In verse 18 Peter says that we were redeemed “not with corruptible things.” The blood of Christ is a material substance, yet its effectiveness, function, worth, power, and authority are eternal and incorruptible.
The blood of Christ, by which we are sprinkled and thus marked out from common people, is more precious than silver and gold. The highest price has been paid for our redemption, that we might be redeemed from the vain manner of life to the holy (vv. 18, 15). For this we should have a holy fear, a healthy, serious caution before God that, as God’s elect, redeemed with such a high price, we would not miss the purpose of this most high redemption of Christ.
In verses 18 and 19 we have a comparison between gold or silver and a lamb. Gold and silver are valuable, but they are lifeless. They are not organic, but a lamb is living and organic. Through this comparison, Peter indicates that the price paid for us by Christ was related to something of life and to something organic.
In chapter six of John the Lord Jesus fed the multitude with five loaves of barley and two fishes (John 6:9-12). Barley in typology signifies resurrection life. In Palestine barley ripens earlier than wheat does. For this reason, barley signifies Christ in resurrection.
Using the miraculous feeding of the multitude as a basis, the Lord Jesus went on to give a message to the people, a message telling them that He is the bread of life. In John 6:35 He said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes in Me shall by no means ever thirst.” Again, in John 6:48 He said, “I am the bread of life.” Bread, of course, is made of materials of the plant life. Who would use something of animal life to make bread? Nevertheless, after telling the people that He is the bread of life, the Lord Jesus went on to say, “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is My flesh which I will give for the life of the world” (v. 51). Then the Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves....For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink” (vv. 53, 55). First the bread is barley bread; eventually, this bread becomes the Lord’s flesh. Barley, of course, is of the vegetable life, but the meat of the flesh with the blood is of the animal life.
I refer to John 6 in order to point out that we cannot understand or explain in full the things of Christ for the accomplishing of God’s redemption. Furthermore, biblical truth cannot be systematized. How can you systematize barley bread and meat in John 6? According to this chapter, the barley and the meat are mixed, blended together as one. On the one hand, the life of Christ is represented by the vegetable life; on the other hand, His life is represented by the animal life. This can be compared to saying that Christ is both divine and human. Christ’s divine nature is mingled with, blended with, His human nature. When He died on the cross, He died as a man. Nevertheless, God was involved with this death. It is beyond our ability to explain this.
Because Christ is both God and man, represented by both the animal life and the vegetable life, His Person is unique, and His blood also is unique. No other blood can redeem us. Only the blood of Christ is sufficient for this. His blood is unique because His Person is unique. Because He is precious, His blood is precious. The Bible even tells us that today the blood of Christ still speaks for us in the heavens (Heb. 12:24).