit, who is of eternity, without any limit of time or space. Hence, in the sight of God, Christ as the Lamb of God was “slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). His offering of Himself was once for all (Heb. 7:27), and the redemption consummated through His death has an eternal effect, covering the entire universe, including all of space and time. For this reason, God’s people who lived before the death of Christ, as well as those who were born afterward, are covered by this eternal redemption. Christ’s all-inclusive and eternal death covers all believers without any limitation of space or time.
Christ’s eternal redemption includes many things. First, it includes our being bought by God. Then it includes the forgiveness of our sins and our being freed, washed, sanctified, justified, and reconciled to God. The sequence here is significant. For instance, reconciliation cannot be before justification. If we have not been justified, we cannot be reconciled to God. However, a certain aspect of sanctification precedes justification, whereas other aspects of sanctification follow justification. In a previous message we have pointed out that we would not have repented if the Holy Spirit had not come to sanctify us, to separate us unto God. This is the reason 1 Peter 1:2 speaks of “sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Our repentance, therefore, was initiated by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. When God called us through the preaching of the gospel, the Holy Spirit worked on us in such a way that we repented. This aspect of sanctification comes before justification. Later we shall see that other aspects of sanctification follow justification. This means that after we are justified, we need further sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
According to my study of the New Testament, sanctification takes place in at least three junctures. First, we are sanctified before repentance. Then after we are baptized and before justification, we have further sanctification. After we are justified, we need yet the third aspect of the Spirit’s sanctification. Consider the sequence in 1 Corinthians 6:11, where Paul says, “These things were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” According to this verse, we are first washed, then sanctified, and then justified. After justification, we are reconciled to God. The point we are emphasizing here is that seven matters are involved in our redemption—being bought, being forgiven, being freed, being washed, being sanctified, being justified, and being reconciled to God—and these are in a particular sequence.
The fact that redemption includes forgiveness is proved by Ephesians 1:7, where Paul says that in Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses.” Here the forgiveness of offenses is in apposition to redemption. This indicates that redemption is forgiveness and that forgiveness is redemption. The forgiveness of our offenses is the redemption through the blood of Christ. Although forgiveness is redemption, we cannot say that forgiveness includes redemption. Rather, we should say that redemption includes forgiveness, for redemption, and not forgiveness, is an all-inclusive matter. Therefore, forgiveness is a part of redemption. In the same principle, our being freed, washed, sanctified, justified, and reconciled to God are also included in Christ’s redemption. From this we see that redemption is not a simple matter but is rich and all-inclusive.