“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us” (Eph. 1:7f.).
Christians are saved in Christ through His blood according to the riches of His grace. No Christian can take any credit or receive any glory for any facet of his salvation because it is authored by Christ and completed in Christ. He caused your salvation by means of His sacrificial surrender to the hate of man and holiness of God. Christ offered Himself because He loved you even to the extent death on a cross and He alone possessed the riches of grace to release you from the hell of this life and the next.
The Greek word for “redemption” (apolytrosis) means to be emancipated from servitude or slavery. Redemption not only references the abolition of an unwelcomed condition, it alerts its possessor to his restoration in true liberty through Christ: “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:36, 32, respectively). Paul advises the church in Galatia, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1).
Many churchgoers object to overt references to the blood of Christ. They perceive such talk to lack in spiritual import and to evoke inappropriate emotions. They would never write in their Bible the phrase “through His blood.” The Hebrews understood “blood” to be both literal as well as somewhat of a metaphor to alert others to the extent of the sacrifice.
Blood implies substitution. It makes you mindful of the Old Testament sacrifices. Nonetheless, blood of goats and calves would not cleanse eternally and these animals did not enter into their sacrifices willingly or knowingly (Heb. 9:12-22). Never distance the blood of Christ from the voluntariness of the sacrifice, the totality of the sacrifice and the effectiveness of the sacrifice. The expansiveness of Jesus’ sacrifice was the impetus for the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders to fall down before the Lamb singing, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9).
The nature of God will not allow Him to forgive a sin that has not been paid for via the precious blood of the Lamb. A payment must be made for each and every sin of each and every converted person. Only Christ and His blood are accepted in eternity as appropriate payment (Col. 1:14). The blood of Christ licenses God’s forgiveness. The payment made by Christ for you allows God to loose you from your relationship with sin. God’s forgiveness is comprehensive and perfect:
- As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Ps. 103:12).
- I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you (Isa. 44:22).
- I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jer. 31:34).
- If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I Jn. 1:9).
Forgiveness is the underpinning of all blessings from God because it remedies alienation.
Everything God commands, He performs “according to the riches of His grace.” Your Christian benefits are not according to anything in you or about you. God’s character throbbed for your release from servitude to hellishness so He issued and effectuated an exhaustive pardon. God’s grace is large so He gave largely to you for you. His grace is always lavished upon His beloved in Christ.