Redemption

Jennie Harmer

I'm guessing none of you have ever been slaves. I hope not! I'm sure we are all aware of the position of a slave, however and it's one of the best ways to start explaining redemption. Imagine the situation where a slave is purchased from her owner by a former owner, not to be his slave again, but to be set free. The slave has been redeemed by her former owner. He has regained ownership of his former slave through a payment being made. The slave has been rescued from captivity and been made free. This is redemption and God offers us the same deal.

In what way did God own us? We are not captives, you may be thinking. Why do we need to be rescued? Both good questions. Let's look into it further...

As we have been learning from Genesis over the past few weeks, the Bible tells us that God created the world and created human beings to be in a relationship with him. Mankind, however, starting with Adam and Eve, turned away from God and rejected his friendship, wanting to be in control of their own lives. In this way, sin became a part of human life, and we are no different to Adam and Eve. We naturally want to reject God as our ruler, preferring to run our lives in our own way. In a sense, we have become slaves to sin and are in captivity. It may not feel like that to you, but Paul, writing to the Romans explains that "you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness".

Because God is just, he must punish sin, which, as the quote from Paul explains, should result in death. So, we need rescuing. Here's where the redemption comes in. God's plan, right from the start, again as we have seen in our study of Genesis, was to offer a way out of slavery to the people he had made, who had rejected him. So, if God redeems us, what's the payment? Well, in this case, only something, or someone, completely without sin can be used as a payment for redemption, otherwise, the need for justice would not be fulfilled. God's son, Jesus, is the only one who fits this bill, and so he, through his death on the cross and his resurrection, becomes the payment.

As Paul, this time writing to the Colossians, puts it: "he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

So, we are therefore rescued from slavery to sin; our sins are forgiven through Jesus' sacrifice. God redeems us by buying us back and setting us free to serve him wholeheartedly. Our part is to acknowledge our sin and accept that forgiveness by living in a way that pleases him.