Ephesians 1:7

Eph_1:7

In whom we have redemption through His blood.

Redemption in Christ

God has made Christ an Adam, head, root, receptacle and storehouse, in whom are treasured all those good things which from Him are communicated to us.

1. By nature we are no better than in a spiritual bondage.

(1) Under a stern taskmaster the law.

(2) Unable to do anything spiritually good.

(3) Forced to endure many things most grievous (Heb_2:15).

2. We have deliverance from our spiritual thraldom by Christ.

(1) Reason for thanksgiving. For such redemption we should sing with Mary our Magnificat.

(2) Reason for joy (Isa_44:23).

3. That by which we are ransomed and redeemed is the blood of Christ.

(1) From the guilt of sin.

(2) From the power of the devil.

(3) From the captivity of lusts, etc., through the Spirit dwelling in us.

(4) From evil of every kind.

All tears, in Gods time, shall be wiped from our eyes; and meanwhile all our sufferings are so changed, that we know them to be not the result of Gods vengeance, but of His fatherly love and care, His design being that we may partake further, by means of them, in the quiet fruit of righteousness. (Paul Bayne.)

Our redemption

I. Who are the subjects of this redemption? We who were chosen in Christ to be holy; we who have believed and trusted in Christ. Redemption, though offered to all, is actually bestowed only on those who repent and believe.

II. What is the nature of this redemption? It is the redemption of the soul from the guilt of sin by pardon.

III. The way and manner, in which believers become partakers of this privilege. Through the blood of Christ.

IV. The fountain from which our redemption flows. The riches of His grace. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

Redemption

I. The meaning of redemption. Suppose any article, pledged for a certain sum, and that it was redeemed, would it not revert to its owner again, and be his own, and be free? Suppose a man a prisoner, and ransomed, or redeemed by having a ransom paid for him. If the ransom were sufficient and accepted, would he not be free? Suppose an estate mortgaged and redeemed from its mortgage, would it not be free? Does not redemption in all these cases mean a complete and perfect deliverance, so that if there be not deliverance, then the term redemption cannot be applied; for the person or the thing is really not redeemed.

II. the means of its accomplishment. The price--through His blood. If any other means had been sufficient, is it possible, think you, that Christ would have died? Would the precious blood of the Lamb of God have been poured out if any price less costly had been sufficient? If you could save your children from destruction by any other means than the peril of your life, would you risk that life unnecessarily? And surely the Father had not sent His beloved Son to die upon the cross if other ransom could have been found for guilty man.

III. How different is the ground of our forgiveness from the natural expectation of the heart. How different from the miserable hope that men derive from the thought that they are not So bad as others. How different from the miserable hope they derive from the idea that they have amended their lives and reformed their habits, and are better than their former selves, and therefore trust that they are on this ground more acceptable to God. How different from any such miserable hope--if hope it can be called, which must ever be clouded by the consciousness of sin, by the feeling that, however imperfect and false, the standard of attainment be which we have raised, we must fall short of our own standard, and sink beneath its level, when measured even by our own conscience. True it is, indeed, that if a sinner believes the gospel his life will be totally changed; he will be different from those who believe it not, and different from what he was himself as an unbeliever; but this is the effect, not the cause, of his salvation; he is changed not to be saved, but because he is saved. (R. J. McGhee, M. A.)

Blessings resulting from the death of Christ

I. We must notice the privileges themselves. These are twofold--we have redemption, and we have the forgiveness of sins. We shall speak of them in order:--and, First, with respect to redemption. It denotes a change of state from bondage to liberty; and thus may be considered as implying--

1. Deliverance from the power of our adversary the devil.

2. Redemption respects our deliverance from sin. It no longer reigns in those who are Christs, although it may not yet be thoroughly eradicated.

3. This redemption, again, respects our deliverance from the fears of death--death corporeal, and death eternal.

We now pass on to notice the other privilege mentioned in the text, and that is, the forgiveness of sins.

1. This forgiveness is full. It reaches to all sins--past, present, and future.

2. This forgiveness is altogether free. The distinctive excellency of the gospel of Jesus Christ is freeness. All the blessings it brings are as free as the air we breathe.

II. The procuring cause of these privileges. Says the apostle, In whom we have redemption. But who is He? Why the same who is referred to in the preceding verse. He in whom we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. He in whom we were chosen before the foundation of the world. He by whom we have received the adoption of children, and in whom we stand accepted in the sight of God. And who is He but the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom we read in another place, that God having in time past spoken unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son; and by Him alone, for there is no other name given among men whereby we can be saved. Hence you will observe that it is seldom, perhaps never, that the sacred writers fail to direct us to Christ, when they unfold any distinguishing privilege, or fundamental doctrine of the gospel: so it is here, the apostle is tracing our salvation up to its source, the love of God, but he also refers to the channel through which it flows, and that is Christ.

III. We must glance at the original source. It is according to the riches of His grace. Everything that God has done for sinners, shows us that He is a God of grace; but more especially in the coming of Christ, and in His elevation upon the cross, do we see the riches of His grace. This surely ought to encourage sinners to draw near to God; that they may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Essex Remembrancer.)

Redemption by the blood of Jesus

I. The certainty with which Christ has, in point of pact, redeemed His people.

1. Show how we came to need redemption.

2. Christ Jesus, as Mediator, at a certain period of this worlds history, gave Himself a ransom for His people.

II. I come now to mention some of the properties of that redemption with which Christ redeems His people.

1. It is free or unmerited on the part of man.

2. A full redemption.

3. This redemption takes effect in time.

4. This redemption is for eternity.

5. Redemption by Jesus implies that we could not redeem ourselves.

It is a law in nature that like produces like; and if it be once settled that our progenitors were corrupted and depraved, and at the same time granted that we are descended from them, the contrary of which is self-contradictory; then as sure as the corrupted fountain sends forth a polluted stream, so sure are we backward to that which is good, and forward to that which is evil. And sooner may the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots--which would be nature inverting natures course, for it is natural for them to be as they are--than can man who is born of a woman cease to do evil, and learn to do well. I shall now conclude this discourse with a few remarks, by way of improvement.

1. From this subject learn the high privilege of the children of men to be redeemed by the blood of Christ (1Jn_3:1). Redemption is doubly endeared to man by the love of God, and by the sufferings of Jesus.

2. From this subject learn the duty of Christian diligence (2Pe_3:14).

3. Learn from what has been said, that the end of refusing this redemption is eternal death (Isa_30:33).

4. From this subject learn the blessedness of the redeemed h Corinthians 2:19). (R. Montgomery.)

Redemption

The expression redemption as direct and immediate reference to our ruined and wretched condition in consequence of the fall; and it is used to signify our entire deliverance from all the evils involved or implied in our being sinners against God under His righteous and holy law. It is a term which comprehends our complete emancipation from sin and its consequences.

1. In the first place, and most important of all, he is a guilty being, because he is a sinner.

2. Man through sin has become habituated to sin. He is incarcerated in a prison house of sinful vices and habits, and held fast by legal chains of spiritual wickedness. Now, from its actual slavery, we are redeemed by Christ, in consequence of His atonement, and by virtue of His gracious Spirit. Ye are not under the law, but under grace; sin, therefore, shall not have dominion over you.

3. We must consider all the outward and physical evils which sin has brought into the world, of which death may be said to be the climax. From all these, however sad and melancholy, redemption effects a substantial deliverance now, whilst we have to battle against them, and a complete and glorious riddance at last, in our recovery from the grave. The first thing to be effected in the case of sinners under a sovereign God and a righteous law, is to remove their guilt, that they may stand free from all blame worthiness, and become exempt from the curse. But, this effected, the rest may be expected certainly and surely to follow, from the same grace and mercy which have already been brought into exercise. The forgiveness of sins is just a way of expressing the idea that all guilt whatsoever is removed; so that the sinner stands before God, in the eye of His law, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. In the completeness of this forgiveness, we recognize its highest excellence; for did but one sin remain against the sinner, that alone were sufficient to condemn him. As by one sin man originally fell, so, if but one were to abide unforgiven, he could not be raised up again. But, blessed be God! the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It is not by a system of moral recovery; it is not merely by truth, that you are redeemed. A prior difficulty must be surmounted, and that could only be accomplished by the surrender of His well-beloved.

But we are redeemed by blood--by the sufferings of Jesus Christ--by His atoning sacrifice.

1. This wondrous plan is Gods own device or method. It originated in Him--in His love and wisdom.

2. The sacrifice was offered up freely by Christ. He gave Himself. He had power to lay down His life and He had power to take it up again. But He said, Lo! I come. I delight to do Thy will, O My God. Christ also hath loved us, and gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.

3. The offering was accepted by God as a full satisfaction for the sins of His people. (W. Alves.)

Redemption through Christs blood, with royal forgiveness

I. Redemption only through Christs blood.

1. What is redemption? Ransom or deliverance. It is love, mercy, grace, and glory--all in one.

2. Illustrate this great Christian doctrine by a few examples.

(1) Suppose a Christian man, or benevolent rich man, went into the East, or some land of captives--a matter done often during the Crusades in former times. He sees there some lovely or noble slave, perhaps a countryman of his own, doomed to base servitude, to the galling chains, to labour at the oar, to dig in the mines, or toil beneath the lash in the fields for life. Pity fills his breast, and he buys the slave for the money demanded; he does more--he gives him freedom. Such is redemption.

(2) A mighty warrior leads forth his army to battle against the foes of his country. Some of his brave soldiers are overwhelmed by numbers, or taken captive by stratagem. There is no way of obtaining their liberty, unless by exchange of prisoners, or by ransom money, as in ancient times; but this is readily done for their release; and this restoration is an emblem of redemption.

(3) There is war between civilized and savage tribes. Some Christians are circumvented; the savages care not for money; they doom some poor captive to terrible death by torture or fire; the general hears of the fatal design; he starts at once with a brave band of soldiers to deliver the captive, who is bound to the fatal stake; conflict ensues, but he is just in time to rescue the prisoner from all the agonies of fire, although the deliverance was only achieved with great difficulty, and perhaps the death of the leader himself; but the rescue is accomplished with victory over the foe. This is redemption.

3. Now, can anyone tell me of the soul-thrilling delight of a person thus rescued from slavery, from galling bondage, from impending death. The sailor on London Bridge, of whom I once heard, may shadow its joys. He purchased a large cage full of birds, and went to the riverside; then he took from the cage one bird after another, and let it fly in the golden light of heaven, rejoicing in its sudden freedom with a sweet note or song of joy. When remonstrated with for spending his money so foolishly, he said, quietly: Wait a little. I have reason for this--to give happiness to these birds! And when all the cage was empty, he turned round triumphantly, with a bright eye, and said: I was once a captive myself in bondage, in a strange land. I vowed, if I got freedom, to give liberty to the first captives I found at home. The birds have got it, and my heart rejoices in the deed! But how burning must be the emotions of a man rescued from instant death by some unforeseen deliverance! Redemption commands our highest gratitude; more gratitude than rescue from death by water or fire by some powerful arm. Dr. Doddridge once obtained a pardon from the sovereign for a prisoner condemned to death. He went himself to the convicts cell, and presented it to the unhappy man. He fell at the feet of the Doctor, and said, with deep feeling; Sir, I am yours ever; every drop of my blood is yours; it thanks you for having mercy on me; all my life is yours! Such, indeed, must be the deathless gratitude of a soul saved, to Christ the Lord for His great work of redemption, which infinitely transcends all deliverance here!

4. Remark how this great work was effected; it is redemption by His blood. He who is both God and man, shed His blood for sinners, obtaining for us redemption, pardon, sanctification, and salvation.

II. Free forgiveness of all sin by Christ alone.

III. The absolute fulness of Divine blessings. (J. G. Angley, M. A.)

Errors with respect to the doctrine of the Atonement

I. The Atonement has frequently been represented as if it was intended to pacify the wrath of an offended, an angry, and a displeased Creator. It is very true that the Scriptures do describe God as in the exercise of wrath banishing men from His presence; but it is equally true that the Scriptures must be taken in many instances as employing metaphorical and figurative language, which we are bound to interpret upon the principles of metaphorical and figurative interpretation. If we overlook these principles, and take every term literally and every phrase literally, we shall be found to misrepresent the whole wilt of God, and the whole system of our common Christianity. But if we take the wrath of God, as it is mentioned in the Scriptures, to indicate nothing more than the course of just punishment which it inflicts--if we understand that He is described to be wrathful when He does that which we do when we are wrathful, putting forth His power to punish, but doing it under principles very different from those under which we act--we may then have a right view of what is meant by the wrath of God. It means nothing more, in the Scripture, than His displeasure with sin--His disapprobation of all that is impure and all that is unholy--His sentence against all that is morally unclean, and His rejection of all that would pollute His government.

II. The Redeemer is frequently represented as suffering precisely the degree of punishment due to the parties whom He came to redeem. We forget altogether the dignity of the Atonement of Christ, when we speak thus of the degree of suffering that He had to endure. It was because the Redeemer was God as well as Man, that His suffering was infinitely valuable; and not because He sustained exactly the measure of suffering which His people ought to have endured. Such a mercantile, such a commercial mode of viewing the Atonement of Christ is unknown to the Scriptures of truth. An exact payment for the required discharge is not known to the glorious economy of the gospel. A sacrifice of infinite value was given, no matter what the amount of the sufferings; and from its infinite value those sufferings, however light or however severe, must derive all their value and all their efficacy. We rejoice in resting upon the Atonement of the Son of God; not in resting on the blood of one who suffered as much as we had to suffer.

III. Again, it is sometimes said that Christ came into the world for the purpose of dying for particular persons, to the exclusion of all others. This is another idea connected with the Atonement. Here, again, we find a variety of evil consequences resulting from error. Tell an assembled multitude that Christ came to die for particular persons, and that all others were to be excluded from the range of His Atonement; and would not any thinking assembly say: Then if we were of that number we must be redeemed, for He died for us; if we were not of that number it is useless for us to attempt to share the privilege. What answer could we give to this? But when we come to the Word of God, we find no foundation for this.

IV. But again, in the fourth place, another error connected with the doctrine of Atonement is, that it was intended to introduce a relaxed administration of government; that, in other words, it was intended to bring before the world a remedial system--a subdued, a modified demand on the obedience of mankind, and that it was intended to make the law of more easy aspect to persons that had fallen, and that if they could not come up to its requirements, the efficacy of the Atonement would make up for their deficiency, and that in that case they might themselves be saved by doing the best they could, the Atonement supplying their lack of service. Now the Word of God contains nothing of this description. Heaven and earth shall pass away, says the Redeemer; but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. The New Testament admits of no relaxation of the law of God. When the Redeemer demands the obedience of His people, He says: Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

V. Another error is this: that the atonement of Christ was intended to abolish the obligation to obey the moral law. But what does such a doctrine as this really teach us? It teaches us that the moral law was broken, and it teaches us that God sent His own Son to be an Atonement, not to mend the breach, but to justify the breach I

VI. The Atonement is very frequently so misrepresented, as if deity had suffered. Such a notion never belonged to Christianity, although it has very often been advanced with reference to the Atonement of Christ. Then, if the Deity could not suffer, what did suffer? The perfect humanity of Christ. What gave efficacy to the sufferings of that humanity? Its union with the Deity of Christ. The union of the humanity of Christ with His divinity, gave to all His acts and all His sufferings an infinite value; and from that union, and that union alone, must be derived all the efficacy and all the glory of the Atonement; and the efficacy and glory of the Atonement will be found to be abundant, when connected with the union of the perfect humanity of Christ and the infinite glory of His Divine nature. We are wrong, therefore, in speaking of the sufferings of God. We are misrepresenting the Atonement of Christ.

VII. But without adding any more of the errors that may be current upon this subject (and I think I have embraced the principal part of them), it is due now to you that, in a few moments, I should state to you what i conceive to be the real character of the atonement. Let us look, first, at the nature of sin itself. What is it but the direct violation of the law of God? Here is the Majesty of heaven, the great Lawgiver; here is the perfect law that He reveals; He demands perfect obedience from the creature; we rebel against that demand; we are at variance with Him on the ground of that rebellion. What is to be done to heal the breach that has taken place between us? He is a God of love as well as a God of power and justice; He is willing to save, but He must do it in a way that will not encourage human rebellion. He seeks that His own hands shall be free to be gracious; He seeks that His own law shall permit Him to be merciful; He seeks that the perfection of His own purity shall permit Him to be kind, without for a moment sinking the character and the rectitude of His administration. How is He to be placed in a position in which He can honourably, and without disparagement to the public law of the universe, tell a man that he can be saved? He desires to tell him this; but He desires to find means to vindicate that act. He turns to His own Son; and the Son volunteers to accept the service assigned to Him. Volunteering to accept it, we find Him going forth, taking upon Him our nature, in that nature suffering and dying, and presenting Himself, not to man but to God. The priest presented the sacrifice on the altar to the Majesty of Israel; the sacrifice had direct reference to God--the mercy had reference to the people. In the same way the sacrifice presented in the Atonement of Christ has reference Go God; it is to Him that its incense, its perfume arises; the mercy has reference to us. The sacrifice, therefore, is presented to the King of kings that He may be able, consistently and worthily and holily, to proclaim mercy through the blood of the Lord Jesus. He looks to no specific individuals; He looks to no specific sins; He looks to the altar--the Cross where the Redeemer died. God looks to that sacrifice, and He sees in that sacrifice the means by which He can be vindicated in the proclamation of His kindness throughout the world, in the announcement of His love, in the extension of His mercy. Now His hands are free; His law is magnified and made honourable, and yet He can condescend to be gracious. We can now have redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. There is now ample scope made for free and sovereign grace to proclaim its readiness to be merciful. No one can point to the Cross and say, The offering there made was for me; no individual can point to the Cross and say, There the anger of the Father against me was appeased, and I may approach and find Him gracious; no, but the Father Himself looks down upon the Cross, and lifting the light of His countenance on the wondrous offering of His own Son in His own love, and the love of the Father concurring in accepting that offering, He looks round on the whole human race, and says: Behold the measure of My love, and behold at the same time the vindication of My justice, while I proclaim My mercy, and invite all to come. This view of the Atonement makes it a great sacrifice to public justice; and when I speak of a sacrifice to public justice, I speak of justice as vindicated before the whole universe. Why do I call it public justice? Do not the angels of heaven look to it? Do not the angels of hell look to it? Do they not expect to see God consistent with what He has proclaimed? Does not the whole intelligent universe look to it? Will not the whole assembled creation at the day of judgment look to it? Is it not, then, public justice? And is it not necessary for God to have a vindication ready when He assembles the intelligent universe? He has it ready--He has it ready now--a satisfaction to public justice and public law; and now grace can invite all the sinners of mankind, and accept every returning transgressor. (John Burnet.)

Gratitude for redemption

A gentleman, visiting a slave mart, was deeply moved by the agony of a slave girl, who had been delicately reared, and fearing lest she should fall into the hands of a rough and unkind master, inquired her price, paid it to the slave dealer; then, placing the bill of sale in her own hands, announced to her that she was free, and could now go home. The poor slave girl could not realize the change at first; but, running after her redeemer, cried out: He has redeemed me! he has redeemed me! Will you let me be your servant? How much more should we serve Him who has redeemed us from sin, and death, and hell?

Gods motives in redemption

How should we extol and adore the wisdom which discovered a way to harmonize the glory of a holy God and the good of guilty men! In the salvation of the human family God was undoubtedly moved by a regard to both these ends, It is an imperfect vision that sees but one motive here. This subject may be compared to those binary stars which seem to the naked eye but one, yet, when brought into the range of the telescope, resolve themselves into two distinct and shining orbs, that roll in brightness and beauty around a common, but invisible, centre, Though He loved His own glory, yet He so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that by Him the world might be redeemed from perdition. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Effects of redemption

A few years ago I was going away to preach one Sunday morning, when a young man drove up in front of us. He had an aged woman with him. Who is that young man? I asked. Do you see that beautiful meadow, said my friend, and that land there with the house upon it? Yes. His father drank that all up, he said. Then he went on to tell me all about him. His father was a great drunkard, squandered his property, died, and left his wife in the poorhouse. And that young man, he said, is one of the finest young men I ever knew. He has toiled hard and earned money, and bought back the land; he has taken his mother out of the poorhouse, and now he is taking her to church. I thought, that is an illustration for me. The first Adam, in Eden, sold us for nought; but the Messiah, the Second Adam, came and bought us back again. The first Adam brought us to the poorhouse, as it were; the Second Adam makes us kings and priests unto God. (D. L. Moody.)

Redemption through the blood of Christ

I dare assert, without fear of successful contradiction, that the inspired writers attribute all the blessings of salvation to the precious blood of Jesus Christ. If we have redemption it is through His blood; if we are justified, it is by His blood; if washed from our moral stains, it is by His blood, which cleanseth us from all sin; if we have victory over the last enemy, we obtain it not only by the Word of the Divine testimony, bus through the blood of the Lamb; and if we gain admittance into heaven, it is because we have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and therefore are we before the throne of God. Everything depends on the blood of Christ, and without shedding of blood is no remission. (R. Newton.)

The forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness and redemption

Gods forgiveness is, so to speak, the preliminary grace, which enables the beginning of a new life, so that we become holy and loving children. Forgiveness is the prerogative of him who has been sinned against. Who can forgive sins save God only? He forgives on grounds sufficient in the estimation of His own righteous love. He cannot be coerced or coaxed into forgiveness. He cannot forgive until He sees it right to forgive. He cannot connive at the sinner being let off, if righteousness demands that he should suffer penalty. Nothing can be weaker or more immoral than to represent God as moved merely by pity, by a merciful compassion. That He is infinitely pitiful and loving is the uniform representation of Scripture. But His love works in a far profounder and holier and greater way than by mere pitiful feeling. He Himself gave the only begotten Son to redeem us, to die as a sacrifice for sins, that He might righteously forgive, that He might be a just God and yet a Saviour. The entire representation is of Gods love as the moving cause of Christs mission and redeeming work. Christ is given by the leather to redeem us--that is, as the apostle here explains it, to obtain for us the forgiveness of sins. Sin is not a misfortune, a necessity of our nature--it is a guilty act. We need not sin; we wilfully sin: and before we can become loving children of God, our sin must be forgiven. This is the first step in our redemption; forgiveness is made possible for us, is obtained for us by Jesus Christ. The further phrase redemption through His blood, shuts us up to the idea that the shedding of His blood by Christ, was that which made forgiveness a possible thing. It is only natural that men should ask, How, in what way, did the death of Christ constitute a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of men? Such questions have been asked from the beginning of Christianity, and have in a hundred ways been answered in creeds and in systems of theology. These are purely human conceptions of the great fact which the New Testament affirms, and they have continuously changed as the spiritual intelligence of the Church has grown. Perhaps no one could now be found capable of entertaining the gross notions of the earlier and middle ages of Christianity. Whatever theory we may form, it must be taken only as our fallible human idea. The fact of the great sacrifice for sin is authoritatively affirmed; very little is said in explanation of what we may call the philosophy of it. That it had an aspect Godward, that it is the ground or reason of Gods forgiveness of sins, we are expressly told. And that it has an aspect manward, that it is a moral constraint upon human feeling, the power of God unto salvation is equally affirmed. Lifted up from the earth, He draws all men unto Him. One or two things may be said. Christ suffered, of course, as a man--a perfectly holy man, suffering for human sin as if He Himself had sinned. To enable this He became incarnate. He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. It is clear that He did not suffer to appease any implacable feeling in God--to incline God to save. Every representation of Scripture is of Gods yearning pity and love. His love was the origin, the cause, of Christs Incarnation--He spared not His only-begotten Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all. That God is angry with sin is only to say that He is a Holy Being. If God can delight in the holiness of His creatures, He must hate their sin. He is not a passionless Being, incapable of feeling. How could He be loved if He were? No expressions can be stronger than those which represent Gods feeling towards sin. He is angry with the wicked every day; The wrath of God abideth upon him; The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, for those that obey unrighteousness there is indignation and wrath. We are saved from wrath through Him. We are by nature children of wrath; the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience. That God was not angry with His well-beloved Son needs not be said, save that this, too, is a misrepresentation that the rejectors of the Atonement are not ashamed to persist in. Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life for the sheep. That Jesus Christ ever thought the Father angry with Him it is impossible to think. When, in the extreme anguish of His spirit, He felt as if His Father had forsaken Him, He immediately added: Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit. Was not His anguish simply the vivid realization by His human heart of what human sin was? If any of us had a brother or a sister, a father or a mother, who committed a murder, would not our anguish at the crime be greater than even that of the murderer himself, just in proportion as his heart was murderous and ours was humane? Many a father, many a mother, feels infinitely more anguish for the sin of a profligate son, of a fallen daughter, than the sinner himself. May not this suggestion help us to understand the agony of the garden and of the cross? (H. Allen, D. D.)

The glories of forgiving grace

The forgiveness of sins is an article in the creed, but I want it to be a substantive in your lives. Most men say that they believe it, but their belief is often nominal, and a nominal faith, like nominal wealth, only makes the absence of the reality the more deplorable. In two instances there is clearly no faith in forgiven sin.

1. Those who have never felt that they are sinful. How can he who does not believe in the existence of sin believe in the forgiveness of it? His whole confession on that matter belongs to the region of fiction. If sin is not a terrible fact to you, pardon will never be more than a notion.

2. Those who know the guilt of sin, but are not yet able to believe in the Lord Jesus for the remission of their transgressions. They need to be admonished as Luther was by the godly old monk. When he was greatly distressed under conviction of his guilt, the aged man said, Didst thou not say this morning in the creed, I believe in the forgiveness of sins? Oh, be not theoretical believers. You believe in sin, believe also in its pardon. Let the one be as much a truth as the other.

I. From the text we learn the measure of forgiveness.

1. Observe, then, that the measure of forgiveness is the riches of Gods grace, and this statement leads us to observe that it is not the character or person of the offender which is the measure of mercy, but the character of the offended One. Is there not rich consolation in this undoubted fact? The pardon to be hoped for is not to be measured by you and what you are, but by God and what He is. One man will forgive a grievous wrong, while another will not overlook a wry word. Take an instance from English history: John had most villainously treated his brother Richard in his absence. Was it likely that when he of the lions heart came home he would pass over his brothers grievous offence? If you look at John, villain that he was, it was most unlikely that he should be forgiven; but then, if you consider the brave, high-souled Richard, the very flower of chivalry, you expect a generous deed. Base as John was, he was likely to be forgiven, because Richard was so free of heart, and accordingly pardon was right royally given by the great-hearted monarch. Had John been only half as guilty, if his brother Richard had been like himself he would have made him lay his neck on the block. If John had been Richard and Richard had been John, no matter how small the offence, there would have been no likelihood of pardon at all. So is it in all matters of transgression and pardon. You must take the offence somewhat into account, it is true, but not one half so much as the character of the person who has been offended. Let us establish this fact, and then see what light it throws upon the probability of pardon to any of you who are seeking it. With whom are you dealing? You have offended--who is He whom you have offended? Is it one whose anger is quickly aroused? No, the Lord is long suffering, and exceedingly patient. Forty years long was He grieved with one generation; and many a time did He pity them and remove His wrath from them.

2. Since the forgiveness of sins is according to the riches of His grace, then it is not according to our conceptions of Gods mercy, but according to that mercy itself, and the riches of it. Gods love is not to be measured by a mercers yard, nor His mercy to be weighed in the balances of the merchant.

3. If, again, the measure of mercy is according to the riches of His grace, then no limit to pardon can be set by the amount of human sin which can be forgiven. Sin is no trifle, and yet pardon is no impossibility.

4. Another comfortable conclusion follows from this, that no limit is set to the time in which a man has sinned, so as to bound the reach of grace by the lapse of years. Our text does not say that there is forgiveness of sins according to such and such a time of life, but according to the riches of His grace.

5. Let me draw another inference. If pardon be according to the riches of His grace, it is not according to the bitterness of the sorrow which has been felt by the sinner. There is a notion abroad that we must pass through a period of keen remorse before we can expect to be accepted with God.

6. And let me say that the measure of Gods forgiveness is not even the strength of a mans faith. The measure of Gods forgiveness is according to the riches of His grace. You, dear soul, are to come and trust in what Jesus Christ did when He bled away His life for sinners, and then your pardon shall be measured out to you, not according to the greatness and strength of your confidence, but according to the immeasurable mercy of the heart of God. You may have faith but as a grain of mustard seed, your faith may only dare to touch the garments hem of the great Saviour, you may get no further than to say, He hath said, Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out, and I do come to Him: if I perish, I will perish trusting Him, and yet that faith will save you. Thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee if thou believest in Jesus; for the measure of thy forgiveness is not thy faith, nor thy tears of repentance, nor thy bitter regrets, nor thy sin, nor thy conception of Gods goodness, nor thy character, either past or present or future; but the forgiveness which is granted from the Lord is according to the riches of His grace.

II. The manner of forgiveness.

1. Absolute freeness. According to the riches of His free favour, for that is the meaning of the word grace. God forgives none because of payment made by them in any form. If we could bring Him mountains of gold and silver, they would be nothing worth to Him. Forgiveness, like love, is unpurchaseable by us. Gods pardons are absolutely free.

2. Royal ease. When you and I give away money to the poor, we have to pause, and see how much is left in our purse; we have to calculate our incomes to see whether we may not be spending too much in charity; but those who have great riches can give and not calculate: even so God when He grants forgiveness gives it according to the riches of His grace. He never has to think whether He will have grace enough left; He will be none the richer if He withholds it, none the poorer if He bestows it. There is a magnificent ease about the benefactions of God: He scatters the largesse of His mercy right and left with unstinted liberality. The Roman conquerors, traversing the Via Sacra in triumph, were accustomed to scatter gold and silver with both hands as they rode along, and the eager crowd gathered up the shower of gifts. Our Lord, when He ascended on high and led captivity captive, scattered gifts among men with royal splendour and munificence.

3. Unquestionable fulness. The blood of Jesus makes us whiter than snow, and absolute innocence cannot be more white than that.

4. Irreversible certainty. No condemnation.

5. Unfailing renewal. Daily forgiveness for daily sin, a flesh spring rising for fresh thirst.

III. The manifestation of this pardon.

1. Forgiveness of sin comes to us entirely through Jesus Christ our Saviour; and if we go to Jesus Christ, fixing our eyes especially upon His atoning sacrifice, we have pardon by virtue of His blood. Pardon by any other means is impossible, but by Jesus Christ it is certain. Everything else fails, but faith in Christ never fails.

2. This pardon is a possession. We have it. No longer is the weight and burden of sin lying on your conscience and heart: your load is lifted; you are forgiven. If your child has been offending you, and you are angry with him, he feels ill at ease in your presence. At last you say, My boy, it is all gone now; do not offend again. You are quite forgiven; come here, and let me kiss you. Does he reply, Father, I am afraid? If so, it is evident that he does not understand that you have forgiven him: and even if he receives your kiss, but still remains unhappy in your presence, it is clear that he does not believe in you or in the sincerity of your forgiveness. As soon as the light dawns on his mind Father has quite put all my fault away, then he is merry in his play and easy in his conversation with you. Now, be with God like a child at home. Do not act towards Him as if still He frowned upon you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The forgiveness of sins

The earlier verses of this chapter contain Pauls conception of the Divine ideal of human nature. It was the Divine purpose before the foundation of the world that men should share the life and sonship of the eternal Son of God. It was for this that human nature received its wonderful capacities. Its sanctity and righteousness were to be secured by union with Christ. The human race was to be a great spiritual organism, having Christ for the root of its life and blessedness. Abiding in Christ, the race was to abide in God; and only by abiding in Christ could the race achieve the perfection and glory for which it was created. But the Divine purpose did not suppress human freedom. It could be fulfilled only by the free concurrence of the race with the Divine righteousness and love; and the whole order of the development of the Divine thought has been disturbed by sin. In His infinite goodness God has delivered us from the immense catastrophe which came upon us through our revolt against His authority. In Christ we have redemption and forgiveness.

I. What forgiveness is not.

1. Forgiveness is not a change in our minds towards God, but a change in Gods mind towards us. Take an illustration. A son has been guilty of flagrant misconduct towards his father; has insulted him, slandered his character, robbed him, and almost ruined him. The son discovers his guilt and is greatly distressed. He does all he can to atone for his wickedness. He has become a better man, and there is a great change in his mind and conduct towards his father. But it is possible for all the change to be on one side. He may be unable to remove or even to lessen his fathers indignation against him. His father may continue for years bitter, relentless, unforgiving. I do not mean to suggest that God will be hard with us when we repent; but if we are to have any clear and true thoughts about this subject we must see distinctly that it is one thing for us to repent of sin and to become better, and quite another thing for God to forgive us.

2. Nor must the Divine forgiveness be confounded with peace of conscience. I have known many people who were restless and unhappy, dissatisfied with themselves, and unable to find any rest of heart in the Divine mercy. The reason was plain: they were not troubled by the Divine hostility to their sin, and therefore the assurance that God was willing to forgive them afforded them no relief. It was not Gods thoughts about them that occasioned their distress, but their own thoughts about themselves. They did not want to obtain the Divine forgiveness, but to recover their own self-respect, which had been wounded by the discovery of their moral imperfections. But it is clearly one thing for God to be at peace with us, and quite a different thing for us to be at peace with ourselves.

3. We must not suppose that as soon as God forgives us we escape at once from the painful and just consequences of our sins. The sins may be forgiven, and yet many of the penalties which they have brought upon us may remain. There is a certain alliance between the laws of nature and the laws of righteousness, and there is a similar alliance between the natural laws of society and the laws of righteousness. No Divine act arrests the operation of the natural laws which punish the penitent for his former drunkenness. There are vices, such as flagrant lying, gross treachery, deliberate dishonesty, which involve a man in heavy social penalties. He does not escape these penalties when he repents of the vices and receives the Divine pardon. He is maimed for life. His chances are lost. He will recover with difficulty the confidence of even kindly and generous men. Positions of public trust and honour will be closed against him, He will be excluded from many kinds of usefulness.

II. What it is for God to forgive sins.

1. Forgiveness among ourselves implies that there has been just resentment against the person whom we forgive, resentment provoked by his wrongdoing. When we forgive him the resentment ceases. And so also does God regard, not with disapproval only, but with resentment, those who sin; and when He forgives men, His resentment ceases.

2. When God forgives, He actually remits our sin. Our responsibility for it ceases. The guilt of it is no longer ours. When His resentment against us ceases, the eternal law of righteousness ceases to be hostile to us. When He pardons our transgressions, the eternal law of righteousness no longer holds us responsible for them. The shadow which they had projected across our life, and which lengthened with our lengthening years, passes away. We look back upon the sins which God has forgiven and we condemn them still, but the condemnation does not fall upon ourselves; for God, who is the living law of righteousness, condemns us no longer.

3. The peace and blessedness of this release from guilt are wonderful. The soul is conscious of a Divine freedom. It can approach God with happy trust and with perfect courage, for the past is no longer a source of terror, and the future is bright with immortal hope. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Forgiveness defined

Forgiveness may be defined--

1. In personal terms--as a cessation of the anger or moral resentment of God against sin.

2. In ethical terms--as a release from the guilt of sin, which oppresses the conscience.

3. In legal terms--as a remission of the punishment of sin, which is eternal death. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

The forgiveness of sin and the death of Christ

That our Lord Jesus Christ declared that men were to receive redemption or the remission of sins through Himself, and especially through His death, appears from several passages in the Gospels; and the great place which His last sufferings occupied in His thoughts from the very commencement of His ministry, the frequency with which He spoke of them, the wonderful results which He said were to follow them, the agitation and dismay which He felt as they approached, and His anxiety to pass through them and beyond them, show that to Christ His death was not a mere martyrdom but an awful and glorious crisis in His own history and in the history of the human race. The apostles Peter, Paul, and John, though each had his own characteristic conception of the work of Christ and the Christian salvation, are agreed in declaring that the ground of our forgiveness is in Christ, and they are also agreed in attributing a mysterious importance and efficacy to His death (2Co_5:14; 2Co_5:21; Rom_4:25; 1Co_15:3; Gal_1:4; 1Pe_3:18; 1Pe_2:24; 1Jn_2:2; 1Jn_4:10; 1Jn_1:7; 1Th_5:9; Rom_5:8; Rom_3:24-26). But no collection of isolated passages gives an adequate impression of the strength of the proof that both our Lord and His apostles taught that in Him we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of [Gods] grace. This truth is wrought into the very substance of the Christian gospel.

I. We have the forgiveness of our trespasses in Christ. It is in harmony with the fundamental law of human nature that the reason and ground of our forgiveness should be in Christ; for the reason and ground of our creation, of our righteousness, and of our blessedness as the sons of God, are in Him.

II. We have the forgiveness of our trespasses in Christ through His blood.

1. The relations of Christ to the Father are the transcendent expression and original root of our relation to the Father. We are related to the Father through Him. And since the relation of moral submission on our part to the righteousness of Gods resentment against sin was an indispensable condition of the forgiveness of sin, it became necessary that Christ Himself should assume this relation of moral submission to the righteousness of Gods resentment against sin, that His submission might be the transcendent expression of ours.

2. There is no righteousness in us which is not first in Christ. And since our submission to the righteousness of Gods resentment against sin was an indispensable condition of our forgiveness, Christs submission became necessary to render ours possible. His submission carries ours with it.

3. His death is the death of sin in all who are one with Him.

(1) Christ, the eternal Son of God and the root of our righteousness, having become Man, endured death in order to render possible our moral consent to the justice of the Divine resentment against sin, and to the justice of the penalties in which that resentment might have been revealed. Had God withdrawn from us His light and life, and destroyed us by revealing His moral resentment against our sin, this would have been an awful manifestation of the moral energy of His righteousness and of His abhorrence of moral evil. Its moral value would have been infinitely heightened by the intensity of His love for us. But God in the greatness of His love shrank from depriving us of that blessed and glorious destiny for which we were created; and in order to secure our moral submission to the righteousness of His resentment, a moral submission which was the necessary condition of our forgiveness, He surrendered His own eternal Son to spiritual desertion and to death. In this surrender, made for such a purpose, there was a sublimer moral manifestation of the Divine thought concerning sin than there would have been in condemning the race to eternal death.

(2) The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the Moral Ruler of the human race. The moral supremacy of God is manifested and exerted through Him. It was His function to punish sin, and so to reveal His judgment of it. But instead of inflicting suffering, He has elected to endure it, that those who repent of sin may receive forgiveness and may inherit eternal glory. It was greater to endure suffering than to inflict it. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

The forgiveness of sins

Forgiveness is much more than pardon. Pardon is not a New Testament word at all; it does not occur in the New Testament, only in the Old Testament. Pardon is only the remitting the punishment of sins; forgiveness goes deeper--it is the taking away the memory of sins; it is an act of the heart which cancels both the punishment and the sin itself. Both words, pardon from the French, and forgiveness from the English, or Saxon, both have in them the word gift. It is a gift. Both the remitting the penalty, and the banishment of the thought of the wrong thing that has been done out of the heart, both are a gift. But forgiveness is the greater gift; it is pardon and forgiveness as well, for if you are forgiven, the sin itself is divided from the person forgiven, as though it had never been. All that is wanted is to go for your forgiveness in a right state of mind. That state of mind means four things.

I. You must feel and confess that you have sinned--sinned against God. It is not enough to feel that you have sinned against man, or to your own injury: you must feel and own from the bottom of your heart that you have offended God. Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned.

II. You must have a sincere and holy resolve in you heart that you will not commit that sin any more; that you will lead a better and religious life. This resolve must be firm and earnest, with a deep sense of your own weakness and inability to keep the promise; but you are prepared to meet any sacrifice, and overcome all difficulties, God helping you.

III. You must come with the faith that God can, and will, and does forgive you, for the sake of Him who has already paid all your debt, and satisfied His justice.

IV. You must be in a state of forgiveness, forgiveness with all who have ever injured you. These four are the only prerequisites which God has laid down as necessary for the forgiveness of every sin. Besides these, not only you need not, you must not bring anything in your hand. No merit, no plea, but that you are a poor sinner, and that God is love, and that Christ has died for you and instead of you, and suffered your punishment. Can those forgiven sins ever rise up again? Never, never! See what God says upon that subject: The scapegoat is borne away into a land not inhabited. Who shall see them, or talk about them, where there is none to speak? A land not inhabited. They shall not be mentioned. They are nailed to the cross. They are dead and buried, and there is no resurrection to a forgiven sin. God has put them behind His back, where He cannot see them! Do you say I make it too easy? Would it not be presumptuous to believe in such an instant and complete forgiveness? Would there not be encouragements for the careless to go on and sin again, because they can again be so easily forgiven? Let me tell you what will be the effect. The feeling of that forgiveness, the wonderful surprise that you are forgiven; that Gods eye is on you; that you are His own dear child, and that you may, notwithstanding all the past, serve Him and please Him, and be happy in this world and go to heaven when you die; this will melt you to tears, it will melt your heart to tears. You will be so soft. Your penitence, after you feel forgiven, will be much deeper than before you were forgiven. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Value of forgiveness

History relates the story of a many a sagacious and far-sighted man, whose example it is our safety, our salvation to follow. He had committed heinous crimes against his sovereign and the state. He knew his life to be forfeited; and that if, allowing events to take their course, he waited to be tried, he was certain to be condemned. The case is exactly ours. In these circumstances he repaired to the palace to fling himself at the feet of his sovereign, and making full confession of his crimes, to beg for mercy. Through the clemency of his king, and the intercession of a powerful friend at court, he found mercy; and, with a full pardon in his bosom, signed by the kings own band, left the royal presence a happy man. In course of time, the day of trim arrives, gathering a great concourse of people. He repairs to the place. Ignorant of his secret, anxious friends tremble for his fate; and the spectators wonder at his calm and placid bearing as he passes the scaffold where they think he is so soon to die, and enters the court, certain, as they fancy, to be condemned. He steps up to the bar as lightly as a bridegroom to the marriage altar; and, to all men s surprise, looks boldly around, on the court, his judges, and his accusers. At this, however, they cease to wonder, when, after listening unmoved to charges enough to hang twenty men in the place of one, he thrusts his hand into his bosom to draw forth the pardon, to cast it on the table, and find himself, amid a sudden outburst of joy, locked in the happy embraces of his wife and children. Let us go and do likewise. The bar of Divine judgment is a place not to sue for mercy, but to plead it. Appearing there robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, justified, forgiven, in our hands a pardon signed and sealed with blood, we shall look around us undismayed on all the terrors of the scene -to ask with Paul, Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

According to the riches of His grace.--

The riches of Gods grace

I. The riches of Gods grace are illustrated by the nature and cause of these evils from which God is willing to redeem us. It is not misfortune we are suffering from, but guilt; the anger of God has not come upon us by accident; hell is not a mere calamity, the pains of eternal death are not undeserved. All the evils of our condition, from which God is eager to save us, are the result of our own fault. We have sinned; and the sin is regarded by God with deep and intense abhorrence. If a man whom you have trusted lies to you again and again, you fling him off from you with contempt. If you have detected a man whom you have trusted in an attempt to commit deliberative fraud upon you, you close your doors against him and forbid him ever to enter your house. If he be drunken, profane, and profligate, you think of him with disgust. And whatever abhorrence and loathing we may feet for gross sin, God, who is infinitely purer than we are, feels for all sin, and it is sin which has brought all our woes upon us. We have sinned, not ignorantly, but knowingly. We have sinned for years, and perhaps some of us are only now beginning to think of amendment. And yet to us sinners, to the guiltiest and most flagrant sinner among us, God offers redemption, and shows the riches of His grace.

II. The riches of His grace are illustrated in what He has none to effect our redemption. Through the blood of Christ. The Son of God, the Creator of our race, the moral Ruler of the universe, with whom it rested, when we had sinned, fully to express the Divine sense of the magnitude of our guilt, and to inflict the penalties which we deserved; laid His glory by, in order that He might endure the penalty instead of inflicting it, that He might express His sense of our sin by enduring death before He forgave it, instead of inflicting death on us because we had transgressed.

III. The conditions on which God offers salvation illustrate the riches of His grace. A free gift--the only condition being that we be willing to receive it. Arise, and be free! is Christs message to all.

IV. The very name by which the Christian revelation is known illustrates this. It is not called a system or doctrine, else it might be necessary to master the doctrine before you could secure redemption. It is not a moral but a spiritual discipline, else it might be necessary that you should subject yourself to its vivifying and invigorating power before redemption could be yours. It is not a law, else you would have to obey it before its promises could be fulfilled. It is not a promise of redemption, nor an assurance that God is willing to accomplish your redemption, else there might be conditions attached to the promise by which you might be perplexed and hindered. No; but it is a gospel--good news from heaven to earth, from God to man; good news of the Divine love which anger against sin has not quenched; good news of a great redemption wrought out in us; good news that God through Christ is nigh at hand and eager to forgive sins; good news that everything that is necessary to complete our salvation God has actually conferred upon us through Christ Jesus our Lord, and that we have only to receive it in order to rejoice in eternal blessedness.

V. The concern God has shown about our salvation illustrates the riches of His grace. We sometimes speak of those who are seeking God. The New Testament speaks of God seeking us. The Good Shepherd goes out into the wilderness after the sheep that has gone astray, before there is any terror felt at its danger, or any desire on its part to return. This is Gods conduct towards us. Is it not so? Why is it that any of you are at this moment restless because of your guilt, alarmed because of your danger, and longing to find your way into the peace of God? Is it the result of strenuous and laborious effort of your own to discover whether or not you had incurred guilt and exposure to danger? Has it not all come to you, you know not how? And yet, when you begin to consider, you conclude that it has been awakened in your heart by God. Can you be so ungrateful for His persistent love? (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

The treasure of grace

I. First, consider the riches of His grace. In attempting to search out that which is unsearchable, we must, I suppose, use some of those comparisons by which we are wont to estimate the wealth of the monarchs, and mighty ones of this world. It happened once that the Spanish ambassador, in the halcyon days of Spain, went on a visit to the French ambassador, and was invited by him to see the treasures of his master. With feelings of pride he showed the repositories, profusely stored with earths most precious and most costly wealth. Could you show gems so rich, said he, or aught the like of this for magnificence of possessions in all your sovereigns kingdom? Call your master rich? replied the ambassador of Spain, why, my masters treasures have no bottom--alluding, of course, to the mines of Peru and Petrosa. So truly in the riches of grace there are mines too deep for mans finite understanding ever to fathom. However profound your investigation, there is still a deep couching beneath that baffles all research. As by necessity of His Godhead He is omnipotent, and omnipresent, so by absolute necessity of His Divinity is He gracious. Recollect, however, that as the attributes of God are of the like extent, the gauge of one attribute must be the gauge of another. Or, further, if one attribute is without limit, so is another attribute.

1. Now, you cannot conceive any boundary to the omnipotence of God. What cannot He do? He can create, He can destroy; He can speak a myriad universes into existence; or He can quench the light of myriads of stars as readily as we tread out a spark. As He hath power to do anything, so hath He grace enough to give anything--to give everything to the very chief of sinners.

2. Take another attribute if you please--Gods omniscience, there is no boundary to that. We know that His eye is upon every individual of our race--He sees him as minutely as if he were the only creature that existed. It is boasted of the eagle that though he can outstare the sun, yet when at his greatest height, he can detect the movement of the smallest fish in the depths of the sea. But what is this compared with the omniscience of God?

3. There is no limit to His understanding, nor is there to His grace. As His knowledge comprehendeth all things, so doth His grace comprehend all the sins, all the trials, all the infirmities of the people upon whom His heart is set. The next time we fear that Gods grace will be exhausted let us look into this mine, and then let us reflect that all that has ever been taken out of it has never diminished it a single particle. All the clouds that have been taken from the sea have never diminished its depth, and all the love, and all the mercy that God has given to all but infinite numbers of the race of man, has not diminished by a single grain the mountain of His grace. But, to proceed further; we sometimes judge of the wealth of men, not only by their real estate in mines and the like, but by what they have on hand stored up in the treasury. Gods treasury is His covenant of grace, wherein the Father gave His Son, the Son gave Himself, and the Spirit promised all His influence, all His presence, to all the chosen. This, my brethren, if ye think it over, may well make you estimate aright the riches of Gods grace. If you read the roll of the covenant from beginning to end, containing as it does, election, redemption, calling, justification, pardon, adoption, heaven, immortality--if you read all this, you will say, This is riches of grace--God, great and infinite! Who is a God like unto Thee for the riches of Thy love! The riches of great kings again, may often be estimated by the munificence of the monuments which they reared to record their feats. We have been amazed in these modern times at the marvellous riches of the kings of Nineveh and Babylon. Modern monarchs with all their appliances, would fail to erect such monstrous piles of palaces as those in which old Nebuchadnezzar walked in times of yore. We turn to the pyramids, we see there what the wealth of nations can accomplish; we look across the sea to Mexico and Peru, and we see the relics of a semi-barbarous people; but we are staggered and amazed to think what wealth and what mines of riches they must have possessed ere such works could have been accomplished. Solomons riches are perhaps best judged of by us when we think of those great cities which he built in the wilderness, Tadmore and Palmyra. When we go and visit those ruins and see the massive columns and magnificent sculpture, me say, Solomon indeed was rich. We feel as we walk amid the ruins somewhat like the Queen of Sheba, even in Scripture the half has not been told us of the riches of Solomon. My brethren, God has led us to inspect mightier trophies than Solomon, or Nebuchadnezzar, or Montezuma, or all the Pharaohs. Turn your eyes yonder, see that blood-bought host arrayed in white, surrounding the throne--hark, how they sing, with voice triumphant, with melodies seraphic, Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. And who are these? Who are these trophies of His grace? Some of them have come from the stews of harlotry; many of them have come from the taverns of drunkenness. Nay, more, the hands of some of those so white and fair, were once red with the blood of saints. I see there Manasseh, who shed innocent blood so much, and the thief who in the last moment looked to Christ, and said, Lord, remember me. Now we turn to another point to illustrate the greatness of the riches of Gods grace. A mans riches may often be judged of by the equipage of his children, the manner in which he dresses his servants and those of his household. It is not to be expected that the child of the poor man, though he is comfortably clothed, should be arrayed in like garments to those which are worn by the sons of princes. Let us see, then, what are the robes in which Gods people are apparelled, and how they are attended. Here, again, I speak upon a subject where a large imagination is needed, and my own utterly fails me. Gods children are wrapped about with a robe, a seamless robe, which earth and heaven could not buy the like of if it were once lost. For texture it excels the fine linen of the merchants; for whiteness it is purer than the driven snow; no looms on earth could make it, but Jesus spent His life to work my robe of righteousness. Look at Gods people as they are clothed too in the garments of sanctification. Was there ever such a robe as that? it is literally stiff with jewels. He arrays the meanest of His people every day as though it were a wedding day; He arrays them as a bride adorneth herself with jewels; He has given Ethiopia and Sheba for them, and He will have them dressed in gold of Ophir. What riches of grace, then, must there be in God who thus clothes His children! But to Conclude this point upon which I have not as yet begun. If you would know the full riches of Divine grace, read the Fathers heart when He sent His Son upon earth to die; read the lines upon the Fathers countenance when He pours His wrath upon His only begotten and His well-beloved Son. So much, then, concerning the riches of His grace.

II. For a minute or two, let me now dwell upon the forgiveness of sins. The treasure of Gods grace is the measure of our forgiveness; this forgiveness of sins is according to the riches of His grace. We may infer, then, that the pardon which God gives to the penitent is no niggard pardon. Again: if pardon be in proportion to the riches of His grace, we may rest assured it is not a limited pardon, it is not the forgiving of some sins and the leaving of others upon the back., No, this were not Godlike, it were not consistent with the riches of His grace. When God forgives He draws the mark through every sin which the believer ever has committed, or ever will commit.

III. And now I conclude by noticing the blessed privileges which always follow the forgiveness which is given to us according to the grace of God.

1. Peace of conscience. That heart of yours which throbs so fast when you are alone, will be quite still and quiet. When once a man is forgiven, he can walk anywhere; and, knowing his sins to be forgiven, he has joy unspeakable.

2. Then, to go further, such a man has access to God. Another man with unforgiven sin about him stands afar off; and it he thinks of God at all it is as a consuming fire.

3. Then another effect of this is that the believer fears no hell.

4. Once more, the forgiven Christian is expecting heaven. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The riches of Gods grace

In a country village if a man has a few hundred pounds he is thought to be quite rich. In a large town a man must have several thousands. But when you come to London and frequent the Stock Exchange you inquire of so and so--Is he a rich man? And someone will perhaps reply, Yes, yes, he is worth a hundred thousand pounds. Put the same question to a Rothschild with his millions, and he answers, No! he is a little man: he is not rich: he only owns a hundred thousand pounds; for these great bankers count their money by millions. Well, but what are these great Rothschilds with all their millions when they are reckoned up according to the wealth of heaven? The Lord alone is rich. God is so rich in mercy that you cannot tell how rich He is. His is overflowing riches, marvellous riches, exceeding riches. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

God abounds in grace

An indigent philosopher at the court of Alexander sought relief at the hand of that sovereign, and received an order on his treasurer for any sum he should ask. He immediately demanded ten thousand pounds. The treasurer demurred to the extravagant amount; but Alexander replied, Let the money be instantly paid. I am delighted with this philosophers way of thinking: he has done me a singular honour. By the largeness of his request, he: shows the high opinion he has of my wealth and munificence. Even so they do most honour Gods grace who remember that it abounds towards us. Abounding grace:--Payson, when he lay on his bed dying, said, All my life Christ has seemed to me as a star afar off; but little by little He has been advancing and growing larger and larger, till now His beams seem to fill the whole hemisphere, and I am floating in the glory of God, wondering with unutterable wonder how such a mote as I should be glorified in His light. But he came to that after a long life. (H. W. Beecher.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 1:7-8. In, or by, whom we have redemption — By price and by power, are bought and delivered from the guilt and dominion of sin, the tyranny of Satan, and the final displeasure and wrath of God. Through his blood — Shed for these purposes; or through what he hath done and suffered; having undertaken the great and awful work of making an atonement for us by the sacrifice of himself, by which we obtain, what is an introduction to all the other blessings here mentioned, the forgiveness of sins — For, being pardoned, God’s wrath is removed from us; we are taken into his favour; adopted into his family; born of his Spirit; love him who hath thus first loved us; and, through this love, become holy, and without blame before him. And by these blessings in heavenly things, we are qualified to receive blessings in heavenly places; according to the riches of his grace — According to the abundant overflowings of his free, undeserved mercy and favour, to such sinful and guilty creatures; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom — Manifested by God in the whole scheme of our salvation; and prudence — Which he hath wrought in us, that we may know and do all his acceptable and perfect will.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. In whom—Having mentioned Christ under the endearing title of the Beloved, that blessed name becomes the hinge upon which Eph_1:7-10 turn, being a climax of blessedness culminating in the final restitution of Eph_1:10. The successive steps of the climax are, redemption, forgiveness, grace, revelation, beneficence, universal restitution.

Redemption—Release from a bondage to sin and death for a ransom price.

Through his blood— The price of the ransom.

Forgiveness—The immediate shape which the redemption takes.

Riches—Parallel to glory in Eph_1:6 : glory accruing to God, riches flowing down upon man.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

EPHESIANS

ACCORDING TO’-II.

Eph 1:7.

We have seen, in a previous sermon, that a characteristic note of this letter is the frequent occurrence of that phrase ‘according to.’ I also then pointed out that it was employed in two different directions. One class of passages, with which I then tried to deal, used it to compare the divine purpose in our salvation with the historical process of the salvation. The type of that class of reference is found in a verse just before my text, ‘according to the good pleasure of His will.’ There is a second class of passages to which our text belongs, where the comparison is not between the purpose and its realisation, but between the stores of the divine riches and the experiences of the Christian life. The one set of passages suggests the ground of our salvation in the deep purpose of God; the other suggests the measure of the power which is working out that salvation.

The instances of this second use of the phrase, besides the one in my text, ‘according to the riches of His grace,’ are such as these: ‘According to the riches of His glory’; ‘According to the power that worketh in us’; ‘According to the measure of the gift of Christ’; ‘According to the energy of the might of His power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.’

Now it is clear that all these are varying forms of the same thing. They vary in form, they are identical in substance. What a Jew calls a ‘cubit’ an Englishman calls a ‘foot,’ but the result is pretty nearly the same. Shillings, marks, francs, are various standards; they all come to substantially the same result. These varying measures of the divine gift which is at work in man’s salvation, have this in common, that they all run out into God’s immeasurable, unlimited power, boundless wealth. And so, if we gather them together, and try to focus them in a few words, they may help to widen our conceptions of what we ought to expect from God, to bow us in contrition as to the small use that we have made of it, and to open our desires wide, that they may be filled.

I only aspire, then, to deal with these four forms which I have already suggested.

I. The measure of our possible attainments is the whole wealth of God.

‘According to the riches of His grace.’ Another angle at which the same thought is viewed appears in another part of the letter, where we have this variation in the expression, ‘According to the riches of His glory.’ ‘Grace’ and ‘Glory’ are generally opposed antithetically; in this epistle they are united, for in the verse before my text I:read: ‘To the praise of the glory of His grace.’ So the first thought is, the whole wealth of God is available for every Christian soul.

Now it seems to me that there are very few things that the popular Christianity of this day needs more than a furnishing up of the familiar old Christian terminology, which has largely lost the freshness and the power that it once had. They tell us that these incandescent burners, that we are using nowadays, are very much more bright when they are first fixed than after the mantle gets a little worn. So it is with the terminology of Christianity. It needs to be re-stated, not in such a way as to take the pith out of it, which is what a great deal of the modern craze for re-statement means, but in such a way as to brighten it up again, and to invest it with something of the ‘celestial light’ with which it was ‘apparelled’ when it first came. Now that word ‘grace,’ I have no doubt, sounds to you hard, theological, remote. But what does it mean? It gathers into one burning point the whole of the rays of that conception of God, with which it is the glory of Christianity to have flooded and drenched the world. It tells us that at the heart of the universe there is a heart; that God is Love, that that love is the motive-spring of His activity, that it comes and bends over the lowliest with a smile of amity on its lips, with healing and help in its hands, with forgiveness for all sins against itself, with boundless wealth for the poorest, and that the wealth of His self-communicating love is the measure of the wealth that each of us may possess.

God gives ‘according to the riches of His grace.’ You do not expect a millionaire to give half-a-crown to a subscription fund; and God gives royally, divinely, measuring His bestowments by the abundance of His treasures, and handing over with an open palm large gifts of coined money, because there are infinite chests of uncirculated bullion in the deep storehouses. ‘How great is Thy goodness which Thou hast manifested before the sons of men for them that fear Thee. How much greater is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up in store.’ But whilst He gives all, the question comes to be: What do I receive? The measure of His gift is His measureless grace; the measure of my reception is my-alas! easily-measured faith. What about the unearned increment? What about the unrealised wealth? Too many of us are like some man who has a great estate in another land. He knows nothing about it, and is living in grimy poverty in a back street. For you have all God’s riches waiting for you, and ‘the potentiality of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice’ at your beck and call, and yet you are but poorly realising your possible riches. Alas, that when we might have so much we do have so little. ‘According to the riches of His grace’ He gives. But another ‘according to’ comes in. ‘According to thy faith be it unto thee.’ So we have to take these two measures together, and the working limit of our possession of God’s riches comes out of the combination of them both.

Let me remind you, before I pass on, of what I have already suggested is but another phase of this same thought, Paul says in this epistle that God gives not only ‘according to the riches of His grace,’ but ‘according to the riches of His glory,’ and that the latter expression is substantially identical with the former, is plain from the combination of the two in an earlier verse of this chapter: ‘To the praise of the glory of His grace.’ Thus we come to the blessed thought that the glory of God is essentially the revelation of that stooping, pitying, pardoning, enriching love. Not in the physical attributes, not in the characteristics of the divine nature which part Him off from men, and make Him remote, both from their conceptions and their affections, but in the love that bends to them is the true glory of God. All these other things are but the fringes; the centre of glory is the Love, which is the mightiest and the divinest thing in the Might Divine. The sunshine is far stronger than the lightning, and there is more force developed in the rain than in an earthquake. That truth is what Christianity has made the common possession of the world. It has thereby broken the chains of dread; it has bridged over the infinite distance. It has given us a God that can love and be loved, can stoop and can lift, can pardon and can purify. ‘According to the good pleasure of His goodness,’-there is the foundation of our salvation. ‘According to the riches of His grace,’-there is the measure of our salvation.

II. We have another form of the same measure in another set of verses which speak of the present working of God’s power.

The Apostle speaks in regard to his own apostolic commission of its being given ‘according to the working of His power’; and he speaks of all Christian men as receiving gifts ‘according to the power that worketh in us.’ So there we have a standard that comes, as it were, a little closer to ourselves. We do not need to travel up into the dim abysses above, or think of the sanctities and the secrecies of that divine heart in the light which is inaccessible, but we have the measure in ourselves.

The standards of length are kept at Greenwich, the standards of capacity are kept in the Tower; but there are local standards distributed throughout the land to which men may go and have their measures corrected. And so besides all these lofty thoughts about the grace and the glory which measures His gift, we can turn within, if we are Christian people, and say, ‘According to the power that worketh in us.’

Ah, brethren! there are few things that we want more than to revive and deepen the conviction that in every Christian man, by virtue of his faith, and in proportion to his faith, there is in operation an actual, superhuman, divine power moulding his nature, guiding, quickening, ennobling, lifting, confirming, and hallowing and shaping him into conformity with Jesus Christ. I would that we all believed not as a dogma, but realised as a personal experience, that irrefragable truth, ‘Know ye not that the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in you, except ye be reprobate?’ The life of self is evil; the life of Christ in self is good, and only good. And if you are Christian men, and in the proportion, as I have said, in which you are living by faith, you have working in your spirits the very Spirit of Christ Himself.

And that power is the measure of your possibilities. Obviously ‘the power that worketh in us’ is able to do a great deal more than it is doing in any of us. And so with deep significance the Apostle, side by side with his adducing of this power as being the measure of our possible attainments, speaks about God as being ‘able to do for us, exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.’ ‘The power that works in us’ transcends in its possibilities our present experience, it transcends our conceptions, it transcends our desires. It is able to do everything; it actually does-well, you know what it does in you. And the responsibility of hampering and hindering that power from working out its only adequately corresponding results lies at our own doors. ‘A rushing, mighty wind’-yes; and in myself a scarcely perceptible breathing, and often a dead calm, stagnant as in the latitudes on either side of the Equator, where, for long, dreary days, no freshening motion in the atmosphere is perceptible. ‘A fire?’-yes; then why is my grate full of grey, cold ashes, and one little spark in the corner? ‘A fountain springing into everlasting life?’-yes; then why in my basin is there so much scum and ooze, mud and defilement, and so little of the flashing and brilliant water? ‘The power that works in us’ is sorely hindered by the weakness in which it works.

III. In the third place another form of this measure is stated by the Apostle, ‘According to the measure of the gift of Christ.’

That means, of course, the gift which Christ bestows. It is substantially the same idea as I have just been dealing with, only looked at from rather a different point of view. Therefore, I need not dwell upon its parallelism with what has just been occupying our attention, but rather ask you simply to consider one point in reference to it, and that is that, side by side with the reference to the gift of Christ as being the measure of our possible attainments, the Apostle enlarges on the Infinite variety of the shapes which that one gift takes in different people. ‘He gave some apostles, some prophets,’ etc.; one man receiving according to this fashion, and another according to that, and to each of us the distribution is made ‘according to the measure of the gift of Christ.’ That is to say, it takes us all, the collective goodness and beauty of the whole community of saints, to approximate to the fulness of that gift, and all are needed in their different types and forms of excellence, sanctity and beauty, in order to set forth, even imperfectly, the richness and the manifoldness of His great gift. And so ‘we all come’-there is a multiplicity-’unto the perfect man, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ’-there is a unity in which the multiplicity inheres.

So try to get a little more of some different type of excellence than that to which you are naturally inclined. Seek, and consciously endeavour, to appropriate into your character uncongenial excellences, and be very charitable in your judgments of the different types of Christian conformity to Christ our Lord. The crystals that are set round a light do not quarrel with each other as to whether green, or yellow, or blue, or red, or violet is the true colour to reflect. We need all the seven prismatic tints to make the perfect white light. The gift of Christ is many-sided; try not to be one-sided in your reception of it.

IV. And now the last form of this measure is ‘according to the energy of the might of His power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.’

When we gazed upon the riches of God’s grace, they were high above us, when we looked upon ‘the power that worketh in us,’ we saw it working amidst many hindrances and hamperings, but here there is presented to us in a concrete example, close beside us, of what God can make of a man when the man is wholly pliable to His will, and the recipient of His influences. And so there stands before us the guarantee and the pattern of immortal life, the Christ whose Manhood died and lives, who is clothed with a spiritual body, who wields royal authority in the Kingdom of the Most High. And that is the measure of what God can do with me, and wishes to do with me, if I will let Him. Christ is my pattern, and the measure of my own possibilities.

To be with Him, where and what He is, is the only adequate result of the power that works in us, and of the process that is already begun in us, if we are Christian people. You are sometimes-there is one eminent example of it in that great Medicean Chapel at Florence-a statue exquisitely finished in all its limbs, but one part left in the rough. That is the best that Christian people come to here. Shall it always be so? Do not the very imperfections prophesy completion, and is it not certain that the half-finished torso will be carried to the upper workshop, and be there disengaged from the dead marble and made to stand out in perfect beauty and fullest completeness? Christ is the object of our hopes, and no hopes of the Christian life are adequate to the power that works in us, or to the progress already made, which do not see in the ‘energy of the might of the power’ which wrought in Christ, the example and the guarantee of the exceeding greatness of ‘His power which is to usward.’

And now, one last word. Besides all these passages which have been occupying us, there is another use of this same phrase in this letter which presents a very solemn and grim contrast. I can do no better with it than simply read it: ‘Ye were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh’-mark the allusion to the other words that we have been referring to-’in the children of disobedience.’ So there you have the alternative, either ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’ whilst living the physical and the intellectual life, or partaking of the life of Him ‘who was dead, and is alive for ever more’; either ‘walking according to the course of this world,’ which is ‘disobedience’ and ‘wrath,’ or walking ‘according to the power that worketh in us’; either ‘putting on,’ or rather continuing to wear, ‘the old man which is corrupt according to the lusts which deceive,’ or ‘putting on the new man, which according to God is created in righteousness and holiness and truth.’ The choice is before us. May God help us to choose aright!

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

sins

Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

grace Grace (in salvation). Eph 1:6; Eph 1:7; Eph 2:5; Eph 2:7; Eph 2:8; Rom 3:24. (See Scofield "Joh 1:17").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:7 he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son: Believers, who were once prisoners of sin, are free from God’s judgment and from bondage to sin because of Christ’s sacrificial death (see 1:14; 4:30; Rom 3:24; 1 Cor 6:20; Col 1:14; cp. Matt 26:28; Mark 10:45; Heb 9:11-12, 26; 1 Pet 1:18-19).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Eph 1:7. Ἔχομεν, we have) in the present.—τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν—τὴν ἄφεσιν, redemption—forgiveness) The peculiar benefit derived from the New Testament; Rom 3:24. [Another redemption (viz. “of the purchased possession” hereafter) follows, Eph 1:14.—V. g.]—[9]τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς χάριτος, the riches of His grace) ch. Eph 2:7: the riches of the glory, Eph 1:18. Comp. ch. Eph 3:8, where we have the riches of grace, and consequently of glory; likewise in Eph 1:16, where the exceedingly rich glory of the Father Himself is understood.

[9] Αἵματος, of blood) Eph 2:13.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_1:7. More precise elucidation, on the basis of experience (ἔχομεν), of what had just been said, ἐχαρίτ. ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἠγαπ.

ἐν ᾧ] so that in Him our possession of the redemption has its ground. He it is, without whose person and work we should not have been redeemed; χωρὶς Χριστοῦ (Eph_2:12), no ἀπολύτρωσις. Comp. Rom_3:24. The relative has, as is often the case (see, generally, Stallbaum, ad Plat. Phil. p. 195 f.; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 371), argumentative significance. Comp. here especially Eph_3:12.

τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν] the redemption, namely, from Gods wrath and penalties, which before our entrance into faith we had incurred through sin (Rom_1:18; Rom_3:23; Rom_5:5 ff; Rom_7:7 ff.; Eph_2:3; Eph_5:6, al.), as those who were under the dominion of the devil (Col_1:13; Act_26:18). The purchase-price (1Co_6:20; 1Co_7:23; Mat_20:28; Mar_10:45) through which Christ, in voluntary obedience towards Gods gracious counsel, accomplished this ἀπολύτρωσις, was His blood, which He shed as an ἱλαστήριον for the benefit of men (Rom_3:25; Rom_5:8-9; 2Co_5:21; Col_1:21; Col_2:13 f.). On ἀπολύτρωσις, as the effect of the atoning death, in which case the blood of Christ is always conceived of as the purchase-price, see Rom_3:24.

διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ] by means of His blood, a more precise definition of the preceding ἐν ᾧ. Paul might have written ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ (Eph_2:13); but he in general prefers an interchange of prepositions (comp. 2Co_3:11; Rom_3:30; Gal_2:16; Phm_1:5), to which he was here specially led by his epexegetic purpose (comp. Eph_3:12; 1Th_3:7).

τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων] apposition to τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν, the essence of which is the forgiveness of sins obtained on account of the death of Christ. As to the distinction between πάρεσις (Rom_3:25) and ἄφεσις (used by Paul also in Col_1:14), see on Rom_3:25.

τῶν παραπτωμάτων denotes always the actual individual sins (Eph_2:1 ff.; and see on Rom_5:20); hence Paul has not mentally included a forgiveness of inborn sinfulness (Olshausen).

κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ] is not to be resolved into an adjective (gratia liberalissima, Koppe); but the riches, i.e. the great fulness (Codex 17 has τὸ πλῆθος), of the divine grace is that, in consequence of which we have in Christ the redemption. It is to be noted that here, as well as in Eph_1:6, the reference to the divine grace serves to wind up one element of the discourse, and (by ἧς) to annex another. As to πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος (Eph_2:7, Eph_3:16), see on Rom_2:4. We may add that Lachmann, Rückert, tischendorf have the form τὸ πλοῦτος, following A B D* E (?) א* min., to which also F G fall to be added with the transcribers error τοῦ πλοῦτος; and rightly. See on 2Co_8:2, Remark; and see Winer, p. 64 [E. T. 76].

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 1:7 . ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν : in whom we have the redemption . Here and in the parallel passage in Col 1:14 the readings vary between ἔχομεν and ἔσχομεν . In the present sentence, though ἔσχομεν has the support of some good authorities ( [26] [27] , Copt., Eth., etc.), the weight of documentary evidence is largely on the side of ἔχομεν ( [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] , Vulg., Syr., Goth., etc.). What is in view, therefore, is something possessed now, and the writer describes that as τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν “ the redemption,” i.e. , the redemption familiar to every Christian, long expected and now accomplished. This ἀπολύτρωσις is viewed sometimes as a thing of the future (Luk 21:28 ; Rom 8:23 ; Eph 4:30 ; and probably also Eph 1:14 ; 1Co 1:30 ); sometimes as a present possession (as here; Rom 3:24 ; Col 1:14 ; Heb 9:15 ). That the ἀπολύτρωσις here is a redemption not from the power or pollution of sin, but from its guilt, its condemnation, its penalty, is made plain by the defining clause which follows, identifying it with the forgiveness of sins. This is not the only aspect in which it is presented in the Pauline Epistles. The verb λυτροῦσθαι is applied there to a redemption from “all iniquity,” Tit 2:14 , as in 1Pe 1:18 it is used of a redemption from a “vain manner of life”. But it is the primary aspect of the word and its cognates, and the one that is at the foundation of the other. The noun ἀπολύτρωσις is of rare occurrence, found only in a few passages in profane Greek (Plut., Pomp. , xxiv., 2; Joseph., Antiq. , xii., ii., 3; Diod., Frag. , lib. xxxvii., 5, 3 (Dindorf.); Philo, Quod omn. prob. lib. sit. , § 17); and in the NT itself only ten times in all. The verb ἀπολυτροῦσθαι is not found in the NT at all; the simple λυτροῦν , λυτροῦσθαι thrice (1Pe 1:18 ; Luk 24:21 ; Tit 2:14 ) and the noun λύτρωσις thrice (Luk 1:68 ; Luk 2:38 ; Heb 9:12 ). The proper idea is that of a release, deliverance, or redemption effected by payment of a price or ransom ( λύτρον ). It is argued indeed that this idea cannot be said to be the essential or primary idea of ἀπολύτρωσις , because it is used in connections in which the notion of a payment is not in view (so Abbott); and that, therefore, we are not entitled to say that it means more than deliverance . It is true that, as is the case with most words, the definite, specific sense passes at times into the more general sense of “deliverance” (Heb 11:35 ; cf. Exo 6:6 ). But in profane Greek and in the LXX the primary sense of the verb. the noun, and their cognates is that of a redemption effected by payment of a price, or a release granted on receiving a price (Plut., Pomp. , 24; Plato, Leges , 11, p. 919( a ); Polyb., xxii., 21, 8; Exo 21:8 ; Zep 3:1 ); and in the Pauline Epistles it denotes the deliverance accomplished at the cost of Christ’s death from the Divine wrath and the penalty of sin. So it is understood, e.g. , by Origen, in loc. , Mey., Alf., Ell., etc.; and as the ἄφεσιν κ . τ . λ . shows that the “redemption” here in view is one in relation to the guilt or penalty of sin, so the διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ shows that it is a redemption by payment of a price. This is consistent with Paul’s doctrine of the Divine wrath, redemption, propitiation, expiation, and the curse of the law (Rom 1:18 ; Rom 3:23 ; Rom 5:5 ff.; 1Co 6:20 ; Gal 4:4 ). It has its foundation also in Christ’s own declaration of the purpose of His coming, viz. , to give His life a λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν (Mat 20:28 ; Mar 10:45 ). διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ : through His blood . Christ’s “blood,” therefore, is that by which the redemption is effected the price ( τιμή , 1Co 6:20 ; 1Co 7:23 ) of the deliverance, the “ransom” that had to be paid for it (Mat 20:28 ; Mar 10:45 ). The same idea appears in the teaching both of Peter and of John (1Pe 1:18 ; Rev 5:9 ). The term occurs repeatedly in the NT, and in various forms τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (1Co 10:16 ), τοῦ Κυρίου (1Co 11:27 ), τοῦ ἀρνίου (Rev 7:14 ; Rev 12:11 ), τοῦ σταυροῦ (Col 1:20 ). What is its import? It means more than the death of Christ. It means that death in a particular aspect as a sacrifice, a death having a definite efficacy. It is a sacrificial term, based on the use of the blood of victims, offered under the OT Law, for purposes of purification and expiation (Lev 17:11 ; Heb 9:7 ; Heb 9:12 ; Heb 9:18-22 ; Heb 9:25 ; Heb 10:4 ; Heb 11:28 ; Heb 13:11 ). It looks back also to Christ’s own words in the institution of the Supper (Mat 26:28 ; Mar 14:29 ), and denotes the ratification of a new relation between God and men by a new covenant sacrifice. It is used with reference to the purchase of the Church (Act 20:28 ; Rev 5:9 ), the grace of access to God (Heb 10:19 ), the admission of the Gentiles on equal terms with the Jews (Eph 2:13 ), the reconciliation of all things to God (Col 1:20 ); but also and most definitely to the changed condition of sinful men, and that most frequently on the objective side, as a new relation. As in the Levitical system there was a purificatory use of blood in the case of certain matters of uncleanness (Lev 14:5 ; Lev 14:50 ), so in the NT the “blood” of Christ is used with reference to the ethical power of Christ’s death in purifying or in overcoming (1Pe 1:19 ; 1Jn 1:7 ; Rev 12:11 ). But its special use is with reference to justification (Rev 5:9 ), the position of non-condemnation (Heb 12:24 ), the cleansing of the conscience (Heb 9:14 ), the making of peace between God and the world (Col 1:20 ), the manifestation of the righteousness of God in the passing over of sins (Rom 3:25 ), the remission of sins (Heb 9:22 ). Its primary idea, as is shown by usage and by OT analogy, is not that of renewing power or moral effect, but that of expiation, the removal of guilt, the restoration of broken relations with God. The important passage indeed in Lev 17:11 , which speaks of the “blood” as reserved by Jehovah for the altar, for the purpose of “covering” sin or making “atonement” for it, and declares that the atonement is made by the blood by reason of “the life of the flesh” that is in it, has been held by not a few (including Bähr and other distinguished scholars) to express only the idea of self-surrender. On this ground the piacular efficacy of the OT sacrifices, and, therefore, of the sacrifice of Christ, has been denied. But the “covering” of sin or making “atonement” for it by sacrifice, is in many passages of the OT definitely connected with the forgiveness of sin (Lev 4:26 ; Lev 5:18 , etc.); the passage in Lev 17:11 embodies the idea that “life” is the offering by which the transgressor “covers” his sin or finds forgiveness for it; and in passages like the present it is this kind of efficacy that is definitely ascribed to the “blood” of Christ.

[26] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[27] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[28] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[29] Corrections of א introduced by a scribe of the seventh century.

[30] Corrections of א introduced by a scribe of the seventh century.

[31] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[32] A reading of Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852 introduced by correctors of the seventh centuries respectively.

[33] A reading of Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852 introduced by correctors of the seventh centuries respectively.

[34] Codex Sangermanensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., now at St. Petersburg, formerly belonging to the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its text is largely dependent upon that of D. The Latin version, e (a corrected copy of d), has been printed, but with incomplete accuracy, by Belsheim (18 5).

[35] Codex Augiensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of G, and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.

[36] Codex Boernerianus (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( δ ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

[37] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[38] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

The attempt has been made to prove that this great phrase, “the blood of Christ,” covers two ideas which ought to be distinguished, namely, that of the blood as shed and that of the blood as offered , or death and life as two different conceptions. Thus the phrase in question is interpreted as setting forth Christ’s life in two distinct aspects, namely, as laid down in the act of dying and as liberated by the same act and made available for us, so that we are saved by having it communicated to us. So West., Epistle to the Hebrews , pp. 293 ff.; Epistles of St. John , pp. 34 ff. But neither in the present paragraph nor in any other Pauline passage is there anything to bear this out. Paul, indeed, speaks largely of the Christ who having died is now alive, and of what is effected for us by His life (Rom 5:8-11 ; Phi 3:10 , etc.). But what the Living Christ does for us in the forgiveness of sin, or in the subjugation of sin, is done as the power of what He did in dying for us. τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων : the forgiveness of our trespasses . The term ἄφεσις , while used occasionally in the general sense of release (Luk 4:18 ; cf. Isa 61:1 ), expresses statedly the idea of the letting go of sin ( ἀφιέναι τὴν ὀφειλήν , Mat 18:32 ; ἀφιέναι τὰ ὀφειλήματα , τὰ παραπτώματα , Mat 6:12 ; Mat 6:14 , etc.), its dismissal or pardon, in the sense of the remission of its penalty (Mat 26:28 ; Mar 1:4 ; Luk 1:77 ; Luk 3:3 ; Luk 24:47 ; Act 2:38 ; Act 5:31 ; Act 10:43 ; Act 13:38 , etc.), and as distinguished from πάρεσις , the praetermission or passing by of sin in simple forbearance (Rom 3:25 ). The term παράπτωμα describes sin as lapse, misdeed, trespass (nearly equivalent to παράβασις , transgression , and ἁμάρτημα , evil deed , these differing not so much in their use as rather in the metaphors underlying them), as distinguished from ἀνομία , lawlessness or iniquity , ἀδικία , unrighteousness or wrong , and ἁμαρτία , which is applied not only to acts of sin, but to sin as a power , a habit , a condition ( cf. Trench, Syn. , § lxvi.; Fritzsche, Rom. , i. 289; Light., Notes, ut sup. , on Rom 5:20 ). κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ : according to the riches of His grace . The readings vary between τὸν πλοῦτον (TR, following [39] 3 [40] 3 [41] [42] , etc.) and τὸ πλοῦτος (LTTrWHRV, following [43] [44] 1 [45] [46] 1 , etc.). The masculine is the usual form, but the neuter is found in the best MSS. in several passages in the Pauline Epistles (2Co 8:2 ; Eph 1:7 ; Eph 2:7 ; Eph 3:8 ; Eph 3:16 ; Phi 4:19 ; Col 1:27 ; Col 2:2 ). Elsewhere in the NT the masculine prevails. Winer explains the exchange between the two forms as due to the popular language, as ὁ and τὸ πλοῦτος are used indifferently in modern Greek (Winer-Moult., Gram. , p. 76). The great word χάρις , “grace,” which has been used twice already in these opening verses, touches the pulse of all Paul’s teaching on the redemption of sinful man. It has a large place in all his Epistles, and not least in this one. For here it meets us at every turning-point in the great statement of the Divine counsel, the securities of the forgiveness of sin, the way of salvation. While it has the occasional and subordinate senses of loveliness (Col 4:6 ), favour or good will , whether of God or of man (Luk 2:40 ; Luk 2:52 ; Act 2:47 ; Act 4:33 ; Act 7:10 , etc.), in the Pauline writings it has the particular sense of free gift, undeserved bounty , and is used specially of the goodness of God which bestows favour on those who have no claim or merit in themselves (Rom 3:24 ; Rom 5:17 ; Rom 5:20 ; 1Co 15:10 ; Gal 1:15 , etc., etc.), or of that free favour of God as a power which renews men and sustains them in the Christian life, aiding their efforts, keeping them from falling, securing their progress in holiness (2Co 4:15 ; 2Co 6:1 ; 2Th 1:12 , etc.). The freeness of this Divine favour in the form of grace, the unmerited nature of the Divine goodness, is what Paul most frequently magnifies with praise and wonder. Here it is the mighty measure of the largesse, the grace in its quality of riches , that is introduced. This magnificent conception of the wealth of the grace that is bestowed on us by God and that which is in Christ for us, is a peculiarly Pauline idea. It meets us, indeed, elsewhere ( cf. the plenteous redemption of the Psalmist, Psa 130:7 ; the multitude of the Divine mercies, Psa 69:13 ; Psa 69:16 , and loving kindnesses, Psa 63:7 ; the fulness of Christ, Joh 1:16 ; Col 1:19 , etc.); but nowhere so frequently or with such insistence as with Paul. Cf. the riches of God’s goodness (Rom 2:4 ), His glory (Rom 9:23 ), His wisdom (Rom 11:33 ), His mercy (Eph 2:4 ), the glory of His inheritance (Eph 1:18 ), the glory of the mystery (Col 1:27 ); also the exceeding riches of His grace (Eph 2:7 ), his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phi 4:19 ), the riches of the pre-incarnate Christ (2Co 8:9 ), the riches of Christ the Lord (Rom 10:12 ), the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8 ). That our redemption cost so great a price, the blood of Christ, is the supreme evidence of the riches of the Divine grace. And the measure of what God does for us is nothing less than the limitless wealth of His loving favour.

[39] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[40] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[41] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[42] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[43] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[44] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[45] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[46] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. ἔσχομεν (א*D* boh aeth), also a variant in Col 1:14, where it is supported by B boh and given a place in margin by WH.

7. ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν κ.τ.λ. Cf. Col 1:14 ‘In whom we “have and hold” our deliverance by means of His blood, that is, the forgiveness of our transgressions.’ Here first in the Epistle we find ourselves confronted, though but for a moment, with the fact of sin. ἐν ᾧ. Once more ‘as incorporate in whom.’ Cf. Rom 3:24 and Du Bose, Gospel according to St Paul, pp. 84 ff. ἔχομεν, cf. Eph 2:18, Eph 3:12 The word implies, as in Rom 5:1, εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν, more than bare possession. See J. H. Moulton, Proleg., p. 110. Cf. Mat 12:12.

τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν. See esp. Hort on 1Pe 1:19, Westcott on Heb 9:15. Used here, as in Rom 3:24, Col 1:14, of a present deliverance. In Eph 1:14, Eph 4:30 the deliverance is future. The word properly means deliverance from bondage on payment of a ransom. Sometimes, however, as in Heb 11:35, and often in the Psalms in the case of the simple verb λυτροῦσθαι, the fact of deliverance irrespective of the method by which it is effected seems alone prominent. In 1Pe 1:18 f. the language shows that the writer was conscious, perhaps remembering Mar 10:45 (λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν), of the metaphor implied in the word, and it is possible that St Paul’s διὰ τοῦ αἵματος here may be due to the same cause, but apart from the phrase τῆς ἐν Χρ. Ἰ. in Rom 3:24, which is further defined by reference to a power of propitiation residing ἐν τῷ αἵματι, he nowhere else gives any hint of the method of deliverance. He is chiefly interested, as here and in Col 1:14, Rom 3:24 and Tit 2:14 (cf. Psa 130:8), in emphasizing the fact that it is a deliverance from the guilt and power of sin.

A question has been raised why St Paul, here as in the Colossians, seems to go out of his way to introduce the thought of redemption and supply a definition of it? It has been pointed out that redemption is the one thought which all the forms of Gnosticism adopted from Christianity, and it has been suggested that St Paul’s words are directed against some form of incipient Gnosticism. Neither here nor in his use of what became later the still more definitely technical term πλήρωμα is this inference necessary. The thoughts of redemption and forgiveness were, as Rom 3:24 shows, so closely connected in the mind of St Paul with the thought of the grace of God to sinful man that no further justification of the reference is required by the context, and, if there is any polemic force in the definition, it may be more fruitfully sought for in relation to current Jewish conceptions of the nature of the deliverance which God had in store for His Israel, cf. Luk 2:38.

διὰ τοῦ αἵματος. See Additional Note. διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ, sc. τοῦ ἠγαπημένου; cf. Act 20:28, τὴν ἐκκλ. τ. θ. ἣν περιεποιήσατο διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου, esp. if υἱοῦ has dropped out after ἰδίου. This parallel suggests that the Blood may be here regarded as the cost of our deliverance as it is expressly in 1Pe 1:19 and Rev 1:5; Rev 5:9 But as the article is not repeated (cf. Rom 3:24 and see Winer-Moulton, 171 f., but ct. Blass, p. 159) before διὰ τ. αἱ. the phrase may be taken with ἔχομεν rather than with ἀπολύτρωσιν, i.e. ‘the Blood’ is regarded as directly affecting our power to lay hold on the deliverance, cf. 1Jn 1:7. The phrase that follows shows that St Paul is thinking here of our emancipation from sin rather than of the right over us which God acquired by the price He paid. Both thoughts are combined in Psalms 74(73):2, ‘purchased and redeemed,’ Act 20:28 Cf. Eph 1:14 and Act 20:28.

τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων, ‘the forgiveness of our trespasses.’ ἄφεσις here only and in Col 1:14 in St Paul’s Epistles. In St Paul’s speeches it occurs Act 13:38; Act 26:18 τῶν παραπτωμάτων, cf. Eph 2:1; Eph 2:5 Apart from Mat 6:14 f., Mar 11:25 f., παραπτ. is found only in St Paul in N.T. In LXX. it is found eight times in Ezekiel, but it is otherwise rare. It presents ‘sin’ as a ‘falling away,’ the interruption of fellowship by the violation of a covenant.

κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ. St Paul is full in this Epistle of the abundance of God’s resources (1) of grace, here and in Eph 2:7; (2) of mercy, Eph 2:4; (3) of glory, Eph 1:18, Eph 3:16; cf. Rom 9:23; Php 4:19; Col 1:27. These treasures are all stored up in Christ (cf. Eph 3:8 and Col 2:2). In Rom 2:4 he speaks of the riches of God’s kindness and patience and long-suffering, and in Rom 11:33 of the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Contrast ‘the weak and beggarly (πτωχὰ) elements’ of Gal 4:9. ‘Grace’ is constantly associated in St Paul’s mind with the thought of triumphant profusion, ὑπερβάλλουσα, 2Co 9:14; cf. Eph 2:7; ἐπερίσσευσεν, Eph 1:8; ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν, Rom 5:20; ὑπερεπλεόνασεν, 1Ti 1:14. The phrase here further qualifies ἔχομεν τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν, grace being chiefly seen as grace in the forgiveness of sins. But the fuller thought of grace expressed in Eph 1:6 reasserts itself in the next clause, when it is clear that he is thinking of the whole effect of the revelation of God’s attitude to men and of His purpose for them, and not only of forgiveness.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ephesians 1:7

In whom we have redemption. In whom, i.e. not in ourselves. We are not self-redeemed. Christ is our Redeemer. The word redemption, ἀπολύτρωσις, means deliverance in the general, without reference to the mode in which it is accomplished. When used of the work of Christ it is always to be understood in its strict sense, viz. deliverance by ransom; because this particular mode of redemption is always either expressed or implied. We are redeemed neither by power, nor truth, but by blood; that is, by the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. A sacrifice is a ransom, as to its effect. It delivers those for whom it is offered and accepted. The words διὰ τοῦ αἵματὸς αὐτὸυ, by his blood, are explanatory of the words in whom. In whom, i.e. by means of his blood. They serve to explain the method in which Christ redeems.

The redemption of which the apostle here speaks is not the inward deliverance from sin, but it is an outward work, viz. the forgiveness of sins, as the words τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων necessarily mean. It is true this is not the whole of redemption, but it is all the sacred writer here brings into view, because forgiveness is the immediate end of expiation. Though this clause is in apposition with the preceding, it is by no means coextensive with it. So in Rom_8:23, where believers are said to be waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, the two clauses are not coextensive in meaning. The redemption of the body does not exhaust the idea of adoption. Neither in this passage does the forgiveness of sin exhaust the idea of redemption. This passage is often quoted in controversy to prove that justification is merely pardon.

This redemption is not only gratuitous, but it is, in all its circumstances, an exhibition and therefore a proof of the riches of his grace. The word πλοῦτος, riches in such connections as a favorite one with the apostle, who speaks of the riches of glory, the riches of wisdom, and the exceeding riches of grace. It is the overflowing abundance of unmerited love, inexhaustible in God and freely accessible through Christ. There is, therefore, nothing incompatible between redemption, i.e. deliverance on the ground of a ransom (or a complete satisfaction to justice), and grace. The grace consists

l. In providing this satisfaction and in accepting it in behalf of sinners.

2 In accepting those who are entirely destitute of merit.

3. In bestowing this redemption and all its benefits without regard to the comparative goodness of men.

It is not because one is wiser, better, or more noble than others, that he is made a partaker of this grace; but God chooses the foolish, the ignorant, and those who are of no account, that they who glory may glory only in the Lord.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

An expounding of the material cause, how we are made acceptable to God in Christ, for it is he only, whose sacrifice by the mercy of God is imputed unto us, for the forgiveness of sin.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

In whom--"the Beloved" (Eph 1:6; Rom 3:24).

we have--as a present possession.

redemption--Greek, "our (literally, 'the') redemption"; THE redemption which is the grand subject of all revelation, and especially of the New Testament (Rom 3:24), namely, from the power, guilt, and penal consequences of sin (Mat 1:21). If a man were unable to redeem himself from being a bond-servant, his kinsman might redeem him (Lev 25:48). Hence, antitypically the Son of God became the Son of man, that as our kinsman He might redeem us (Mat 20:28). Another "redemption" follows, namely, that "of the purchased possession" hereafter (Eph 1:14).

through his blood-- (Eph 2:13); as the instrument; the propitiation, that is, the consideration (devised by His own love) for which He, who was justly angry (Isa 12:1), becomes propitious to us; the expiation, the price paid to divine justice for our sin (Act 20:28; Rom 3:25; Co1 6:20; Col 1:20; Pe1 1:18-19).

the forgiveness of sins--Greek, "the remission of our transgressions": not merely "pretermission," as the Greek (Rom 3:25) ought to be translated. This "remission," being the explanation of "redemption," includes not only deliverance from sin's penalty, but from its pollution and enslaving power, negatively; and the reconciliation of an offended God, and a satisfaction unto a just God, positively.

riches of his grace-- (Eph 2:7); "the exceeding riches of His grace." Compare Eph 1:18; Eph 3:16, "according to the riches of His glory": so that "grace" is His "glory."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. In whom we have redemption] God has glorified his grace by giving us redemption by the blood of his Son, and this redemption consists in forgiving and delivering us from our sins; so then Christ's blood was the redemption price paid down for our salvation: and this was according to the riches of his grace; as his grace is rich or abundant in benevolence, so it was manifested in beneficence to mankind, in their redemption by the sacrifice of Christ, the measure of redeeming grace being the measure of God's own eternal goodness.

It may not be useless to remark that, instead of της χαριτος αυτου, his grace, the Codex Alexandrinus and the Coptic version have της χρηστοτητος, his goodness.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. In whom we have redemption. The apostle is still illustrating the material cause, — the manner in which we are reconciled to God through Christ. By his death he has restored us to favor with the Father; and therefore we ought always to direct our minds to the blood of Christ, as the means by which we obtain divine grace. After mentioning that, through the blood of Christ, we obtain redemption, he immediately styles it the forgiveness of sins, — to intimate that we are redeemed, because our sins are not imputed to us. Hence it follows, that we obtain by free grace that righteousness by which we are accepted of God, and freed from the chains of the devil and of death. The close connection which is here preserved, between our redemption itself and the manner in which it is obtained, deserves our notice; for, so long as we remain exposed to the judgment of God, we are bound by miserable chains, and therefore our exemption from guilt, becomes an invaluable freedom.

According to the riches of his grace. He now returns to the efficient cause, — the largeness of the divine kindness, which has given Christ to us as our Redeemer. Riches, and the corresponding word overflow, in the following verse, are intended to give us large views of divine grace. The apostle feels himself unable to celebrate, in a proper manner, the goodness of God, and desires that the contemplation of it would occupy the minds of men till they are entirely lost in admiration. How desirable is it that men were deeply impressed with “the riches of that grace” which is here commended! No place would any longer be found for pretended satisfactions, or for those trifles by which the world vainly imagines that it can redeem itself; as if the blood of Christ, when unsupported by additional aid, had lost all its efficacy.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.—This passage is identical in sense and expression with Col_1:14, except that the word here used for “sins” means, properly, “separate acts of transgression,” while the word there is the more general word for sin in the abstract. (In Eph_2:1, both are used.) In both passages we have united, as correspondent to each other, the two expressions under which our Lord Himself describes His atonement—in Mat_20:28, as the “giving His life a ransom for many,” in Mat_26:28, as “the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of sins.” These two expressions appear to be complementary to each other, rather than identical. (1) The primary idea in “redemption” is deliverance from a bondage, mostly the bondage of sin itself (see Rom_8:23; Tit_2:14; Heb_9:15; 1Pe_1:18-21); occasionally (and in this sense with a different Greek word), the bondage under sentence of punishment for sin (Gal_3:13; Gal_4:5). Into that bondage man has plunged himself; God’s mercy redeems him from it at an unspeakable price (Joh_3:16; Rom_7:24-25). (2) The primary idea in “the forgiveness of sins through His blood” is propitiation, that is, the offering to God “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice” for sin, by One who is the Head and Representative of the human race (Rom_3:25; 1Jn_2:2; 1Jn_4:10). So St. Paul interprets our Lord’s words by the declaration that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1Co_5:7); and it is notable that exactly in His words is the Atonement designated in the earliest apostolic preaching (Act_2:38; Act_5:31; Act_10:43; Act_13:38; Act_26:18). Hence the former phrase looks at the Atonement from the side of God, the latter from the side of man; both being wrought by Him who is Son of God and Son of Man at once. Together they represent the whole truth.

According to the riches of his grace.—As above, in relation to praise, stress is laid on the gloriousness of God’s grace, so here, in relation to enjoyment of it, on its overflowing richness. (See Eph_2:7; Eph_3:8; Eph_3:16; and Rom_3:24; Rom_9:23.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In whom we have redemption through his blood,.... Redemption supposes captivity and slavery, and is a deliverance out of it; God's elect by nature are in bondage to sin, Satan, and the law; through the grace of Christ, they are redeemed from all iniquity; ransomed out of the hands of him that is stronger than they; and are freed from the law, its bondage, curse, and condemnation, and from every other enemy: and this benefit Christ is the author of; he was called to be the Redeemer of his people from all eternity; and he was sent in the fulness of time, to procure the redemption of them; to which he had a right, being their near kinsman; and for which he was every way fit, being God as well as man; and which he has obtained by his obedience, sufferings, and death: and in whom it resides, as in its proper subject and author; who, by imputation, is made redemption to all the chosen ones; for not angels, but men, share in this redemption; and not all men, but elect men; such as are chosen in Christ, predestinated to the adoption of children by him, and who are accepted in the beloved: and this comes to them through the blood of Christ, which was freely shed on the cross to procure it; and was a sufficient ransom, or redemption price; it being not only the same blood with those who are redeemed, but the blood of an innocent person; and not of a mere man, but of one who is truly and properly God, as well as man; see more of this See Gill on Col 1:14. A branch of this redemption follows, or a blessing that comes by it, and along with it,

the forgiveness of sins; of all sins, original and actual, past, present, and to come; and this is through the blood of Christ, which was shed for the same: and yet is

according to the riches of his grace; for God of his rich grace found the ransom price, and gave his Son, as well as he gave himself, his life, a ransom for many; and how much soever it cost Christ to procure redemption and pardon, they are free to his people; who are redeemed without money and price of theirs, and whose sins are forgiven freely for Christ's sake.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Ver. 7. In whom we have redemption] As captives ransomed at a price. What this price was, see 1Pe 1:19. Should not Christ therefore reap the travails of his soul? Isa 53:11-12

The forgiveness of our sins] This David counted his crown, and prized it above his imperial diadem, Psa 103:3-4.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In whom we have redemption - On the meaning of the word here rendered “redemption” - (ἀπολύτρωσις apolutrōsis) - see the notes at Rom 3:24. The word here, as there, denotes that deliverance from sin and from the evil consequences of sin, which has been procured by the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ. This verse is one of the passages which prove conclusively that the apostle here does not refer to “nations” and to “national privileges.” Of what “nation” could it be said that it had “redemption through the blood of Jesus, even the forgiveness of sins?”

Through his blood - By means of the atonement which he has made; see this phrase fully explained in the notes at Rom 3:25.

The forgiveness of sins - We obtain through his blood, or through the atonement which he has made, the forgiveness of sins. We are not to suppose that this is all the benefit which we receive from his death, or that this is all that constitutes redemption. It is the main, and perhaps the most important thing. But we also obtain the hope of heaven, the influences of the Holy Spirit, grace to guide us and to support us in trial, peace in death, and perhaps many more benefits. Still “forgiveness” is so prominent and important, that the apostle has mentioned that as if it were all.

According to the riches of his grace - According to his rich grace; see a similar phrase explained in the notes at Rom 2:4. The word “riches,” in the form in which it is used here, occurs also in several other places in this Epistle; Eph 1:18; Eph 2:7; Eph 3:8, Eph 3:16. It is what Paley (Horae Paul) calls “a cant phrase,” and occurs often in the writings of Paul; see Rom 2:4; Rom 9:23; Rom 11:12, Rom 11:33; Phi 4:19; Col 1:27; Col 2:2. It is not found in any of the other writings of the New Testament, except once in a sense somewhat similar, in James Jam 2:5, “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world “rich” in faith,” and Dr. Paley from this fact has constructed an argument to prove that this Epistle was written by Paul. It is unique to him, and marks his style in a manner which cannot be mistaken. An impostor, or a forger of the Epistle, would not have thought of introducing it, and yet it is just such a phrase as would naturally be used by Paul.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In whom; in Christ, God-man, the immediate worker of this redemption; for though the Father and the Spirit concurred to it, yet the redeeming work was peculiarly terminated in the Second Person. The other two Persons have a right of propriety to redeem us; Christ only a right of propinquity, as assuming our nature, and being of kin to us.

We; we elect, before mentioned.

Have redemption; freedom from the wrath of God, and curse of the law, to which we are obnoxious, and consequently the power of sin and tyranny of Satan, as the effects of the former.

Through his blood; i.e. by the sacrifice of his death upon the cross, where his blood was shed. This was the price of redemption paid to God for us, and wherewith his justice being satisfied, we could no longer be detained under the custody of the devil, or the dominion of sin.

Even the forgiveness of sins; redemption is not formally forgiveness, but causally, forgiveness being the effect of it; and it is mentioned not as the only or adequate, but the prime and principal fruit of redemption, and upon which the other depend.

According to the riches of his grace: what he called glorious grace, Eph 1:6, here he calls riches of grace, meaning plentiful and superabundant grace, by a phrase frequently used by him elsewhere in the same sense, Rom 9:23; 2:4,7.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In whom we have the redemption through his blood. Some of the blessings referred to in ver. 3 are now specified be-ginning with redemption (thtrwsin). The article makes it emphatic the great redemption, the real redemption, compared to which all ether redemptions are but shadows. It is a redemption through blood, therefore a proper propitiation or expiation, blood being always the emblem of explanation, In Christ, or in union to Christ, we have or are having this blessing; it is not merely in existence, it is ours, we being in him by faith: not a privilege of the future merely, but of the present as well. Even the forgiveness of our sins. Afesin denotes release, separation from all the consequences of our transgressions; equivalent to Psa_103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." According to the riches of his grace. The completeness of the forgiveness, its ready bestowal now, the security of its being continued in the future, and such like qualities show the richness of his grace. (comp. Mat_18:27; Luk_7:42, Luk_7:47)

Redemption.

whom we have the redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of our sins.

I What men need is more than instruction, education, or an elevating influence. They are in sin condemned, enslaved, and disordered; in the fetters of a strong man armed, and a stronger is needed to disarm him and spoil his house. In a word, they need redemption from sin.

II What the gospel specially announces is such a redemption. Christ came, not merely to enlighten, or elevate, or improve, but to redeem. He came to grapple with sin in all its bearings and results.

III This redemption was consummated by the shedding of Christ"s blood. Jesus died as a sacrifice or propitiation for sin. He came by water and by blood, not by water only. His blood "cleanseth us from all sin;" his Spirit renews the soul. Calvin says the blood figured atonement, the water ablution. The side of Christ, he says, was the fountain of our sacraments.

IV Forgiveness of sins is a fundamental element of this redemption. The gospel of Christ is a gospel of forgiveness. Sin is blotted out freely through Christ"s merit. We need nothing short of forgiveness, and should not rest till we have it.

V All this is to be enjoyed in union to Christ. "In whom" we have redemption. Thus union to Christ is the turning-point of all blessing.

Redemption through blood.

is a large and exclusive term, implying deliverance from sin, Satan, and death. It includes, not the mere remission of sins, which is, however, the primary element in it; nor the mere adoption, though that is the consequence of it for we are redeemed that we may receive the adoption of sons", (Gal_4:4) but the completed sanctification of our souls and the consummated redemption of our bodies. The price of redemption is the blood of him who is here described as "the Beloved.

I THE REDEMPTION IS NOT, ANY MORE THAN THE ADOPTION, EFFECTED BY THE INCARNATION, BUT BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST. More was needed for redemption than the mere birth of the Redeemer, else he need not have died. Therefore we preach, not the person of Christ, nor the child born, but Christ crucified, "the wisdom of God, and the power of God." Some lay stress upon his life rather than upon his death. But the one righteousness on the ground of which we are justified, consists at once of the obedience of his life and of the sufferings of his death. Our Savior was our Substitute both in life and in death. Yet Scripture assigns the greater prominence to the death. We are "bought with a price;" "We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ." Not only is redemption set forth objectively in Christ"s person, because he is of God made unto us "redemption", (1Co_1:30) but the ransom price is definitively described as "his blood," considered as the reality of the ancient sacrifices and as procuring the full salvation which they only figured forth.

II THE REDEMPTION IS NOT A MERE MORAL RENOVATION. Some divines say the work of redemption is wholly subjective, its sole aim being the moral transformation of the sinner, or the rooting of sin out of the soul. They say, indeed, that no such thing as remission of sin is possible, except through the previous extirpation of sin itself. But, according to Scripture, redemption includes everything necessary to salvation, both the change of condition and the change of character both justification and sanctification. And both these come to us in virtue of Christ"s blood. If nothing was required for salvation but the exercise of spiritual power upon us, no person need have come from the bosom of the Godhead, and there need have been no crucifixion. The double aspect of Christ"s death is presented in such passages as these: "He bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness"; (1Pe_2:24) "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works". (Tit_2:14, Tit_2:15) That is, his ultimate design is to deliver us from sin itself. But the moral power of the cross depends upon those substantial objective benefits which it procures for us. On the theory of some modern divines, the redemption cannot extend to Old Testament saints at all, for they have not seen the manifestation of Divine self-sacrificing love which we have seen in the cross.

III IT IS A REDEMPTION STILL IN PROGRESS. The original word implies this are having" this redemption. Naturalistic writers give us a dead Christ. But we have a living Savior who, because he was crucified once, is dead no more, but "ever liveth to make intercession for us." He is now carrying on in heaven the work of our redemption. The Holy Spirit applies to us all its blessings, and seals us unto the day of redemption. T.C.

The forgiveness of sins.

Redemption consists essentially in forgiveness as its primary fact in respect of importance and of order, not as a mere element belonging to the more advanced stages of Christian life, nor as dependent on the renovation of our nature.

I SCRIPTURE ASSERTS A DIRECT CAUSAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST AND THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. There is no absolute forgiveness. Christ"s blood was shed for the remission of sins. (Mat_26:28) The original word for forgiveness is a judicial term, referring to deliverance from the punishment due to sin rather than deliverance from its power. Scripture does not say that Christ contemplated a mere moral redemption though sanctification as well as justification is included in his work; nor does it teach that his death was a mere example of self-sacrifice, or merely designed to confirm the truth of his doctrine or to ratify the promise of an absolute forgiveness. In that case, the Old Testament saints could have no share in the benefits of Christ"s death. But Scripture clearly teaches that forgiveness is the direct result of the atoning death, without any addition of works of ours or works of Law to secure exemption from punishment.

II FORGIVENESS IS TO BE DISTINGUISHED FROM ATONEMENT. Forgiveness is the act of God as Judge; atonement is the act of Christ as Surety. The atonement is the foundation or ground of forgiveness. It is from the neglect of this distinction that some divines declare the impropriety of our praying for the forgiveness of sin, inasmuch as all our sins, past, present, and future, were put away in one day. The atonement was certainly made in one day; but forgiveness is a continuous act. To purchase a gift is a different thing from bestowing it. We cannot expunge a debt till it has been contracted, and we were not in existence when Christ died, either to sin or to receive forgiveness. "But we were not in existence to be atoned for." The cases are different. A father can lay up property for an unborn son, but the son cannot come into possession till he is born. Besides, if all our sins were forgiven at Christ"s death, how could pardoned believers ever have been guilty? And why should there be examples in Scripture of prayers for forgiveness?

III THE ORIGIN OF THE FORGIVENESS. "According to the riches of his grace." Though it comes to us through the blood of Christ, it is really traceable to the riches of his grace." It has been said that ransom and the exercise of grace are not consistent. Yet the apostle here expressly asserts the consistency of the two things a complete satisfaction and a free pardon. Though the pardon is free to us, it was not procured without the payment of a price. The grace of God is the source or impelling cause in our redemption; the blood of Christ was the meritorious ground of it. We may, therefore, glorify God for "the riches of his grace" in the full forgiveness of all our sins. We may, therefore, "be of good cheer," for our sins are forgiven us; we may love him much for the much that he has forgiven us; and call upon our souls to bless the Lord for all his benefits, and especially for this forgiveth all our iniquities. T.C.

Vers. 7-14.

The forgiveness and inspiration of the adopted children.

From the electing and adopting love of God, Paul proceeds next to show how it manifests itself in the thorough culture of the adopted children. We saw how they are accepted into the charmed circle for the Beloved"s sake, and to him, indeed, owe all. We are now to notice how thorough is the provision made for the upbringing of these adopted ones. And

I THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE BELOVED THEY ARE REDEEMED AND FORGIVEN. (Ver. 7.) For the selected individuals, so far from having any personal merit, are lost in sin. Prodigals by nature and practice, they feel that they deserve not to be called sons of God. They are brought to such a sense of unworthiness as to wonder at the riches of God"s grace, which could make sons and heirs out of such material. But the great Father has provided redemption and forgiveness through the blood of his dear Son. A terrible price, doubtless, it was for the Father to pay, and for the Son to offer to secure our redemption. Yet it was cheerfully and freely given. The family is thus blood-bought. How holy and consecrated we ought to be! Our redemption price, the terms of our forgiveness, involved no less than the death of the Son of God.

II THE ADOPTED CHILDREN ARE EDUCATED TO KNOW GOD"S WILL. (Vers. 8-10.) Forgiveness and redemption refer to our state, but after we are set down in the family circle we need to be instructed. Earthly families make the education of the children a first concern. So is it in the family of God. Hence the riches of his grace are shown, not only in our pardon, but also in the revelation of his will and in our education therein, Moreover, his will contemplates the unifying of all things under Christ. His family is not to be split up into sections jealous of each other, but unity is to pervade it all. Gentiles and Jews, the Ephesians and Paul, one and all are to be united under Christ the Head. Now, there is a great tendency towards unity in the thought of men. Philosophy, properly so called, is the discovery of unity of principle among the facts of the universe. Well, this tendency shall have its magnificent fulfillment in the consummated unity of the dispensation of grace, when the heaven above and the earth beneath shall alike recognize in Jesus the elder Brother and righteous Head. All education is towards this grand unity. This is God"s purpose, and everything will in due season subserve it. The knowledge of God"s will, then, is the apprehension of his magnificent design m the unification of all things. The gospel is thus but a portion of a mightier plan.

III ACCORDINGLY, THE ADOPTED ONES ARE INSPIRED. (Vers. 11-14.) Paul speaks of having received an inheritance in Christ, and then he speaks of the Ephesians having got the sealing of the Spirit as the earnest of their inheritance. His meaning is plain. For Jews and Gentiles, as God"s adopted children, the one great need in this life is inspiration. When the Holy Spirit condescends to dwell within us, we are fitted for the duties which belong to the members of God"s family. And it is the spirituality thereby communicated which gives to us the true ideal of what heaven is to be. Our holiest moments, when the indwelling Spirit moves within us, are our heavenliest. Then conformity to God"s will is the great delight, and whatever he sends is welcomed. Of circumstances we are then so far independent as to realize that, with God as our Portion, we have all things, though we may have little but him. We are already within the gates when with Habakkuk we can say, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation". (Hab_3:17, Hab_3:18) Inspired to do or suffer cheerfully God"s will, this is heaven begun below and the true idea of the heaven to come. The family composed of such elements as these must be harmonious in its relations. May its unity of spirit be always ours! R.M.E.

Vers. 7-14.

The redemptive predestination of God in its subjective and objective aspects.

whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were scaled with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." This passage, treated homiletically, presents redemptive predestination to us in some of its subjective and objective aspects. We use those words with no liking, for they savor of a school of thought with which we have but little sympathy. But the terms, experimental and doctrinal, internal and external, would not represent our thoughts so well. Let us then look at the passage as presenting redemptive predestination

I IN SOME OF ITS SUBJECTIVE ASPECTS. There are certain words employed which indicate its influence and issues upon the heart of its true disciple. There is:

1. Deliverance. "In whom we have redemption." This means simple deliverance, and perhaps is used in allusion to the Exodus of the Jews. Unregenerate humanity is in moral bondage, is carnally sold under sin. It is in a captivity compared with which the most cruel physical bondage is but a shadow. The gospel is the deliverer. It crushes the despots. It sounds the trump of jubilee.

2. Pardon. "The forgiveness of sins." This, like redemption, means release, but it indicates release, not, from calamity alone, but from crime. Redemption delivers man at once from the slavery of sin, forgiveness from its guilt. Divine forgiveness, what is it? It is remedial mercy separating the sinner from his sin. "Far as the east is from the west," etc. Separating not from its memory, nor from all its effects and influences, but from its soul-accusing power.

3. Unification. "He might gather together in one." Uniting the disharmonious soul of man with the universe, by uniting it to Christ. As planets are bound together, though millions of leagues apart, by a common center, so true souls in all worlds and ages are united by being united to Jesus Christ. He is the Head.

4. Heritage. "Obtained an inheritance," "the earnest of our inheritance." What is the inheritance of a Christ-redeemed soul? Ah! what? What springing energies, what rising hopes, what high fellowships, what glorious liberties, enter into that inheritance! "All things are yours." The allusion is perhaps to Canaan. What is the true Canaan of the soul?

1. Divinity. "Sealed with that Holy Spirit.

1. Divinely impressed.

2. Divinely distinguished.

3. Divinely secured.

II IN SOME OF ITS OBJECTIVE ASPECTS. We observe that it has objectively:

1. One primordial source. Whence does this grand redemptive system spring? From "the riches of his grace." His good pleasure. The counsel of his own will. Its spring is in God. Creation and salvation well up from the same eternal fountain.

2. Manifold manifestations. How many terms are here employed to represent this one system!

(1) "His blood." Christ"s blood, or his self-sacrificing love, is its vital power, its very substance, without which it would be a cloud without water, a body without a soul. Christ is Christianity.

(2) Wisdom." Two words are here employed and "prudence." But they mean in reality the same thing, "wisdom." The word "wisdom" may indicate intelligence, and "prudence" its application. Christianity is "the manifold wisdom of God.

(3) Mystery." It is not only necessarily a mystery to all to whom it is not revealed, but it must ever be to a great extent a mystery to its most advanced students. It is that which angels "desire to look into." It has heights no intellect can scale, depths no philosophy can penetrate. It has lengths and breadths forever outreaching the swiftest and strongest wing of thought.

(4) Dispensation." It is a Divine scheme. The intellect that planned the universe planned it.

(5) The word of truth." Truth is reality. Divine truth is eternal reality. Reality has many words, and the gospel is the word of this eternal reality.

(6) "The gospel of your salvation." The good tidings of infinite love.

1. A gradual unfoldment. It was once a "mystery," unknown to the universe, unknown to man. It was in the mind of God. He spoke its first sentence, perhaps, to Adam, and from that hour it has been gradually unfolding itself. It has had its striking epochs, and it is moving on to "the fullness of times." It will flood the universe with its brightness one day.

2. A sublime result. "Unto the praise of his glory." The highest aim of the creature is to worship with the fullest loyalty and love the Creator. The guilt and misery of this world is that it fails in this. The ultimate aim of Christianity is to tune the world"s heart to music, and cause loud hallelujahs to break from every lip. D.T.

Redemption.

I WHAT IT MEANS TO US. "Our redemption" is here in apposition with "the forgiveness of our trespasses." The phrases mutually explain one another.

1. The idea of forgiveness explains that of redemption.

(1) Redemption is a setting free. Sin is a bondage. The guilt of sin is the burden of an unpaid debt. When we are forgiven the debt is cancelled and the yoke broken.

(2) Redemption is a recovery. The redeemed man is not merely a captive liberated; he is a prisoner restored to his country and his home. Sin banishes us from God. Forgiveness restores us to the home of our souls in bringing us back to communion with God.

2. The idea of redemption explains that of forgiveness. Such forgiveness as amounts to a redemption cannot be a mere withholding of penalties. It must be

(1) positive giving us the status of free, restored souls; and

(2) personal a reconciliation between man and God.

II WHAT IT COST CHRIST. Redemption implies payment. The redeemed is recovered by means of a ransom. The cost of the Christian redemption is the blood of Christ. Unfortunately, the expression, "the blood of Christ or even the mutilated expression, "the blood has been used by some so ignorantly and coarsely that many persons have come to turn from it with disgust. It would seem that some so-called evangelical people attach as much efficacy to the charm of the word "blood," repeated without any intelligent idea, as the most superstitious Roman Catholics ascribe to what they believe to be real blood in the sacred chalice. On the other hand, we must not explain away the expression by saying that it simply means the death of Christ, or why was not the word "death" used? And did not Jesus say that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood? According to a venerated Hebrew idea, the blood was life. The shedding of the blood, therefore, was the giving of the life. If Christ"s blood is a ransom, that means that Christ gave his life and himself as a ransom. The value of such a ransom must be just the value of such a life. How well pleasing to God must be the obedient yielding up of himself by Christ! How persuasive to us in drawing us out of the power of sin should the same sacrifice be!

III WHENCE IT ORIGINATED. We are redeemed according to the riches of his grace," i.e. of God"s grace.

1. Then it is God who first plans our redemption and desires our forgiveness and provides the means for our restoration.

2. The motive of redemption is pure grace. It is not that we have a right to be restored, as Englishmen would claim a right to be set free from ignominious slavery in a foreign land; nor that we shall be worth so much to God when restored as to compensate him for the cost; but simply that, freely loving us, he mercifully delivers us.

3. The grace of God is replete with wealthy resources. There are men whose favors are so poverty-stricken that they are not worth having. God"s grace is rich enough to provide the necessary ransom for our redemption. Christ our Ransom is given to us as the greatest gift from the treasury of Divine grace. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By whom we - Who believe. Have - From the moment we believe. Redemption - From the guilt and power of sin. Through his blood - Through what he hath done and suffered for us. According to the riches of his grace - According to the abundant overflowings of his free mercy and favour.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Our apostle having, in the foregoing verses, enumerated the great and glorious privileges which the children of God were made partakers of before all time, comes next to discover what they are admitted to the participation of in time: and here in this verse he mentions two of them, namely, redemption and remission of sin. In whom we have redemption through his blood, &c.

Here note, The privilege itself, redemption; the Redeemer, Jesus Christ; the price of his redemption paid down, his blood: one fruit of this redemption instanced in for all the rest, the forgiveness of sin: and, lastly, the spring or source of all this, the riches of his grace.

Learn, 1. The deplorable state into which the whole race of mankind was brought into by sin; namely, an estate of slavery and bondage, and spiritual captivity unto sin. Redemption supposses this; slaves and captives need a redeemer, none else; we are all by nature under slavery to sin, to Satan, and the curse of the law, and the wrath of God.

Learn 2. That there was no delivery to be had from this slavery but by a price paid down to the justice of God; redemption is a delivery by ransom and price.

Learn 3. That no other price did or could redeem us from our miserable captivity, but the blood of Christ: We have redemption through his blood.

Learn 4. That all belivers, and only they, have remission of their sins, through the redemption purchased for them by the blood of Christ.

Learn 5. That God’s free grace, and Christ’s full satisfaction, do stand well together in the work of redemption and remission of sin. True, God had a satisfaction from the hand of our surety Christ Jesus; but was it not free grace and rich mercy in God, to accept of a surety and a substitution, when the rigour of the law required none, and would admit of none, but demanded that the soul which sinned should die? Was it not free mercy, not only to accept a surety, but to provide a surety for us as God did, and this surety his own Son? And to deliver up this Son to a painful, shameful, and accursed death, that we might have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace?

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7–12. In whom we have redemption through his blood. (1) We are in bondage to sin; (2) Christ redeems us; (3) the price paid is his blood. Compare Matt. 20:28; 26:28; Acts 20:28; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:22; 1 Pet. 1:19. Those redeemed are forgiven.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

riches of his grace

Paul speaks of God's grace as if it were material wealth. AT: "greatness of God's grace" or "abundance of God's grace" (See: Metaphor)

He lavished this grace upon us

"He gave us this great amount of grace" or "He was extremely kind to us"

with all wisdom and understanding

Possible meanings are 1) "because he has all wisdom and understanding" 2) "so that we might have great wisdom and understanding"

translationWords

redeem

blood

forgive

sin

grace

wise

understand

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

7.] Now the Apostle passes, with ἐν ᾧ, to the consideration of the ground of the church in the Son (7-12): see the synopsis above. But the Father still continues the great subject of the whole;—only the reference is now to the Son. In whom (see on ἐν χρ. ver. 3—cf. Rom 3:24) We have (objective—‘there is for us.’ But not without a subjective implied import, as spoken of those who truly have it—have laid hold of it: “are ever needing and ever having it,” Eadie) the Redemption (from God’s wrath—or rather from that which brought us under God’s wrath, the guilt and power of sin, Mat 1:21. The article expresses notoriety—‘of which we all know,’—‘of which the law testified, and the prophets spoke’) through (as the instrument:—a further fixing of the ἐν ᾧ) His blood (which was the price paid for that redemption, Act 20:28; 1Co 6:20; both the ultimate climax of His obedience for us, Php 2:8, and, which is most in view here,—the propitiation, in our nature, for the sin of the world, Rom 3:25; Col 1:20. It is a noteworthy observation of Harless here, that the choice of the word, the Blood of Christ, is of itself a testimony to the idea of expiation having been in the writer’s mind. Not the death of the victim, but its blood, was the typical instrument of expiation. And I may notice that in Php 2:8, where Christ’s obedience, not His atonement, is spoken of, there is no mention of His shedding His Blood, only of the act of His Death), the remission (not “overlooking” (πάρεσιν); see note on Rom 3:25) of (our) transgressions (explanation of τ. ἀπολύτρωσιν: not to be limited, but extending to all riddance from the practice and consequences of our transgressions: at least equipollent with ἀπολύτρωσιν:—so Thdrt., διʼ ἐκείνου γὰρ τὰς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀποθέμενοι κηλῖδας, κ. τῆς τοῦ τυράννου δουλείας ἀπαλλαγέντες, τοὺς τῆς εἰκόνος τῆς θείας ἀπελάβομεν χαρακτῆρας. This against Harless), according to the riches (Ellic. compares Plato, Euthyphr. 12 a, τρυφᾷς ὑπὸ πλούτου τῆς σοφίας) of His grace (this alone would prevent ἄφεσις applying to merely the forgiveness of sins. As Passavant (in Stier), “We have in this grace not only redemption from misery and wrath, not only forgiveness,—but we find in it the liberty, the glory, the inheritance of the children of God,—the crown of eternal life: cf. 2Co 8:9”),

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We have. Or are having. The freely bestowed (ver. 6) is thus illustrated by experience. The divine purpose is being accomplished in the lives of believers.

Redemption [την απολυτρωσιν] . See on Rom 3:24. Note the article : our redemption.

Through His blood. Further defining and explaining in whom.

Forgiveness [αφεσιν] . See on Luk 3:3; Jas 5:15; Rom 3:25. Forgiveness specifies the peculiar quality of redemption.

Sins [παραπτωματων] . Rev., better, trespasses. See on Mt 6:14. Riches. See on glory, ver. 6, and Rom 2:4.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.