From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part three of a series. Read part two

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

What does it mean to be redeemed? As we saw at the beginning of this series, the word in the original language of the New Testament is apolytrosis, "a release or a liberation that is brought about by the payment of a ransom."

Both the New Testament and the Old present three pictures of this word translated "redemption". We described them briefly in our first article, but let us now explore their riches. Each is a description of the sinner saved by grace through the shed blood of Christ.

Prisoners of War Ransomed

The picture of the prisoner of war is appropriate - someone who has been taken prisoner in a war, and a ransom was paid to get that person out of the prison camp, to purchase his freedom from imprisonment by the enemy. Notice Psalm 107, beginning at verse one:

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound [that is, prisoners] in affliction and irons - because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High, therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. (Psalm 107:1-9)

We were in bondage because of our rebellion. We were prisoners in the enemy camp. We could not escape. We could not purchase our own freedom. But God through the blood of Christ redeemed us from that bondage. He paid the ransom price. He purchased our freedom from Satan's dominion.

Death Row Prisoners Pardoned

The picture of the condemned prisoner being redeemed from the death penalty exactly describes our position. We came into this world already condemned, John chapter three tells us. We are like the criminal who has been condemned to death. There is no hope. All that awaits us is for the death sentence to be carried out.

But in Ephesians chapter two, beginning at verse four, we read these glorious words - "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."

"But God!" Our condition as we are born into this world is absolutely hopeless. And we are absolutely helpless. We could not save ourselves. But God, in the riches of His mercy, loving us infinitely, came into the world in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and paid the ransom to buy us out of condemnation.

He took away our death sentence by bearing that death sentence Himself. That is what God required. Without the shedding of blood, Hebrews 9:22 tells us, there is no remission of sins. Therefore Jesus Christ purchased our redemption on the cross with His own blood. He freed us from the death penalty for our crimes against God. So this second picture of redemption, of freedom being purchased for a condemned criminal, applies to every one of us, as a believer in Christ.

Slaves' Freedom Purchased

Thirdly, the picture of the slave is also appropriate - someone else paying for the release of a slave from his bondage.

As we have seen, we are slaves to sin, four times over. Our sin is original. Our sin is habitual. Our sin is universal. Our sin is pervasive. We are complete slaves to sin. We are under the bondage of sin apart from Christ. But God has redeemed us from that bondage. We read in Hebrews chapter two, beginning at verse fourteen, that Jesus Christ came into the world and took on a body like ours, sharing in flesh and blood, so that

through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage [that is, to slavery]. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham [that is, to those who are effectually called to salvation by God]. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

All Because of Christ's Blood

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have been redeemed. Our redemption is through the blood of Christ. "Redemption through His blood," Paul declares in Colossians 1:14. Some Bible translations omit the phrase "through His blood." The English Standard Version, the New International Version, the Revised Standard Version, the various Living Bible paraphrases, the New American Standard Bible, all omit the phrase "through His blood" in Colossians 1:14. That is because those translations and paraphrases are based upon inferior, corrupted Greek source texts. But the King James Version and the New King James Bible have that phrase - they have the Gospel right. Redemption is "through His blood" - there can be no redemption without the blood of Christ.

A great many Evangelicals want to minimize the blood of Christ today. Evangelical preachers do not want to preach about the blood of Christ, because they think it offends people. Well, the Bible tells us that the blood of Christ does offend people. The Bible speaks of "the offense of the cross" (Galatians 5:1). Paul says in Romans 9:33 that Christ and His cross and His shed blood are a stumbling stone and a rock of offense to many. But, he says, "whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

Paul declares in First Corinthians one, beginning at verse 23,

but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

No true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and no faithful preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is ashamed of, or offended by, the blood of Jesus Christ, because "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

Next: Where Do You Stand?

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