Pauls Footsteps #264

264 Accepted as if I had not sinned! Not only pardoned but declared righteous. That is justification. That is God’s incomparable gift to me. As noted yesterday, justification is a metaphor from the law court. Rom.3:22-24 introduces another metaphor from the marketplace. The idea of redemption. How interesting that collecting “fly buy points” can be ‘redeemed’ for goods or money. That is the basic meaning of “redeem”; “to buy” or “to buy back”. The use of “redemption” in the universal Greek culture of antiquity had its origin in the practice of warfare. After a battle, the victors would round up the vanquished and take them home to sell as slaves. Sometimes, however, they discovered that they had captured important people who were worth more to their native country than they were as slaves. On these occasions the victors let their enemies know of such valuable captives and offered to release them for a price. The other governments often accepted such offers. As a result, they would raise money to “buy back” (redeem) the special prisoners of war. The purchase price was called the “ransom”.  

The Old Testament used the same concept. Thus a slave in Israel could be redeemed by one who would pay the purchase price (Lev.25:47-49).  

The New Testament applies the redemption concept to Christ. Rom.6:16 speaks of sinners as being slaves of sin. But unlike the Old Testament Jew who might become rich and thus redeem himself (Lev.25:49), Satan’s captives struggle in vain against the bondage of sin. But you are a valuable captive to God!  

It is in that context that Paul tells us that Christ became our redemption. As Jesus told His disciples, “the Son of Man” came “to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, RSV). Paul notes that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13, RSV). And Peter reminds us that we weren’t ransomed with silver or gold, “but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18, 19). Paul will introduce a third metaphor in v25.

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