Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
The One “in whom we have redemption” is “the Beloved” of verse six.
The verb “have” in Ephesians 1:7 is in the present tense and durative in action, making verse seven literally say, “in whom we are having redemption.” This means that the Christian’s redemption is an abiding fact from the past, through the present, and into the future. The follower of Jesus Christ can confidently say, “The Lord saved me in such and such a year, I am being saved today, and I will be saved in the future.”
The word “redemption” is the Greek word apolutrosis, ap-ol-oo'-tro-sis which is defined by Bible scholar Thayer in its verb form “to redeem one by paying the price, to let one go free on receiving the price”. He describes the noun form as “a release affected by payment of ransom, deliverance, liberation procured by the payment of a ransom.”
J. Vernon McGee comments that “Man has been sold under sin and is in bondage to sin. All one needs to do is look around to see that this is true. Man is a rotten, corrupt sinner and he cannot do anything else but sin -- he is a slave to sin. Christ came to pay the price of man’s freedom. That is what the Lord Jesus meant when He said: ‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed’ (John 8:38)”
The story of redemption can be told in three Greek words:
1. agorazo, “to buy in the slave market” (I Cor 6:20, 7:23,30; 2 Peter 2:1, Rev 5:9); The Lord Jesus bought us while we were in the slave market of sin.
1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
2. exagorazo, “to buy out of the slave market, to buy off, to buy for one’s self” (Gal 3:13, 4:5) The redeemed are the possession of the Lord Jesus forever and will never be put up for sale in any slave market again.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
3. apolutrosis, “to liberate by payment of ransom” (Titus 2:14, I Peter 1:18) The redeemed experience a three-fold freedom: (1) from the guilt of sin, (2) from the power of sin now and (3) to be finally set free from the presence of sin at the Rapture.
1 Pet 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot;
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Ever since the fall of Adam, men, women, boys and girls have been enslaved to sin and are guilty before God.
What does the Bible have to say about guilt?
1. The whole world is guilty before God. - Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be guilty and brought under the judgment of God. (Rom 3:19)
2. All have sinned. - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23)
3. The heart is a chronic liar. - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer 17:9)
4. There are no truly "good" people. - As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. (Rom 3:10)
What does the Bible have to say about sin?
Sins are actions by which humans rebel against God, miss His purpose for their life, and surrender to the power of evil rather than to God.
The most common New Testament word for sin is hamartia.- "to miss the mark"
illust:. Throwing a stone from UMBC to Columbia, MD. Some who have more strength than others may throw the stone further but no one will achieve this feat…all will “miss the mark”.
Another New Testament word for sin is, parabasis, meaning, a "trespass" or "transgression." This literally means, to step across the line. When a person sins, they step across God's standard of righteousness into willful disobedience.
When we miss the mark or cross over the line of God’s righteousness into sin, the Bible says that you and I are sinners. But the Bible also teaches that we sin because of our nature. Everyone who is an offspring of Adam has a sin nature.
I once read about a man who had a pet leopard. One day the leopard was licking the hand of his master, and as he licked his razor-like teeth scratched his master's hand. The leopard tasted blood for the first time and immediately the ferocious nature of the animal went wild and attacked its owner.
Sin is like that. Underneath man's culture and education lies a fallen sinful nature. It doesn’t matter how refined you are and how educated you are. Romans 5:12 tells us that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
When Adam sinned, sin began to reign in his mortal body (Romans 6:12). This nature of sin was passed on to his children. Adam’s son Cain only needed the proper motivation and the opportunity to go wild in sin and to take a stone and violently slam it against his brother Abel’s head.
Sin carries with it a death sentence. God told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the forbidden fruit they would surely die. One of things we notice as we read the Bible is that when they ate of the fruit they didn't immediately drop dead. The reason is that it wasn’t primarily physical death that God was referring to when He told them that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit.
God was referring to a spiritual death sentence. To emphasize this, Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned. Furthermore, they were kicked out of the Garden and banished from the presence of God (Genesis 3:22-24). Spiritual death is “being separated from God”.
“Death” is the legal sentence that is served on a guilty sinner. That is why guilt and sin can't be ignored or rationalized away!
One might protest, "Isn't God a loving God? Won't He forgive our sin?"
The Bible’s answer is, “Yes, God is a loving God but He is also a "just" God and cannot let the guilt and sentence of sin go unserved.”
How would you feel if a child molester is given a sentence of 75 years and some “loving” and “tender hearted” judge releases him after only serving 75 days?
* Human forgiveness takes place when a penalty is deserved but that penalty is not imposed. It simply means that one wipes out the account or, for some of us, we sweep it under the carpet.
* Divine forgiveness is always based on the fact that there has been the implementation of the penalty and the payment of the price for the crime.
* Human forgiveness comes before the penalty is implemented.
* Divine forgiveness is contingent upon the penalty being applied…justice on sin must be served and God’s holy wrath must be satisfied.
A parent can love a child who has committed a crime and say I forgive you without any penalty being paid but God is holy and cannot. Sin must be dealt with.
Question of the ages: How does God show His love and concern for the sinner as well as satisfy His righteous requirement for justice on sin?
The answer to this ageless question is found in our text in Ephesians 1:7: “In whom we have redemption through His blood…
God showed His love and concern for sinners by giving His only Son to die on the cross for our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ is the ransom price paid for our salvation. Redemption is effected or achieved by the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-20). True “forgiveness of sins” is found only in the blood of Jesus.
Salvation is not a matter of human attainment but of divine atonement. All of our salvation is linked to the blood of Christ:
We are redeemed by His blood (Eph. 1:7);
We have forgiveness of sins through His blood (Eph. 1:7);
We are justified by His blood (Romans 5:9);
Our conscience is purged by His blood (Heb 9:14);
We are cleansed by His blood (Rev. 7:14);
We have been reconciled to God and have peace through His blood (Col. 1:20)
We enter the Holiest of Holies by His blood (Hebrews 10:19).
God satisfied His righteous requirement for judgement on sin through the shed blood of Jesus as He voluntarily paid the penalty for our sin and served the sentence of death.
God accepted this payment by raising Him from the dead! (Acts 2:24)
Why Jesus?
1. The sentence had to be served by one who was innocent.
illust.: A judge wouldn’t allow a guilty person to pay bail for another guilty person. He’d throw them both in prison.
2 Cor 5:21 God made Him who knew no sin to be made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Heb 4:15 For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
2. It was in fulfillment with Old Testament prophecy.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opens not his mouth.
John 1:29 The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Jesus became our “scapegoat”.
Lev 16:21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
Lev 16:22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…
Forgiveness of sins can only be achieved through the shedding of blood. This was the typology on display in the Old Testament. The writer of Hebrews points to this in 9:22 where it says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
The concept of forgiveness in the Bible is a “release” or a “dismissal” of something. The forgiveness we have in Christ involves the release of sinners from God’s just penalty and the complete dismissal of all charges against us (see Romans 8:1)
The Bible tells us in very graphic terms what God has done with our sins:
1. He has blotted them out - Isa 43:25 – “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
2. He has removed them - Psalm 103:11-12 – “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
3. He has cast them behind His back - Isaiah 38:17 – “Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back”.
4. He has cast them into the depths of the sea - Micah 7:18-19 – “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
5. He remembers them no more - Hebrews 8:12 – “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
God’s forgiveness is full, free and final. When He forgives He remembers no more.
All this was “according to the riches of His grace”.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…
according to the riches of his grace.
illust.: What if you were a homeless person living downtown Baltimore and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, came past and noticed you sitting there in your rags? What if he felt pity for you and gave you fifty dollars? As great as that might have been for you, Mark Zuckerberg, who is worth 51.7 billion dollars, only gave you out of his riches.
If Zuckerburg were to give you several billion, according to his riches, you would be a wealthy person yourself.
God is rich in grace and He gives to the redeemed Christian according to His riches. This is one of the truths we discover in Ephesians, how rich we are in Christ. In this short epistle Paul writes of:
* the riches of His grace (1:7);
* the glorious wealth that God's people will inherit. (1:18),
* the riches displayed in mercy (2:7);
* the unsearchable or the infinite riches of Christ (3:8) and
* the riches of His glory granted to the saints (3:16).
Does He expect anything in return for His benevolence? No. If He did, it wouldn’t be grace.
Eph 1:7-8 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace, which He made to abound toward us…
GNB – “which He gave to us in such large measure”!
ESV – “which He lavished upon us”
What did He give to us in such large measure? What did He lavish upon us? His grace!
Wuest says, the word “abounded” in verse eight is the Greek word perisseuo, meaning, “to exceed a fixed number or measure, to be over and above a certain number or measure, to exist or to be at hand in abundance.” The verb form of this word means “to super-abound”.
All this is saying is that God super-abounded to us His grace or His grace was manifested to us in superabundance. Wuest goes on to say that “It is an oversize grace. It is more than enough to save and keep saved for time and eternity, every sinner who comes to God in Christ Jesus.”
It was the year 1818- a year after the missionary Robert Moffat landed at the Cape in South Africa. He was there to reach the vicious Hottentot people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His salary amounted to an equivalent of one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year and in this section of the world, it was useless so he had to subsist entirely on native food.
At first, the Hottentots seemed to him to be hopelessly lost. They had hardly any knowledge of God and no idea whatsoever of right and wrong. The elderly were left to die, while unwanted infants were cast away. Adultery, theft, and murder were openly practiced without any remorse.
To this missionary’s teaching and work, the people at first were indifferent, and over time Moffat’s exhortations and sermons were received with scorn and mocked.
The chief of the Hottentot tribe, a man named Africaner, was the most vicious of them all, so much so, that a price was put on his head by the government to be rewarded to anyone who brought him in “dead or alive”. Africaner was the terror of South Africa.
Robert Moffat was told that if he tried to reach the Hottentot people, this chief would use his skull for a drinking cup. But feeling the call of God, and knowing the power of the Gospel, he went to the Hottentots and as God would have it, the very first person who gave his life to Jesus Christ was Africaner. Because of God’s superabundant and saving grace he became an effective servant of the Lord in the advance of the Kingdom of God. A miraculous demonstration of God’s superabounding grace!
Grace Greater than Our Sin
1. Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured,
there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Refrain:
Grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin!
2. Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
threaten the soul with infinite loss;
grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
points to the refuge, the mighty cross.
(Refrain)
3. Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
brighter than snow you may be today.
(Refrain)
4. Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see his face,
will you this moment his grace receive?
(Refrain)
