Jesus is Our Redemption

The path from slavery to freedom is about ransom and our resulting redemption. In ransom, we are "bought back" so that we belong to God, rather than sin. Redemption is the result of ransom. When speaking of ransom, the question is often raised, "to whom is the ransom price paid?" Pastor Mark Driscoll and Dr. Gerry Breshears answer this question in their book Death by Love: "Redemption is synonymous with being liberated, freed, or rescued from bondage and slavery to a person or thing… "Jesus spoke of his life as the ransom price…the intriguing thing is that the Bible never tells us whom it is paid to. It is paid neither to the Devil nor to God nor to anyone else. It simply says our salvation is extremely costly. It is the theologian who tries to complete the analogy by inferring the recipient of the payment." These two ideas of redemption and ransom are closely related. According to theologian John Murray, "The language of redemption is the language of purchase and more specifically of ransom…Ransom presupposes some kind of bondage or captivity, and redemption, therefore, implies that from which the ransom secures us…Redemption applies to every aspect in which we are bound, and it releases us into a liberty that is nothing less than the liberty of the glory of the children of God." Redemption is not to be found in a series of steps to be practiced or rules to be followed. It cannot be forced by going through the motions of religious practices. It is found neither in therapy nor in personal insight. It does not result from simply replacing irrational thoughts with rational ones, nor by cultivating better behavioral habits. It cannot be accomplished through medication or hospitalization. No human effort can accomplish redemption for another, and it cannot be accomplished for oneself. We must be ransomed—redeemed—by another. "…you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish orspot." (1 Peter 1:18b-19)

Jesus himself is our redemption.

"And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (1 Corinthians 1:30) Jesus redeems us in three ways. Each of these carries with it the idea of Jesus acting in our place as our ransom and redemption. 1. Jesus died for sin and rose to new life. The Holy Spirit applies this to us by uniting us to Christ’s death and resurrection. Theologians call this our union with Christ, and it is the foundation for our new identity in Christ. It means, "All he has done for me representatively becomes mine actually," as theologian, Sinclair Ferguson says. Because Christ died to sin for me, in my place, I can actually die to sin today (Romans 6:6, 11; 8:13). And because Christ rose to new life for me, I can actually live new life today (Romans 6:8-10, 8:9-11). This is the solid foundation of hope for us as we struggle with sin. 2. Jesus endured the worst possible form of suffering: suffering righteously. He was abused, mocked, betrayed. He experienced the worst suffering imaginable—bearing the just wrath of God for sin—so we would not have to (2 Corinthians 5:21). He experienced the worst agony imaginable, not only physically on the cross, but emotionally and spiritually as well. At one point, he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) In experiencing the worst form of suffering,separation from God due to sin, on our behalf, he ensured that we would never have to. Because he experienced the worst of suffering, we can relate to him personally in the midst of any suffering we experience. He is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3-4). He sympathizes with the temptations we experience under severe suffering because he walked that path himself (Hebrews 2:17, 4:15). As we follow Jesus, we still suffer as he did, but we do so in the hope that all suffering is redeemed in him, confident that a future day of freedom from all suffering is as certain as the day of Christ’s resurrection (Romans 8:18-23). 3. Jesus perfectly images God. Though we were created in God’s image to worship him by reflecting his glory, we now reflect him in a distorted way as a result of sin. Because our worship is broken, our imaging is distorted. God does not solve this problem by polishing a marred image. He redeems the marred image by starting over with a totally new one that perfectly reflects him. Jesus is the image of God that perfectly reflects God’s glory. He says himself, "whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9)." He is "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15) and "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature" (Hebrews 1:3). When we look at the man Jesus, we see a perfect picture of what God looks like and a perfect picture of what God intended humanity to look like. That is how far we have fallen from creation. However, in Christ, we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are not what we once were: idolaters, thieves, liars, sexual perverts, addicts, abusers, and victims (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). We have a new name, a new identity, a new heart, and new desires—we are regenerated. Now the truest thing Christians can say about their identity is "I am in Christ."