We are all sinners. Sin brings condemnation, and the sentence that the condemned lie under is: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). What is more, that death is eternal. The punishment for sin must be eternal – it can never come to an end – because it is committed against an infinite Being. Besides, those who go down to hell never stop sinning; they continue in rebellion against the God who made them. And He, as a just God, must continue to punish them. David Brown describes eternal death as “the conscious sense of the hopeless loss of all blissful existence”, in contrast with “the conscious possession and enjoyment of all that constitutes a rational creature’s highest ‘life’ for evermore”1 in heaven. What emphasis we should lay on the word hopeless, as against the perfect and permanent bliss of everlasting life, and how earnest we should be in seeking an answer to the vital question, “What must I do to be saved?” But let us not be content with an answer that will leave us on the way to a lost eternity.
There is an answer, a safe answer, one that is absolutely reliable, for it is part of God’s revelation in Scripture. There Paul assures us that, in Christ Jesus, “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph 1:7). Often we can get light on doctrinal ideas by going back to the laws and ceremonies of the Old Testament, and that is the case with the idea of redemption. We read in Leviticus 25:47,48 of an Israelite becoming poor, presumably finding himself seriously in debt, and selling himself to a rich “stranger or sojourner” in the vicinity; but “after that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him”. There was no possibility of the poor man redeeming himself; he had no resources. His only hope lay in one of his brethren, one of his close relations, taking pity on him and paying whatever was now necessary so that he might be set free.
As we consider our position as sinners who are in debt to the justice of God, we must be clear that we cannot redeem ourselves, for no one “can by
1Remark 7 following his comments on Romans 6 in Robert Jamieson, A R Fausset and David Brown, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, Eerdmans reprint, 1982.
any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Ps 49:7). A brother might be able to pay what was required to make someone a free man again, but no human brother can pay what is necessary to deliver someone from the claims of God’s justice. That is totally impossible.
Yet we have already noted that redemption is possible, but only through the blood of Jesus Christ – that is, through His death. For He became a brother: “He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:16,17). He, a divine Person, took our nature, not that of any other being. He did so in order that He might be able, as a brother, to redeem sinners, as a merciful and faithful high priest.
Peter makes the contrast: “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet 1:18,19). Though people were redeemed by paying silver and gold, which were relatively incorruptible, yet even a vast hoard of silver and gold cannot approach what is necessary for a spiritual redemption. A price infinitely more valuable had to be paid to redeem sinners from a vain way of life and from its consequences. That price could only be the infinitely-precious blood of Christ, who as a perfectly-holy, perfectly-spotless Person offered Himself up to God as a sacrifice and, in doing so, satisfied God’s justice. In offering Himself, Christ took the wages of sin, which were due to all whom He was representing. The wages due to His people were death, and He suffered that death in their place; in other words, He paid the price for their redemption, so that they would be set free from the guilt of sin and be spared the eternal hopelessness of hell.
In Ephesians 1:7, Paul specifies “the forgiveness of sins” as a fruit of Christ’s redemption (though all the blessings of salvation flow from His work). So when a sinner believes in Christ, the guilt of all that person’s sins is put away; God will never punish the individual, no matter how great these sins were. Hezekiah’s sins were fully forgiven when he believed; at once he was freely and fully justified. But this was equally true of his son Manasseh, whose sins were so many and so flagrant. Both Hezekiah and Manasseh had an equal right to say, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12). Christ redeemed them both; their sins were all forgiven; and they are now inheriting the complete blessedness of eternal glory, which He procured for them as their Redeemer.
So it is with all who, in this world, believe in Christ: they benefit fully
from the redemption that Christ has wrought out; in particular, all their sins are forgiven. But not only are they forgiven their sins, they are also made holy; sin no longer has dominion over them. The Holy Spirit has begun to sanctify them and will continue that work until, at the point of death, they will be completely delivered from sin. Then, as perfectly holy, they will be fit for heaven, where they will have “conscious possession and enjoyment” of entire blessedness, which will last for ever.
All this is the result of God’s great mercy; it is “according to the riches of His grace”. Charles Hodge comments on this further phrase in Ephesians 1:7: “The grace consists: 1. 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 in the Lord.”
If redemption, and forgiveness in particular, are of grace – according to God’s free kindness – it evidently follows that we cannot earn our salvation; it is “not of works” (Eph 2:9). According to Reformation thinking – and this is scriptural thinking – salvation is by faith alone, through God’s grace alone, for the sake of Christ alone; it is altogether apart from works.
God appointed Christ as a Saviour for mankind. This Saviour is altogether suitable for sinners of every kind – for a Manasseh as well as a Hezekiah. In seeking salvation, no one is to look within for qualifications of any kind. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”, not sinners of some particular kind, not sinners who are free from what they might view as a disqualification. No one was ever turned away from Christ for any reason. He still assures us: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (Jn 6:37); in other words, no one laying hold of Christ by faith, however weakly, will be sent away unsaved.
His is a “plenteous redemption” (Ps 130:7), altogether sufficient to deliver from the greatest of human transgressions – and let us remember the particular seriousness of unbelief. What is more, Christ’s redemption is perfectly suited to all the idiosyncrasies of an individual’s sins. He is saying to every individual without exception who hears the gospel: “Unto you, O men, I call; and My voice is to the sons of man” (Prov 8:4). It is a verse that is directed to human beings, without any reservation. May the Lord convince us all of our great need as sinners, and of the sufficiency and suitability of the provision made in Christ, “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”.