Never Again

“In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7

Imagine standing in a slave market in ancient Ephesus. Chains clinking and bidders shouting. A life—someone’s son, someone’s daughter—is sold for silver. Now imagine a stranger steps forward, pays the full price, and then turns to the slave and says, “You are free.” That’s redemption. That’s what Jesus has done for us. He didn’t buy us to own us as slaves—He bought us to set us free from sin, death, and hell.

The first word which appears in the New Testament translated “redemption” is a word which in Greek means “to buy something, to make a purchase.”

If you go into a store and buy something, then that item becomes yours. So the New Testament is teaching us, “Jesus Christ, by His blood, by exchanging His life for ours, has paid the price for us.” This means that we now belong to Him. We are not our own. We were bought with a price.

There’s another word in the New Testament which is translated “redemption.” It’s a word that has a deeper meaning. It means to be “bought out of the market.” It means that when a person bought a slave on the auction block, the person then took possession of that slave and that slave was then bought out of the market. He could never be put up for sale again. And that meant that the person who bought the slave, also had the right to hand that slave a legal document which declared that he never had to be a slave again and could never again be put up for sale as a slave.

For believers this is the greatest news! We can never be gripped by the wiles of Satan again. We can never be controlled by anything or anyone else in life, because Jesus Christ has bought us out of the market of sin. He has taken full possession of our lives, and He is in control of us.

What the Bible is saying to us is simply this: the ground at the foot of the cross is absolutely level and that under Jesus Christ, all human beings stand equal. There is no one superior and inferior.

Let that teach us that we can never disparage or despise anyone sailing through life or struggling through life.

There is no joy like the joy of being freed from our shackles of sin and shame. That’s why Paul said, “In Him, through His blood, we have redemption.” So let’s share that message with the world!

In Christ, yes, we are redeemed!

Pastor Paul