1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That Jesus Christ is made of God unto all men that are in Him redemption. I. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN — "made redemption"? He is made of God redemption to us; that is, God hath ordained and appointed Him from all eternity, and in the fulness of time raised Him up, and sent Him, to be the author and procurer of redemption for us; or, which is all one, to be a redeemer to us (Luke 1:68). Now to redeem is, in general, to recover those that are in bondage out of bondage, as the Jews were released by Cyrus out of their captivity in Babylon. Redemption, viz. — 1. By power; when those who kept us in bondage are conquered and overcome. 2. By exchange; when one prisoner is let go for another. 3. By price; when a sum of money is paid to buy off a prisoner, more or less, according as the quality of the prisoner is. Now this last is properly redemption, and this last is the way in which Jesus Christ hath made us free. To this purpose we are told of a covenant of redemption which was transacted from all eternity between the Father and the Son, the terms whereof were — That if the Son would come and be man and die, that dying of His should be accepted as the price or ransom of all the elect, how many soever there were. The Son accepted of this motion, did what was to be done, suffered what was to be suffered, and so became our redemption. See some footsteps of this covenant transaction in two Scriptures (Psalm 40:6-8: Isaiah 49:2, 6, 9). But — II. WHAT FIND OF REDEMPTION IS THIS? 1. Needed redemption. It is the redemption that we needed. He came to supply all our needs. Now among other needs, being in bondage, we needed one to redeem us; not only one to clothe us, being naked; to feed us, being hungry; to wash us, being filthy; to heal us, being wounded; to cure us, being sick; — but to redeem us. If He had done all this for us in our bondage, and left us still in bondage, we had been miserable notwithstanding. 2. It is a nonsuch redemption, when compared with other redemption. Whether personal, as Joseph out of prison, or Peter (Acts 12.), or Daniel out of the lions' den. Whether public, as from Egypt, from Babylon. It surpasses them all in number, way, and consequences. 3. Distinguishing redemption. It is denied to the angels that sinned. The commons are ransomed, the nobles left behind. He paid no price to redeem them. 4. It is divers, manifold redemption according to the manifold evils that we lay under. They are of three sorts — temporal, spiritual, eternal. (1) He is redemption to us from temporal evils. Such as concern the body, and the life that now is; such as sickness, death, poverty. Not that they shall not befall us, but that they shall not hurt us. The sting of them is taken out (Psalm 91:10). (2) Which is better, it is redemption to us from spiritual evils. These are worse evils than the former, because they affect the better part of us. The guilt of sin; whereby we are bound over to punishment, the fear whereof causes bondage (Hebrews 2:14). To redeem us from this, He is made righteousness to us for our justification. The filth and power of sin; whereby sin hath dominion over us, and we are perfect slaves to it, the vilest of slaves (John 8:34). To redeem us from this He is made sanctification to us. (3) There is another sort of evils yet, and those are eternal evils; and by redemption here we are especially to understand our deliverance from those. Because it is mentioned after righteousness and sanctification as a thing different from them; and because of what we find in other Scriptures, where redemption is applied to something in the other world: "Waiting for the redemption of the body" (Romans 8:23), that is, the resurrection and glorification of our bodies: compare Luke 21:28 with Ephesians 4:30, the day of redemption. 1. What those eternal evils are which redemption frees us from. (1) It frees us for ever, not only from the guilt, and filth, and power of sin, but from the very being of it also. (2) It frees us from Satan ever having any more to do with us, either as a tempter or as a tormentor. He is busy now with the saved (1 Peter 5:8), and he will be more busy hereafter with those that perish (Matthew 18:34). But where the redeemed are he comes not (Romans 16:20). (3) It frees us from all sorrow and suffering, of what kind soever, in mind or body (Revelation 21:4). (4) It frees us from all society with wicked and ungodly men, and that for ever. They are blended here, and it pleases neither (Psalm 120:5, 6). But there is a redemption coming (Matthew 25:33). 2. What there is that is positive in this redemption. (1) As soon as the redeemed die their souls immediately go to God, to the vision and fruition of Him in glory (Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:23). (2) At the resurrection, at the last day, the same soul and the same body shall come together again. Though we are not redeemed from death, we are to be from the grave (Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 13:14). (3) To all eternity there shall be a fulness of uninterrupted joy and felicity; a remaining rest; a Sabbath without a week of working days after it, perpetual, eternal. 3. I shall show how Jesus Christ is made this to us, this future redemption. He is the purchaser of it; it was bought with His blood, bought back. We had mortgaged it for an apple, and must never have retrieved it, had not He died (Ephesians 1:14). He is our forerunner in it (Hebrews 6:20). He went thither as our attorney or proxy, to take possession of the purchase in our name and stead (John 14:1, 2). It is He that Himself actually puts us into possession of it. At the resurrection it is His voice and trumpet that raises the dead; He is the resurrection. It is He Himself alone that is the sole object of all our future happiness; to be with Him, to see and enjoy Him, is our future redemption (Revelation 21:23). III. THE IMPROVEMENT. 1. Then it concerns us all, by all means, to give all diligence to make sure to ourselves our interest in this redemption. 2. If Jesus Christ be made of God this redemption to you, then, in God's name, take the comfort of it. Lift up the head and hands that hang down; "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, rejoice." 3. Then live as the redeemed of the Lord. (Philip Henry.) Parallel Verses KJV: But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: |
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