The believers have been redeemed by being bought. First Corinthians 6:20a says, “You were bought with a price.”
The believers have been bought to be the slaves of Christ. “He who was called in the Lord when a slave is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, he who was called when free is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Cor. 7:22-23). As those who have been bought by God, the believers inwardly should be slaves only of Christ; they should not become slaves of men.
The believers were bought not only to be the slaves of Christ but also to be the possession, the inheritance, of God. Ephesians 1:14 indicates that we are God’s “acquired possession.” We, God’s redeemed ones, the church, are God’s possession acquired by His purchase with the precious blood of Christ (Acts 20:28). Therefore, we are God’s inheritance. Ephesians 1:11 tells us that “we were made an inheritance.” We were made God’s inheritance for His enjoyment. For this reason, Ephesians 1:18 speaks of “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” First, God made us His inheritance as His acquired possession and also gave us to participate in all He is, all He has, and all He has accomplished as our inheritance. Consummately, all these become His inheritance in the saints for eternity. Because God has bought us, we are His inheritance.
We have been bought with a price, and this price is the blood of Christ. Revelation 5:9 says, “You were slain and did purchase to God by Your blood men out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” The blood that bought us was an extraordinary kind of blood—the blood of the God-man, Jesus Christ, the One whose life reached the highest standard. Only the blood of Christ was qualified and sufficient to redeem us, to purchase us. Christ’s person is unique, and His blood also is unique. Because He is precious, His blood also is precious. No other blood can redeem us. Christ our Redeemer paid the highest price to purchase us—the price of His precious blood.
The price of our redemption was paid to the righteous law of God. Paul’s word in Galatians 3:13 indicates this: “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law.” The law represents God’s righteousness and makes absolute demands on man. The demands of the law confine sinners under condemnation. Christ bore our sins to fulfill the demands of the law. Therefore, the blood of Christ is able to redeem us from under the law so that the law will no longer confine us under condemnation.
Because the blood of Christ redeems us from the condemnation of the law, it also abolishes the distance between us and God. Thus, we are brought back to God. As sin and the law cause us to depart from God and become distant from Him, so the blood of Christ redeems us from under the law that we may return to God without anything between us and Him.
The believers have been redeemed by being forgiven of their sins. Ephesians 1:7 tells us that in Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses,” and Colossians 1:14 says, “In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” The forgiveness of sins is the redemption which we have in Christ. Christ’s death has accomplished redemption unto the forgiveness of our sins.
Redemption is what Christ accomplished for our offenses, and forgiveness is what Christ accomplished applied to our offenses. Redemption was accomplished on the cross, whereas forgiveness is applied the moment we believe in Christ. Actually, redemption and forgiveness are two ends of one thing. We have pointed out that the forgiveness of offenses is the redemption accomplished through the blood of Christ. However, two terms—redemption and forgiveness— are used because this one thing has two ends: the end of the accomplishment on the cross and the end of the application to us at the time we believed. Although redemption was accomplished on the cross when Christ shed His blood, it was not applied to us until we believed in Christ and made confession to the righteous God. At that very moment, the Spirit of God applied to us the redemption Christ had accomplished on the cross. Hence, redemption is the accomplishment, and forgiveness is the application.