What does redemption mean? From what are we redeemed?
The word redemption means to buy back, that is, a certain object that was once held as a pledge has now been bought back.
We have been redeemed, but from what were we redeemed? Many traditional teachings say that we were redeemed from the devil’s hand. They say that because we were slaves under the devil’s hand, the Lord Jesus shed His blood and redeemed us out of his hand. If this is the case, does this not mean that God acknowledged that it was lawful for us to be in the devil’s hand? Suppose someone that you know has stolen something from you. If you pay him a price to ransom what has been stolen, you are acknowledging his theft to be lawful. If we say that the Lord Jesus shed His blood as a price to pay the devil to redeem us, we are, similarly, saying that God acknowledges the legality of man falling into the devil’s hand. This is certainly not correct. Therefore, we cannot say that we are redeemed from the devil’s hand.
Should we say that we are redeemed from God’s hand? No, this too is wrong. (1) Saying that we are redeemed from God’s hand effaces His love. The Lord Jesus came because God sent Him. The Bible repeatedly tells us that God loves us. (The entire New Testament mentions “the love of Christ” only three times-in Romans 8:35, in 2 Corinthians 5:14, and in Ephesians 3:19. The Lord Jesus was willing to redeem us according to God’s will because He also loved us.) God loved us and prepared a way of salvation by sending His Son to save us. We must not misjudge God’s nature. (2) If we are redeemed from God’s hand, to whom do we belong? If we say that we are redeemed from God’s hand, why do we still belong to God?
Should we then say we are redeemed from sin? No, we cannot say this either. If we are redeemed from sin, to whom is the ransom paid? The Lord truly paid the price, but sin cannot be the recipient of this price.
There is only one place in the Bible that can answer this question. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf.” Our conclusion must be that we are redeemed from the curse of the law. We were sinners before God under the curse of the law, but the Lord Jesus died for us and redeemed us from the curse of the law. We were redeemed not from the law but from the curse of the law. Being redeemed from the law would be unrighteous. Being redeemed from the curse of the law means being redeemed from the consequence of the law. Whoever violates the law has to be punished; by the shedding of His blood, the Lord Jesus answered the demands of the law. He delivered us not just from a few laws; He delivered us from the curse of the law. Since the Bible says this, we can only say the same; saying more or less than this would be incorrect.
Home | First | Prev | Next