“…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24
October 27, 2022
If you don’t want to see how horrifying slavery was in the Deep South, don’t see the movie “12 Years a Slave.” Slavery was woven into Roman society in the first century. Though not necessarily comparable to the race-based slavery prior to the Civil War in America, it was based on kidnapping free human beings and trading and buying them in the open market. The means by which we as sinners receive the gift of justification is by means of redemption. The background to this word is “release by the payment of a price.” The term redemption was the language of manumission (release from slavery). The word picture of redemption is theologically potent. We are saved by the payment of Christ’s life in death as a substitute for sinners. We have no means of paying for our redemption. It was not that we were slaves for only twelve years. We were born into slavery to sin and faced a life-time of the dreadful condition of bondage to sin and guilt, utterly unable to liberate ourselves. And liberated we are by the infinite value of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us. Think of it this way. A family member takes a trip to Columbia, South America. He is kidnapped by a band of terrorists and is held for a ransom price of one million dollars. You pay the price for your loved one’s freedom. Even more true to fact you give your own life. You go and take his place. That is redemption. What do redeemed people look like. Read the abysmal description of the unredeemed in Romans 3:9-18 and then picture a redeemed child of God in mind, tongue, and body (1 Cor. 6:20). How is that freedom looking in our lives? H
A time for praise: “I thank you, Lord, that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer who paid the price to deliver us from the dominion of sin to set us free to serve Him.”