Redemption = Set free from the bondage of sin

We have seen that the Bible says that mankind is dead in sin. Another way Scripture us is that we’re in bondage or slavery to sin (Romans 6:20; 2 Peter 2:19). Just as the person who is spiritually dead needs regenerating, so the same person who is a slave to sin needs redeeming. Redemption means to be set free from the slavery of sin by the payment of a ransom price.

Slavery to Sin

If mankind was spiritually free there would be no need for redemption; but the slavery to sin is real. It’s not an illusion, but a terrible thing that unites all of humanity. Sin’s a great deceiver. It holds before us endless pleasures but fails to name the price or consequence of following it.

In Genesis 3 the awful reality of sin is shown to us. Then in the next chapter we see the effects of sin as a man kills his bother. By the time we get to Genesis 6 sin’s domination is seen in every human being: ‘everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil’ (verse 5).

In the New Testament the power of sin comes to its terrible climax when men kill the Son of God. From then on the New Testament spells out sin’s consequences in frightening clarity in passages like Romans 1:18-32. In Romans 7 Paul puts into words the experience of every man and woman: ‘So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate’ (verses 14-15).

It’s from this bondage that Jesus came to redeem us – the Christmas story and Easter.

The Redeemer

Jesus has paid the ransom price that can set people free from their bondage and has paid that price once for all. Christ redeems us from:

• All wickedness (Titus 2:14)
• The grip of sin (Romans 6:18,22)
• The curse of the law (Galatians 3:13)
• The bondage of the law (Galatians 4:5)
• Death (Job 5:20)
• Hell (Psalm 49:15)

Redemption means to buy out of slavery, but the purchase price was enormous. The price is way beyond anything we can afford alone. This is why Peter says that we aren’t redeemed with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of the Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:18-19). Only Jesus could afford that price.

The Ransom Price

Jesus told us that the reason he came into the world was ‘to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45). The word ransom is familiar to us when we read of someone who has been kidnapped and a ransom price is demanded to set him free.

Jesus teaches us that his death is the means by which we are set free. He gave his life as the price of freedom for the slaves of sin. Redemption is costly business. Peter reminded us of that and so does Paul: ‘He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.’ (Ephesians 1:7).

The ransom price is the blood of Jesus, or, in other words, his death on the cross. We aren’t redeemed by the teaching of Jesus or by the fact that he could do miracles. It’s what he did on the cross that made the difference.

And we need to be clear on this: the price wasn’t paid to Satan as if he had some right to the payment. It’s true that we were slaves to sin, but Satan’s power was that of an invader or usurper. He had no rights of ownership. It was God who made us and all the rights are His.

So the ransom price was paid to satisfy the demands of God’s law which we had violated by our sin. The law demanded that the wage of sin be the death of the sinner. Christ satisfied the demand when he shed his blood on the cross. He took full responsibility for our sin. This included its guilt and punishment, and his death is the only payment that is acceptable to God.

We were created for intimate fellowship with God and for freedom, but we have disgraced ourselves by unfaithfulness. First we flirted with, then committed adultery with this sinful world and its values. The world has even bid for our soul, offering sex, money, fame, power, and all the other items in which it traffics. But Jesus, our faithful bridegroom and lover, entered the market place to buy us back. He bid his own blood. There is no higher bid than that. And we became His. He reclothed us, not in the wretched rags of our old unrighteousness, but in His new robes of righteousness. – James Montgomery Boice

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For more on what Christianity teaches, check out the other topics in our ‘Bitesize Theology’ series:

God; Jesus; The Holy Spirit; The Trinity; Sin; Atonement; Grace; Regeneration; Repentance and Faith; Reconciliation

Inspired by Peter Jeffery, ’Bitesize Theology’, Evangelical Press, 2000