What does it mean that in Him we have redemption (Ephesians 1:7)?

Verse 7 shows how all that might have hindered our acceptance has been totally removed since every believer possesses redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Redemption involves both a purchase price and the setting at liberty of those in bondage. Wonderful indeed is the value of the blood of Christ! Forgiveness is the discharging of offenses by the One against whom the offense has been. Christ's blood has made possible and accomplished this forgiveness according to the riches of His grace.

We are also REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD of CHRIST. This is repeatedly set forth in the word of God. "In whom we have redemption through His blood," etc. (Eph. 1:7.) "Forasmuch as ye know," says Peter, "that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold … but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:18-19.) The Lord Himself expresses the same truth when He says, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life [for the life is in the blood] a ransom for many." (Matt. 20:28.) The meaning of "ransom" is, a price paid for redemption, while redemption signifies the buying back, and consequently deliverance from a state of captivity or bondage. Redemption, therefore, effects a complete change of state, and thus we are reminded of what we were, and of what through grace, in the provision of the precious blood of Christ, we have become. This truth may be illustrated by the redemption (whatever the difference of its character) of the children of Israel out of Egypt. They were under the iron yoke of Pharaoh; their lives made "bitter with hard bondage" — type of the natural condition of man. But God interposed on behalf of His people, and He smote the land of Egypt with plague after plague. At last judgment was pronounced upon all the first-born, whether of man or of beast, in the land. The question of sin having been raised, Israel was as liable to the judgment as Egypt. How then could God righteously screen His people while smiting the Egyptians? The answer was found in the blood of the lamb, type of the blood of Christ, which by God's own command was sprinkled upon their houses. "I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Ex. 12:12-13.)

Because sin is an offence against God, an insult to His supreme power and authority, therefore we require forgiveness; and forgiveness is impossible without a basis of truth when we have offended the Creator of heaven and earth. This perfectly satisfactory basis is "the precious blood of Christ." In Him "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1: 7). But "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9: 22). God forgives because He sees perfect virtue in the blood of Christ.

Sin has also brought all mankind into bondage: it has enslaved us. Therefore redemption is another great necessity. God's Word says concerning believers, that in Christ "we have redemption through His blood" (Eph. 1: 7). That signifies the complete setting free and bringing back by virtue of a price paid; that price the bloodshedding of the Son of God. Only God can measure the greatness of that price, but believers can certainly appreciate the marvellous liberty it has brought them.

Redemption is the other line of truth, closely akin to "purchase", but applicable only to those who have in repentance and faith, received the Lord Jesus as Savior. "We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7). This is much more than "purchase." lf a slave has merely been bought, it usually means that he becomes the slave of the purchaser. However, if he is redeemed he is not only bought, but set fully free. Believers have been liberated from the guilt of their sins and from the bondage of sin by the precious blood of Christ. Simply by receiving Christ into the heart, this liberty becomes effective. Wonderful liberty of grace!

Then, in the 7th verse, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Notice these two first words, "In Whom." God has not simply given you a document saying, "Here is the forgiveness of your sins," but, He says, "I have worked out that question in a Person. There He was with your sins upon Him, and upon Him fell all the just judgment in view of My claims in righteousness and holiness; He bore it all, and the sins that He bore were yours. They are all gone, and the very Person who bore them is risen from the dead, enthroned in glory. It is in Him you have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." That is the measure of the redemption that He has wrought out for us: the question is never to be reopened. And so He acts according to the riches of His grace. I know some people have the idea, "Yes my sins are all forgiven up to the time of my conversion; but what about the sins that I may commit after my conversion?" But from this standpoint in Ephesians, God would have you to understand that when He did take up that matter, He did not divide your life into two or three sections — your past, present, and future sins; but undertook the settlement of that question according to the wealth of His grace, taking it all up at one and the same time, and settling it all in that One Person, so that every believer can say, "In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the wealth of His grace." God took into account all our history from start to finish; at that moment knowing all the sins beforehand, and dealing with them according to His own glory.

But, then, what was our previous state? Verse 7 says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." It is only alluded to passingly, but it supposes that we were wretched slaves of Satan. In the same person, in whom we become the objects of such favour, we have redemption. God does not in the least degree forget what our condition was when He thus blessed us. He is aware that we had to be brought out of all we were, for indeed we had nothing but sins. With only the previous verses, there might have been the idea that such blessedness and glory could not have been mixed with such as we were. But we have redemption, we are told, in Christ. Still, he never touches on redemption and forgiveness of sins till he has brought us into the height and depth of all privilege flowing from God Himself: so entirely is all question here of what man is out of sight, that we only, as it were, incidentally get hold of the sad truth of his condition. It might not have been known from the first few verses, that persons so blessed had ever been guilty of a single sin. But here we find that they needed to be redeemed, to have their sins forgiven; and the same Christ, in and through whom we have all our other blessings, is He in whom also we have "redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."

The blood of Jesus Christ is freedom from guilt, so as for God to adopt us as sons, by the remission of transgressions, or removing of the guilt of offences. As it is written: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." (Eph. 1:7.)

Verse 14 is just as absolute as to present, accomplished blessing as are verses 12 and 13. All believers "have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Redemption is the total liberation of the person from bondage by means of a price paid, the price of the blood of Christ. Forgiveness of sins is a complete discharging of those things by which we had offended our Creator. Nothing is held against us, for the blood of Christ has answered for it all.

Observe, moreover, before we have done with this, that later on we have another redemption, that "of the purchased possession," and a very different thing. We have redemption as far as the forgiveness of sins is concerned: we are waiting for redemption as concerns the inheritance, which depends on the coming of Christ in order to take it actually under His government. The purchased possession has to do with the inheritance, not merely with what affects our souls. As for the soul, we have redemption now as completely as we ever can have it; which we do well to bear in mind. The believer cannot be more forgiven than now, nor could God do more to put away sin than He has done already. He has given His Son, and the blood of His Son is shed, and it is impossible that God Himself could do more to blot out sin from before His face. What a comfort for our souls! If we think of our sins, we may also enter into the comfortable assurance that all our guilt is gone from before God. We may fall into sin, for it does exist; but it remains a source of self-judgment, instead of a fearful looking for of judgment by and by.

Doubtless, when we come to the characteristic truth of the New Testament, redemption has another sphere; and where is this found? Unquestionably it is believers, Jew or Gentile, the church of God. Hence, whether you take up the Ephesians or any part of the later scriptures, where redemption is treated of as a present thing, this is the language: "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" or offences (Eph. 1:7). It is not, therefore, merely a manifestation of grace which may be despised and ineffectual; it is an unfailing work, a delivering operation, a blessing that is actually conferred and possessed: "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." It is not merely that we have been purchased through the price paid, which may or may not be owned by our souls. That is, there may be persons bought that are unrenewed, and they may turn out rebels against His rights Who bought them (denying, as it is said, the Master that bought them). It is not so with redemption; here it is an actual, known, and enjoyed blessing, if you speak of the soul. It is true, however, that it is not confined to the soul. In the same chapter of the same Epistle to the Ephesians we read of the redemption of the purchased possession. Here it looks at the inheritance, when the body also shall be changed in the day of redemption. Compare Eph. 4:30. As believers in the Lord Jesus now, through His precious blood we have our sins as completely gone as in the day of judgment. It is a mistake to suppose that only then will be the decision of the great question. He that believes on God's Son is not judged; but he that believes not is already judged, because he has not believed on the name of the Only-begotten Son of God. "And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, for their works were evil." The object of that day will be to manifest all, and to execute judgment on the unbelieving. It is now or never that in Christ we have life and forgiveness. "By Him," as it is said, "all that believe are justified from all things," not merely shall be. If you speak of life, it is just the same thing: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." It is a present thing. So redemption, the forgiveness of sins, is an actual state of possessed deliverance through faith in Christ and His work.