Ephesians 1:7

Ephesians 1:7

(with Colossians 1:14 )

What we have in Christ Jesus is here indicated by two phrases or forms of expression, which explain and define one another. The redemption through His blood is the forgiveness of sins; the forgiveness of sins is the redemption through His blood.

I. This limits the meaning of the term "redemption." It is restricted by the qualifying clause, "through His blood," and it is restricted also by the explanatory addition, "the forgiveness of sins." The transaction is wholly and exclusively an act and exercise of the Divine sovereignty.

II. The forgiveness of sins is the redemption through Christ's blood. The statement or definition thus reversed is significant and important. It is not the simple utterance of a sentence, frankly forgiving. It is that, no doubt; but it is something more. There is the offended Father Himself providing that the irreversible sentence of law and justice lying upon His rebellious children shall have fitting and sufficient execution upon the head of His own well-beloved Son, who is willing to take their place; so that they may come forth free, no longer under condemnation, but righteous in His righteousness and sons in His sonship. This is the redemption through the blood of Christ. And this is what we have when we have the forgiveness of sins, this and nothing short of this. It is something more than impunity, something more than indulgence, something very different from either impunity or indulgence, and indeed the opposite of both.

III. We have this great benefit in Christ. The gift of God held out freely to the acceptance of all the guilty alike, the gift of God, His free gift, is Christ, and not Christ as the medium or channel through which the redemption or forgiveness reaches us, but Christ having in Himself the redemption and the forgiveness.

R. S. Candlish, Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, p. 18.

References: Ephesians 1:7 . Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 334; Ibid., Sermons, vol. vi., No. 295; vol. xxvi., No. 1555.Ephesians 1:7-14 Homilist, 4th series, vol. i., p. 337. Ephesians 1:9 , Ephesians 1:10 . F. H. Williams, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 262; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iv., pp. 85, 225.