Redemption (xvii)

Many bible scholars and systematic theologians consider regeneration, rebirth, conversion, and sanctification, to be "effects of redemption," or the "application of redemption," rather than seeing how they are themselves redemptive experiences. As I have shown, this is wrong thinking.

In this series I have established that a slave is "redeemed" at various times and in different ways. It has been shown that "redemption" sometimes alludes to that commercial transaction where a buyer purchases a slave from a seller (owner). This immediately secures legal emancipation. However, actual release of prisoners or slaves is not realized until they have "walked free." In regards to the liberation of the soul and spirit, it has been shown how this actually occurs in conversion, the time when a sinner is "set free." Barclay writes that "apolutrosis" conveys "In every case the conception (of) the delivering of a man from a situation from which he was powerless to liberate himself or from a penalty which he himself could never have paid."

There is both the legal aspect of redemption and the subjective aspect, or actual physical release of the freed slave. Those redeemed by Christ via the atonement and conversion have their "freedom papers."  These were carried by freed slaves (also called "protection papers") and were used to show that they were freemen in the case where they were stopped by officials or slave catchers. They also called them "free papers" because they certified their non-slave status.

Herman Bavinck wrote the following in "Sanctification and Perseverance"  (REFORMED DOGMATICS: Volume 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation - see here) under the sub heading "Holiness as Gift and Reward" (emphasis mine):

"Since the redemption that God grants and works out in Christ is meant to accomplish complete deliverance from sin and all its consequences, it includes sanctification and glorification from the very beginning, along with Justification...Just as in the case of the forgiveness of sins, sanctification would be his work and his gift."

I wholeheartedly agree with Bavinck. Redemption "includes sanctification and glorification." This being so, we say not only that "we have been (past tense) redeemed," but say "we are being (present tense) redeemed" in daily renewal and sanctification. Having already addressed past redemption, in the decree of God in eternity past, in the death of Christ, and in first conversion, our present focus is on how "sanctification" (which involves daily renewal and transformation) is an experience of redemption.

As previously observed, redemption is accomplished (a "done deal"), in regard to the decree of God the Father, and in regard to the work of Christ the incarnate Son (redemption via atonement). In regard to past (fulfilled) redemption the focus has been mostly on the activity of the Father and Son. It was only when we came to see conversion (regeneration and rebirth) as redemptive did the focus become directed to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Remember too how it has been emphasized how God's purpose in creation is directly related to his purpose in redemption. Surely the "new creation" of which the scriptures speak, especially of the new testament, is linked intimately with redemption. When we were "created in Christ Jesus" (See Eph. 2: 9-10) when coming to Christ in conversion, this was the fulfilling of redemption. Certainly, as we will see as we come to study redemption in its final realization in the "day of redemption" and resurrection, there is the restoration (or re-creation) connected with redemption. (Romans 8) This leads us to consider what one has called

The Scope Of Redemption

In "Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview," author Albert M. Wolters (see here) wrote (emphasis mine):

"We have seen how the concept of creation must be taken much more broadly than Christians ordinarily take it, and how mankind's fall into sin effects the entire range of that broadly conceived creation. All of this has been preparation for making the basic point that the redemption achieved by Jesus Christ is cosmic in the sense that it restores the whole creation."

This has been emphasized throughout this series, and it will yet be enlarged upon when we see the finalization of the scheme of redemption.

Wolters continued:

"This fundamental confession has two distinct parts. The first is that redemption means restoration--that is, the return to the goodness of an originally unscathed creation and not merely the addition of something supracreational. The second is that this restoration affects the whole of creation life and not merely some limited area within it." (pg. 69)

I fully agree, and yet, as Wolters observes

"Of course, redemption as restoration of the whole creation does not involve the idea of universal salvation."

"Salvation as Restoration"

It is quite striking that practically all of the basic words describing salvation in the Bible imply a return to an original good state. Redemption is a good example. To redeem is to "buy free."

In "A theology of the “re-“ prefix" by Dr. Laniak (here), are these good words:

"I often found myself as a seminary professor explaining “what the Bible is all about.” There are many ways to go about this, but one helpful rubric is to describe the overall narrative in terms of creation and redemption. This is a grand scheme that covers the whole Bible with God’s redemptive work most visible in the work of Christ on the cross and a picture of eternal restoration provided in the book of Revelation. This pattern also serves as a micro scheme that explains a repeating cycle throughout the Bible. God creates. People fail and suffer the consequences. Then God restores and recreates. The cycle is impossible to miss in the books of Judges and Kings. An attentive reader can find it most anywhere."

You can’t read the Old Testament carefully without noticing the amazing redundancy of words around this theme. Words such as revive, renew, recreate, restore, reform, refresh, return, repent, redeem, repair, and rebuild. I call this the Bible’s “theology of the re- prefix.”

Redemption In Daily Renewal

We are being "renewed day by day" (II Cor. 4: 16).

"Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." (NIV)

"And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." (Colossians 3: 10 NIV)

The process of inner renewal parallels the ongoing process of external bodily decay. Both the wasting away of the body and the renewing of the spirit is present tense linear, ongoing. It is a description of resurrection taking place within a decaying corpse!

The word "renewed" is from the Greek word "anakainoo" and means to make new (in quality) again. It is to cause something to become new and better or superior. It is in the passive voice.

The noun form of anakainoo is used by Paul in Romans to exhort the believers not to be continually conformed (present imperative) to this world, but be transformed (present imperative) by the renewing (anakainosis - qualitatively and so a renewal which makes one's mind different than it was in the past) of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:2)

"He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing (anakainosis) by the Holy Spirit." (Titus 4:5)

Some interpret anakainosis in this passage as a reference to the one time event of the new birth, others favor this as indicating a continual renewing by the Holy Spirit, similar to the renewal in 2Cor 4:16. Trench says that anakainosis refers to "the gradual (progressive, lifelong) conforming of the man more and more to that new spiritual world into which he has been introduced, and in which he now lives and moves; the restoration of the divine image." W E Vine says that anakainosis in Titus 3:5 refers to "the adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God, which is designed to have a transforming effect upon the life."

Paul alludes to the process of renewal of the inner man in II Cor 3:18.

"we all, with unveiled face (perfect tense = describes our permanent state, one that had its inception the day we believed [veil was lifted] and were born again, Jn 3:3, 5) beholding (middle voice = signifies that we initiate this action and participate in the benefits therefrom; present tense = a continual process) as in a mirror the glory of the Lord (His glory is shone in the heavens Ps 19:1, but this refers to His glory as shown in His Word, cp Jas 1:23, 24, Jas 1:25), are being transformed (being = passive voice = effect exerted by the Spirit on our inner man as we behold the "mirror" of God's Word; transformed = present tense = a continual process) into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

In Ephesians Paul exhorts the saints at Ephesus to "lay aside the old and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind." (Ep 4: 23) Renewed is in the passive voice indicating the effect is from an external source (the Spirit) and the present tense indicating that this renewal is an ongoing or continual process (cp, progressive sanctification, growth in Christlikeness, growth in holiness).

Sealed For Redemption

"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 sealed 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...And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Eph. 1:14-15; 4: 30)

"Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." (II Cor. 1: 21, 22)

There are four things that the apostle says that God was doing, or had done, to the Corinthian believers.  They are anointing, sealing, pledging, and stablishing. 

He first mentions the stablishing of believers.  That work was still going on in the life of those believers, for it is in the present tense.  The Greek word for "stablisheth" means "confirmation of a bargain."  Paul is looking at the salvation of the believer under the typology of contracts and covenants.  God has made a promise and given a pledge. 

"Stablish" is also translated "confirm."  To confirm something means "to support or establish the certainty or validity of; verify."  And the word "establish" means "to place or settle in a secure position or condition," to "install."  It also means "to make firm or secure."  It also means "to introduce and put into force," and "to prove the validity or truth of something."  It literally means to "certify." 

Paul pictures God as continuously confirming his covenant with believers.  So we read in Dan. 9: 27 - "he shall confirm the covenant."  "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto...And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect."  (Gal. 3: 15, 17)

"...the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."  (I Cor. 1: 6-8)

The way the Lord confirms believers is by confirming the testimony in them.  Now, the word confirmed, bebaioō in Greek, is the same word translated "stablish" and is a legal term used in a courtroom context. It means to authenticate, or to make reliable, to clearly show that something is true, to put beyond doubt or dispute.  It involves the providing of a guarantee, a certifying.  Making an oath is one way that a thing may be established in law.  Wrote Paul:

"For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."  (Heb. 6: 16-18)

God made promise to believers before the world began but he also confirms his promise when he saves them.  And, to confirm that promise, he swears to them, makes an oath to them.  Salvation involves a legal transaction.  God enters into covenant or makes a deal with us based upon the work of Christ.  How the Lord confirms his promises to the believer is by the witness of his word and Spirit in their hearts and consciences.  Paul says that the purpose of God's oath, of his confirming and establishing of believers, is to "put an end to all strife," to put an end to all doubt and uncertainty, to all conflict.

The stablishing or confirming of the believer, which results from God's anointing and sealing the believer, has for its purpose the removing of doubt, and removing legal objections, and also for giving a "strong consolation" and "refuge," or place of safety, to the believer, for strengthening hope and expectation.   

This work of confirming and establishing the believer is an ongoing work in the lives of believers. Not only does Paul say that God is presently stablishing believers but says that this is the result of his having previously "anointed" the believer.  This anointing takes place when one is saved, born again, or regenerated.   John wrote of this when he wrote:

"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things."  (I John 2: 20)

"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."  (vs. 27)

The word unction means to anoint, a ceremony for consecrating one into office, such as priests and kings experienced when being inaugurated.  In the Old Testament this anointing was done with oil and oil is a symbol for the Holy Spirit.  This oil was mixed with spices, spices which are symbols of the gifts and graces of God.  We read of how God "anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power."  Further, to be anointed implies a prior choice.  God anoints those who he chooses.  Thus, we read in scripture of king Cyrus who was anointed and chosen by God for performing a mission service for the Lord.  (Isa. 45: 1)  But, not only are people anointed, but so are things.  Thus, in scripture we read of monuments being anointed and of God anointing the most holy place. 

This anointing or unction signifies that the believer is gifted with the indwelling Spirit of God and is what brings saving faith and understanding.  It is the reason why believers "know all things."  Not, that they literally know everything, but they know the reason or purpose of all things, which is the glory of God through Christ.  God's people are priests and kings and as such they are anointed.

Paul says that this anointing or giving of the Spirit is an "earnest," a downpayment or pledge, a way of gauranteeing the fulfillment of his promise and contractual obligations.  By the use of the word "earnest" there is allusion to real estate or mercantile agreements. 

Are the words stablish, anoint, and pledge somehow connected?  God anointed us with the oil of the Spirit and in doing so gave us a pledge of a future inheritance.  Are these terms not all related to the idea of a covenant or contract, to a legal transaction?  Lawyers speak of legal establishment, or to establish something in law.  The anointing and pledging were the means for the stablishing.  But, not only is the legal nature of the work of salvation in a believer demonstrated by the terms anointing, pledging, and stablishing, but also by the word "sealed."

Legal documents are always affixed with a seal.  In deeds the word "seal" is now placed beside the line where one puts his signature.  Sealing is not restricted to legal transactions, but they are an integral part of them.  Certainly justification is a strictly legal term and Paul no doubt has justification in mind when he speaks of the believer being established in law.  When the Lord saves his people he at the same time justifies them and makes promises to them, and enters into covenant with them.  He makes an oath to them.  And this oath and promise has God's own seal affixed to it.  Redemption is also a legal term.  Before we talk more fully about this sealing, let us notice a couple other passages where Paul speaks of this divine sealing.  Further, even the idea of anointing cannot be divorced from a legal context seeing that installing men in governmental office is a legal ceremony. 

"sealed unto the day of redemption." (Eph. 4: 30)

Paul says that this sealing is with a view to "the day of redemption."  In both Corinthians and Ephesians sealing is connected with redemption, and with receiving the earnest or pledge of the promised inheritance.

What is meant by the Ephesian believers being "sealed with that holy Spirit of promise"? On the nature and purpose of "seals" and "signets" we observe that "sphragis" (seal) and "sphragizō" (sealed) literally means "to set a seal upon, mark with a seal, to seal." Kings often wore their seals on rings and would use them for sealing documents.  Throughout the O.T. we read of "the engravings of a signet." Believers are marked with the signet of God; And of course not in their bodies but in their souls, minds, and spirits.

A signet is a seal or personal mark of identification and ownership. Cattle ranchers call their seals "brands." Each cattle owner had his own brand, his own symbol, his own mark, his own seal. Believers are sealed and branded in their renewed spirits when they are taken possession of by the Lord in conversion.

Letters and documents are sealed.  Regeneration is described as being the work of God in writing a letter on the heart of believers.

"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."  (Jer. 31: 33)

God says that he will write his covenant in the hearts of his people.  Paul also speaks of this.

"Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart."  (II Cor. 3: 3)

To this writing upon the heart God affixes his seal.  He attests the writing.  Confirms it.  Authenticates and certifies it.  All agreements in Israel were to be attested by a signature and a seal.  This is true of redemption and marriage agreements.  When believers enter into a marriage covenant with the Lord, the covenant is written in the heart and sealed with the signature of the Lord.

Is this "sealing" progressive and linear, or, like regeneration, an instantaneous once for all action? Is this sealing a part of regeneration or an experience that comes after regeneration has been completed?

In Eph. 1: 14 -  "Ye were sealed" - First aorist passive indicative of spragizw, old verb, to set a seal on one as a mark or stamp.  "After you heard" is from a Greek aorist participle. akouō = heard.

Since the main verb “you were sealed” (esphragisthēte) is the aorist passive of sphragizō (“to seal”), we should understand that the sealing is simultaneous with the hearing and believing.

Both the ESV and the NRSV translate this “when” not “after.” Therefore, the sealing of the believer by the Holy Spirit occurs simultaneously with hearing the gospel and believing.

When the bridegroom in the Song of Solomon expresses to his beloved his desire that she give her love to him alone, he uses the figure of a seal of ownership. He asks that she put him “like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your arm” (Song 8:6 NASB). He mentions love and jealousy as the reason for his request. She is to be sealed exclusively to him. Thus, sealing serves the purpose of confirming ownership.

PROTECTION

Sealing also refers to the protection of property in the Scriptures. Sealing protects items from tampering, and makes them safe and secure.

"So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch."  (Matt. 27: 66)

When the Lord saves his people and the Spirit takes possession of them, he seals their hearts and sets a watch upon their souls.

"And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel."  (Dan. 6: 17)

"And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."  (Rev. 20: 3)

"He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."  (Psa. 105: 14, 15)

AUTHENTICATION & Certification

The seal also serves as proof of identity. It is put with a signature or in place of it in letters, agreements and private or public instructions. As such, circumcision, as a seal, authenticates, certifies, and attests to the veracity of the inward faith that Abraham possessed and believers possess (Rom 4:11). 

The image of sealing also refers to God’s approval (John 3:33; 6:27; 1 Cor. 9:2). Thus we speak of a product or document having a "Seal of approval."

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." (II Tim. 2: 19)

"He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." (John 3: 33)

AUTHORIZATION

Since seals served as proof of identity and ownership, they also convey the authorization of the seal owner. This custom is well attested in Scripture.  Therefore, sealing also conveys the authority of the owner of the seal.

Goods were sealed as a guarantee indicating not only ownership but also the correctness of the contents.

In the Hellenistic world, a man’s seal, a carved insignia pressed in wax, had legal significance. Stamped on possessions the seal indicated ownership and served as a ward against theft. On a document, the seal authenticated the message it contained, and symbolized the full authority of the person who sent it. Further, a sealed document could be opened only by the one to whom it was addressed.

"Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples."  (Isa. 8: 16)

"He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." (John 3: 33)

Authenticate it.  Confirm it.  Certify it.  Attest to it.  Impress it upon my disciples. 

"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."  (John 6: 27)

Making Impression

Seals make impressions on the paper and God's seal makes an impression upon the heart of the believer.

Conclusion

Salvation is having the image of Christ stamped upon the heart, soul, and mind.

 

Redemption (xvi)

"...who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2: 14)

Commenting upon these words of the apostle, F. B. Meyer wrote:

"We are, therefore, taught that the death of Jesus was intended, not for our forgiveness and justification merely, but for our sanctification, and our deliverance from the power of all our besetting sins."

In the previous chapter we focused on what it means to be "redeemed from all lawlessness" and showed how redemption has a past, present, and future aspect to it. In this chapter we will focus our attention on "and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (kjv)

I like the Amplified rendering of the passage, which says:

"Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us (purchase our freedom) from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people [to be peculiarly His own, people who are] eager and enthusiastic about [living a life that is good and filled with] beneficial deeds."

What I like about this translation are these things:

1) the explaining of "redeem us" by the parenthetical "purchase our freedom"
2) using the words "for himself" instead "unto himself"
3) "a people to be peculiarly His own" is superior to "a peculiar people"
4) "eager and enthusiastic" is better than "zealous"
5) the parenthetical thought "living a life that is good and filled with" helps bring out the meaning
6) "beneficial deeds" is better than "good works"

λυτρόω (Lutroo) "redeem" is in middle voice which indicates that the person who carries out the action (of redemption), i.e. the "redeemer," has a special interest in the transaction. He is both viewed as doing the redemptive work as well as the one for whose interest and benefit the work is done. Though the redeemed slave benefits, of course, from being redeemed, yet the Redeemer also is benefited by it, receiving the praise of his Father, of the holy angels, and of all redeemed humanity. It was all done with a view to the glory of the Son of God who chose to condescend to become man for the purpose of redemption.

As emphasized throughout this series, enslavement to sin is bondage, whereas enslavement to God is freedom. While we are enslaved to sin, while unconverted, we are "free" from God and righteousness, as Paul said: "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." (Rom. 6: 20 NKJV)

John Calvin in his Commentary wrote:

"Let us then remember that the Apostle still reasons on the principle of contraries, and in this manner, “While ye were the servants of sin, ye were freed from righteousness; but now a change having taken place, it behoves you to serve righteousness; for you have been liberated from the yoke of sin. He calls those free from righteousness who are held by no bridle to obey righteousness. This is the liberty of the flesh, which so frees us from obedience to God, that it makes us slaves to the devil. Wretched then and accursed is this liberty, which with unbridled or rather mad frenzy, leads us exultingly to our destruction."

"Righteousness" does not have dominion and control over the slave of sin. Sin is a shackle, but so is righteousness. The former binds and keeps men in their servitude to sin, the latter however binds and keeps them in their servitude to righteousness.

The slave of sin has no restraints from righteousness to hinder his movements in sin. All the restraints of his sin keep him from God, truth, and righteousness. All the restraints of righteousness, however, keep the slave of righteousness from Satan, error, and unrighteousness. One thing or the other will rule and dominate the lives of every sinner. Will it be sin or righteousness? God or the world? The flesh or the Spirit? Freedom, like bondage, are both relational. One may be free in regard to one thing but be in bondage in regard to another thing.

Those who are "redeemed" or "set free by purchase" are being delivered from "lawlessness." What is the essence of this "lawlessness"? Wrote one writer:

Lawlessness is living as though your own ideas are superior to God's.
Lawlessness says, "God may demand it but I don't prefer it."
Lawlessness says, "God may promise it but I don't want it."
Lawlessness replaces God's law with my contrary desires. I become a law to myself.
Lawlessness is rebellion against the right of God to make laws and govern His creatures. (Expositor's Greek - here)

Looking over these characteristics of lawlessness, we are able to see well how Satan first taught lawlessness to Eve in his encounter with her at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Purification & Possession

In redeeming from all lawlessness or iniquity, there must be

1) purification, for both body and soul, but chiefly for the latter, and
2) possessing of the "purchased possession," (taking ownership of the newly redeemed slave), and
3) equipping and making an enthusiastic servant out of the redeemed slave

The need for purification arises from the fact of moral filth and defilement. Sin makes us not only guilty but also unclean before a holy God. Purify is from the Greek word "katharizo" (from katharos) and denotes what is pure, cleansed, without stain or spot. We have English words derived from this Greek term, such as "catharsis" (emotional or physical purging), "cathartic" (substance used to induce a purging). Simply, the word means to "free from stains or shame" and "free from adulteration."

Says Expositor's Greek Testament:

"καθαρίσῃ ἑαυτῷ λαόν: This is a pregnant expression for “purify and so make them fit to be his people”. St. Paul has in mind Ezekiel 37:23, “I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.” 

Notice the progression in Paul's words to Titus (which are in harmony with Ezekiel):

1) redeemed (or freed by payment)
2) separation and release from lawlessness
3) purification
4) becoming God's people
5) becoming enthusiastic workers for the Lord

All these elements are part of the redemptive process.

In all purification or purging there is "riddance" and "separation." What was formerly a mixture of items (joined together as one) is divided or separated out. This separation is the essence of the purification process. In purifying metals or chemicals it is necessary that the "bond" that holds the elements together be broken.

Filth in all its forms adheres, is bonded to, or otherwise clings to the flesh. To remove it one must wash, bath, or be cleansed. Metaphorically speaking, moral filth in a like manner clings to the soul and spirit, to the heart and mind. In the words "redeemed from all iniquity" the Greek preposition "apo" (from) indicates effective removal from (or separation from).

Redemption has as one of its ends the cleansing of the redeemed slave. Slaves and prisoners, when they are first emancipated and released from their bondage, come forth with the filth of their confinement upon them (most prisons have historically been filthy places). They must be thoroughly cleansed and their filthy garments removed.

This purification is not done in an instant. It is true that first conversion brings a washing in the blood of Jesus (I John 1:7), and a "washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5: 26), but two things must be said about this cleansing, purging, or purification:

1) It is both objective and subjective, and
2) It is both a) instantaneous and complete and 2) linear and progressive.

Objective

- "legal purging" involving "expunging from the record" a person's sins (crimes)
- theological terms are "justification" (exoneration and "freedom" from prosecution) and "forgiveness"
- this is an instantaneous event and is complete

Subjective

- moral cleansing of the conscience, purifying of the heart by ridding it of "uncleanness" and guilt
- in theological terms this first occurs in regeneration (rebirth) and conversion and sanctification
- this is a linear or progressive experience

The cleansing of the believer, though begun in initial conversion, and is, in some respects, completed at that moment, yet is in other respects continuous in the life of the saint and is not completed till the soul enters heaven at death. Saints are daily and regularly being cleansed by the blood and word of the Lord.  Of this the scriptures are clear, and on this I will have a few more things to say as we look at how "redemption," via sanctification, is linear and progressive in the life of the released slave.

A People For His Own Possession

On the words in the KJV "purify unto himself a peculiar people" Spurgeon comments:

"The translation “peculiar people” is unfortunate, because “peculiar” has come to mean odd, strange, singular. The passage really means that believers are Christ’s own people, His choice and select portion. Saints are Christ’s crown jewels, His box of diamonds; His very, very, very own...He desires that you, who are being disciplined by his grace, should know that you are altogether His. You are Christ’s men. You are each one to feel, “I do not belong to the world; I do not belong to myself; I belong only to Christ. I am set aside by Him for Himself only, and His I will be.” The silver and the gold are His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills are His; but He makes small account of them, “the Lord’s portion is His people.” ("The Two Appearings and the Discipline of Grace")

Did Jesus die to make us “strange” or “queer” or “odd”? No, but he did die and does save sinners via conversion, thus making them his special people. Converts to Jesus no longer "belong" to Satan, nor to the world, to depravity, nor to self. Recall the words of the apostle to believers - "you are not your own," i.e. "you do not belong to yourself," but you belong to Christ, having been "bought with a price." (See I Cor. 6: 20)

The translation "peculiar people" does not justify anyone being a religious oddball in order to prove that he is holy or orthodox. The thought that the apostle wishes to convey to us is this: God's redeemed people are Christ's costly possession and His distinctive treasure. In other words, believers are those that belong in a special sense to Christ. Below are other translations for comparison, and which are superior to the KJV:

people to be peculiarly His own - Amplified
His own special possession - Analyzed Literal Translation
so that we can be His special people GWT
a people who are truly His - NET
a people that are his very own - NIV
His own special people - NKJV
a people of his own - Phillips paraphrase
a people as his own treasure - Rotherham
people who belong to Him alone - TEV
a people who should be specially His own - Weymouth
a people of His own private possession, - Wuest

Vincent's Word Studies says that "peculiar" is

"derived from peculium, a private purse, a special acquisition of a member of a family distinct from the property administered for the good of the whole family. Accordingly the sense is given in Ephesians 1:14, where believers are said to have been sealed εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν τῆς περιποιήσεως with a view to redemption of possession, or redemption which will give possession, thus = acquisition. So 1 Peter 2:9, where Christians are styled λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν a people for acquisition, to be acquired by God as his peculiar possession."

What I hope the reader sees is the fact that "redemption" involves finally "acquiring" or "taking possession" or "reclaiming" what had been disponed away or a repossessing of what are called "lost inheritances."

When does Christ "takes possession" of what he has purchased or redeemed? That is one of the chief questions we have been studying in this series. He first takes possession of the slaves that he has acquired by purchase in conversion. And, again, this action of "taking possession" of property can be viewed as both instantaneous and linear (progressive). By Christ's death on the cross, he paid the price of redemption, and immediately obtained legal title (ownership) of the slave. But, legal possession and actual possession are two different things.

Wrote F. B. Meyer:

"ἑαυτῷ corresponds with λυτρώσηται ἀπό. The sentence is pregnantly expressed, and its meaning is: “that He by the purifying power of His death might acquire for Himself (ἑαυτῷ) a people for a possession.” 

That I think is an excellent translation of the passage and brings out several important points involved in the work of redemption.

In I Peter 2: 9 we have another place where we find the words "a peculiar people." There again we have a misleading translation of the Greek term, as we have seen. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..."

As we compare the different English translations of this verse and consider the alternative meaning of the word peculiar, it becomes clear that "peculiar" in this verse also denotes that believers are a “special people.” This is because they were chosen from before the foundation of the earth to be “God’s own possession,” and purchased by Christ via his sacrificial death, and have been taken possession of in being born again. This is what makes them different from the world around them. Further, because they are being transformed by the indwelling Spirit, they are more and more being "taken over," or more and more fully possessed, influenced, and controlled.

Better translations say of I Peter 2:9 say:

"A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION" (NASB)
"His own special people" (NKJV)
"a people for his own possession" (RSV)
"a people belonging to God" (NIV)

Happy To Be His People

Those who have been redeemed by purchase and have become the special and treasured possession of Christ, are a cleansed people, a people who are no longer enslaved to moral depravity, but are happy and zealous in their new status as the people of God. To be "zealous of good works" is a sure result of having been redeemed. It is one of the objects of their having been redeemed.

"God's end in election," said Spurgeon, or "the end of all his purposes, is not answered until they become a people "zealous of good works.""("Good Works" delivered on March 16, 1856)

In Paul's letter to Titus, there are several references to doing good. We are told that a church leader is to be "a lover of what is good" (Titus 1:8). Christians are to be "zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14) and "ready for every good work" (Titus 3:1). Believers must "maintain good works" (Titus 3:8). Dorcas...was full of good works and charitable deeds. —Acts 9:36

When a slave is graciously freed by a redeemer or deliverer, he is sure to be thankful to the one who set him free, and be eager to please him, especially considering the severity of the bondage and the immense enjoyment of the freedom that a strong and kind Redeemer has brought. Anyone who truly appreciates this freedom in Christ will be eager to please their new master.

Good works do not mean that you must have been a soup kitchen worker at a place for feeding the poor, or that you put money in the collection plate, etc. These things are good, but they are not the only nor the chief good that redeemed sinners practice. The most important good works are daily activities that Christians do, often without conscious thought, it becoming more of a habit, such as praying, meditating, reading and studying the word of God, praising and worshipping, helping your neighbor, being a kind and wise father, brother, husband, friend, etc. These things are a delight to the new man who has been made the peculiar possession of the Lord Jesus.

 

Redemption (xv)

C. H. Spurgeon said - "Redemption is the top of covenant blessings." (comments on Psalm 130: 8 in Treasury of David) This is in agreement with other such statements made by others on the subject of the redemption or ransoming of sinners. Keeping this in mind, we proceed in this chapter with a continued focus on how sinners are redeemed when converted, and as they are progressively transformed in a life of sanctification.

Spurgeon also said:

"That word “redemption” sounds in my ears like a silver bell. We are ransomed, purchased back from slavery, and this at an immeasurable price; not merely by the obedience of Christ, nor the suffering of Christ, nor even the death of Christ, but by Christ’s giving Himself for us. All that there is in the great God and Savior was paid down that he might “redeem us from all iniquity.” The splendor of the Gospel lies in the redeeming sacrifice of the Son of God, and we shall never fail to put this to the front in our preaching. It is the gem of all the Gospel gems. As the moon is among the stars, so is this great doctrine among all the lesser lights which God hath kindled to make glad the night of fallen man. Paul never hesitates; he has a divine Savior and a divine redemption, and he preaches these with unwavering confidence. Oh that all preachers were like him!" (As cited here)

These words are pregnant with truth on this subject. Redemption is, as we have observed in our earlier chapters in this series, a "ransoming" or repurchasing of a slave by the payment of the stipulated price. And, according to Spurgeon, this act of payment by Christ shedding his blood, and with all that it entails, is the very "splendor of the Gospel." It is "the gem of all the Gospel gems." Yes, indeed! It must therefore be put "to the front in our preaching."

Our propositions are these:

1. The aim of redemption was to redeem, not merely from the penalty, but from the presence, control, and tyranny of iniquity.

2. Redemption has not been fully realized until what was intended to be effected by it has been accomplished.

3. Redemption is actualized or realized first in conversion, but is not then complete.

4. Redemption, denoting actual freedom from bondage, and restoration, is progressive.

5. Redemption is not complete till the body is resurrected and glorified with immortality.

Redemption is not realized until there has been a complete moral transformation of the soul and spirit, and until there has been a transformation of the body to fit it for immortality and eternal life.

Redemption, like salvation, is described in the scriptures by the use of all tenses; past, present, future. We have been saved and redeemed. We are being redeemed. We shall be redeemed.

Redemption Involves Moral Transformation

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2: 11-15)

Moral transformation is the end design in God's work of redemption. This is clearly seen in these words of the apostle. The "grace" or gospel of God brings salvation, and that results, when received, in being "taught" or "disciplined" progressively in regard to moral and spiritual life in Christ. Redemption, which is deliverance from the bondage of moral corruption and depravity is begun in conversion, continued in the life of the new born soul in sanctification, and is completed in "the day of redemption" when we experience "the redemption of our bodies," when the body is also transformed along with "the whole creation."

In commenting upon the words "redeemed from all iniquity" Whedon's Commentary  says: "The moralizing and sanctifying effect of Christ’s death is here alone specified, because it is the moral model of 1-10 that St. Paul is here illustrating."

Christ became the sacrificial lamb on the cross of Calvary, the new covenant altar of sacrifice. His sacrificial death and the blood of it, staining the cross, was in order to effect atonement and redemption. Redemption, as we have seen, sometimes refers to the transaction that takes place when the redeemer pays to the creditor the stipulated price for the redemption or deliverance of a slave or prisoner. But, redemption also sometimes refers to the actual experience of redemption by the slave or prisoner, to the time when he is freed from his bondage and loss, and when his possessions and rights are restored.

Sometimes, as in the text before us, both aspects of redemption seem to be in view, though the focus seems to be on complete redemption.

Redemption is the means to bring about justification (Romans 3: 24), something done for us, something objective; But it is also the means to bring about our complete sanctification (involving regeneration and continuous moral transformation), something done in us, something subjective. Whatever is lacking or incomplete in moral purity at death will be supplied and completed upon entering Paradise. Purification for the body will not occur until it is  glorified and immortalized in "the day of redemption."

The Greek words ινα λυτρωσηται (hina lutrōsētai) means “that he might set free by means of a ransom.” In this liberating of bond slaves the thing binding or imprisoning is "iniquity," (Greek "anomos") meaning lawlessness.

Redemption, like deliverance, involves being saved or redeemed "from" something as well as being saved or redeemed "to" something. This is true in both objective (legal) and subjective (experiential) aspects of redemption. In simplest terms these words of the apostle denote the release of someone held captive (prisoner, slave) on receipt of a ransom payment. As we have seen, the "ransom" was the technical term for money (or compensation) paid to "buy back" a slave or prisoner of war; but, the word "redeem" was never divorced in thought from the actual freeing or "releasing" of a slave or prisoner. Complete redemption necessitated actual or an experienced liberation, deliverance, and restoration.

Said Spurgeon:

"Paul looks upon recovery from sin as being a wonderful proof of divine grace. He does not talk about a kind of grace that would leave men in sin, and yet save them from its punishment. No, his salvation is salvation from sin. He does not talk about a free grace which winks at iniquity, and makes nothing of transgression, but of a greater grace by far, which denounces the iniquity and condemns the transgression, and then delivers the victim of it from the habit which has brought him into bondage."

To say a man is "redeemed" when he still has all his shackles binding him, and when he still has not been released or freed in the least degree from his confinement, is to betray an ignorance on this subject of redemption. To "redeem from iniquity" includes the idea of being saved from the shackles and prison of sin. The end purpose in redemption was to restore holiness and likeness (conformity) to Christ, whose "face" is the very "face" of the Father, and the very "face of God."

Octavius Winslow commented upon our text, said (emphasis mine):

"There is no victory over the indwelling power of sin, and there is no pardon for the guilt of sin, but as the soul deals with the blood of Christ. The great end of our dear Lord's death was to destroy the works of the devil. Sin is the great work of Satan. To overcome this, to break its power, subdue its dominion, repair its ruins, and release from its condemnation, the blessed Son of God suffered the ignominious death of the cross. All that bitter agony which He endured, all that mental suffering, the sorrow of His soul in the garden, the sufferings of His body on the cross--all was for sin.

See, then, the close and beautiful connection between the death of Christ--and the death of sin. All true sanctification comes through the cross! Seek it there. The cross brought into your soul by the eternal Spirit will be the death of your sins. Go to the cross! Oh, go to the cross of Jesus! In simplicity of faith, go with the strong corruption; go with the burden of guilt; go to the cross! You will find nothing but love there, nothing but welcome there, nothing but purity there. The precious blood of Jesus "cleanses us from all sin." And while you are kept low beneath the cross, your enemy dares not approach you, sin shall not have dominion over you, nor shall Satan, your accuser, condemn you!" (see here)

In the "DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION" by A.W Pink, we have these excellent words showing how redemption involves sanctifying the redeemed slave (emphasis mine):

"The salvation that Christ purchased for His people includes both justification and sanctification. The Lord Jesus saves not only from the guilt and penalty of sin, but from the power and pollution of it. Where there is genuine longing to be freed from the love of sin, there is a true desire for His salvation; but where there is no practical deliverance from the service of sin, then we are strangers to His saving grace. Christ came here to “Perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life” (Luk 1:72-75). It is by this we are to test or measure ourselves: are we serving Him “in holiness and righteousness”? If we are not, we have not been sanctified; and if we are unsanctified, we are none of His!" (pg. 20 - see here)

I think the scriptures are very clear on this point! So have our Calvinistic and Baptist forefathers except for some Hyper Calvinists, and other Antinomians.

Pink wrote:

"One principal end of the design of God in sending His Son into the world was to recover us unto that state of holiness that we had lost: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1Jo 3:8). Among the principal of the works of the devil was the infecting of our natures and persons with a principle of sin and enmity against God, and that evil work is not destroyed but by the introduction of a principle of holiness and obedience. The image of God in us was defaced by sin; the restoration of that image was one of the main purposes of Christ’s mediation. Christ’s great and ultimate design was to bring His people unto the enjoyment of God to His eternal Glory, and this can only be by grace and holiness, by which we are made “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col 1:12)." (pg. 28)

Along the same line Pink wrote:

"Now the exercise of Christ’s mediation is discharged under His threefold office. As to His priestly, the immediate effects were the making of satisfaction and reconciliation, but the mediate effects are our justification and sanctification: “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Ti 2:14)--no unholy people, then, have any sure evidence of an interest in Christ’s sacrifice."

"There are two things in sin inseparably connected and yet clearly distinguishable, namely, its criminality and its pollution." (pg. 41)

Yes, and "redemption" involves both salvation from the penalty (criminality) and from the pollution (moral depravity) of "anomia." To say a person is every way "redeemed" when he has not yet been converted or sanctified is to state a falsehood. Also, not even the redeemed souls in heaven can lay claim to having been fully redeemed, for their bodies wait their redemption in the coming "day of redemption."

Pink wrote:

"Fourth, scriptural sanctification is not something wholly objective in Christ, which is not in anywise in ourselves. In their revolt against sinless perfectionism, there have been some who have gone to an opposite extreme: Antinomians argue for a holiness in Christ which produces no radical change for the better in the Christian. This is another deceit of the devil, for a deceit it certainly is for anyone to imagine that the only holiness he has is in Christ. There is no such thing in reality as a perfect and inalienable standing in Christ that is divorced from heart purity and a personal walk in righteousness. What a flesh-pleasing dogma is it, that one act of faith in the Lord Jesus secures eternal immunity from condemnation and provides a lifelong license to wallow in sin. My reader, a faith that does not transform character and reform conduct is worthless. Saving faith is only proved to be genuine by bearing the blossoms of experimental godliness and the fruits of personal piety (Jam 2:17-26)." (pg. 47)

The "Primitive Baptists" (aka "hardshells") have had their troubles historically with the "no change" view of regeneration, and they are typically "Antinomian." Some in the "free grace movement" today, and those who oppose "Lordship salvation" and the "perseverance of the saints," also have a "regeneration" or "new birth" that produces no radical moral change.

Pink wrote:

"Once it be clearly perceived that God’s salvation is not only a rescue from the penalty of sin, but is as well, and chiefly, deliverance from the pollution and power of sin - ultimating in complete freedom from its very presence, there will be no difficulty in seeing that sanctification occupies a central place in the process. Alas that while there are many who think of Christ dying to secure their pardon, so few today consider Christ dying in order to renew their hearts, heal their souls, bring them unto obedience to God." (pg. 50)

This is exactly the truth that I have been laboring to prove in this treatise of redemption. Yes, we can sing "I have been redeemed" (past tense) because we look back to 1) Calvary and to the cross when and where the "redemption price" was paid in the blood of the innocent Lamb of God, and 2) the time when we were first converted and joined to Christ, when the Lord "broke the power of canceled sin." But, we can also sing "I am being redeemed" as well as "I will be redeemed."

Pink wrote:

"That one of the great ends of the death of Christ was the moral purification of His people is clear from many Scriptures. “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2Co 5:15); “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Ti 2:14); “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:14); “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness” (1Pe 2:24). From these passages it is abundantly plain that the purpose of the Savior in all that He did and suffered was not only to deliver His people from the penal consequences of their sins, but also to cleanse them from the pollution of sin, to free them from its enslaving power, to rectify their moral nature." (pg. 52)

From All Iniquity

Redemption payment having been made by Christ's blood, the next thing is to actually liberate the slave, bring him out of his state of bondage, and to bring him into the service of Christ. Redemption will deliver the slave “from all unlawfulness.” (ἀπὸ πάσης ἀνομίας). "Iniquity" being the translation of "a-nomos" where "nomos" means "law" and the negative article "a" denoting "lawlessness."

No one who has been converted to Christ will ever become completely obedient, or lawful, in this life. "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." (Eccl. 7:20)

Yes, after conversion, what characterizes him are such negatives as 1) does not "continue any longer in sin" or lawlessness (Rom. 6: 1,2), and 2) "walks not after the flesh" (Rom. 8: 1). Positively, he will "walk after the Spirit" (Rom. 8: 1) and the words "patient continuance in well doing" (Rom. 2: 7) will characterize him. He will daily be delivered and redeemed as he lives the Christian life and more and more appetite for sin will be removed from him, like filth is removed from the body or lint is removed from clothing. But, Christ redeems from "all" sin, iniquity, and lawlessness, so that, though all iniquity is not conquered in this life, yet all will be conquered in death for the soul when it escapes the body and enters the presence of the Lord. The body's deliverance awaits the "day of redemption."

Wrote Gill:

"that he might redeem us from all iniquity: sin brings into bondage and, slavery, redemption is a deliverance from it; sin binds guilt upon the sinner, and lays him under obligation to punishment, and renders him liable to the curse and condemnation of the law; Christ was made sin, and a curse for his people, that he might redeem them from both, and deliver them from the punishment due to sin; which he has done by bearing it in his own body on the tree, whereby he has redeemed them from all iniquity, that so it shall not be their ruin, or they come into condemnation on account of it; even from original sin, and from all actual transgressions; from all which his blood cleanses, and his righteousness justifies, and which God, for his sake, freely and fully forgives. Christ was called to this work by his Father, to which he agreed; and the plan of redemption being drawn in the everlasting council, and the whole adjusted and fixed in the covenant of peace; promises and prophecies were given out of it, and in the fulness of time Christ was sent, and came to effect it; and he has obtained eternal redemption for us, through the price of his own blood, which could have never been wrought out by any creature; and wherein all the divine perfections are glorified and is a plenteous and complete one; it includes in it, or connects with it, the blessings of justification, peace, pardon, adoption, and eternal life. It follows as another end of Christ's giving himself, or what is a branch of redemption, or consequent upon it."

I think it more as a "branch" or stage of redemption, rather than "consequent upon it." This is because, the latter expression implies that redemption is complete, and that redemption is not occurring now nor will it in the future. "The day of redemption" is not the day Christ died and provided the ransom but is the day of Christ's return.

 

Redemption (xiv)

The Philippian Jailer 

"And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." (Acts 16: 19-34)

The irony in this story is seen in the fact that the real or superlative prison was not the one in which Paul and Silas were then confined, within the city of Philippi, but is rather the spiritual prison into which all men are held, including the "jailor" or "keeper of the prison." Though the bodies of Paul and Silas were bound, their souls were not. On the other hand, the jailor (or jailer) was (ironically) the one who was in prison in his soul or spirit. It was this realization that brought the jailer to seek deliverance from his own spiritual bondage.

The earthquake was divinely caused and for the purpose (at least) of bringing the imprisoned soul of the jailer to freedom and making him into a slave or prisoner of Christ. The purpose behind the earthquake was not to liberate Paul and Silas and the other prisoners from their bodily confinement, which did not happen, but was rather to liberate the jailer by freeing his heart and soul from bondage to moral depravity. The shaking of the earth was in order that the jailer, or prison keeper, might have his depraved heart shaken, that his spirit might be set free from the powers of darkness. It is at this time that the jailer, a slave to sin, was "called to faith in the Lord." Wrote Paul:

"Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave." (I Cor. 7: 21-22)

Before the earthquake, the jailer was a "free person," not a prisoner in prison; And, not only was he not himself a prisoner, but he was the one who made sure the prisoners remained imprisoned! But, looking at the state of the soul of the jailer, prior to his earth shaking experience, he was not free, but was in a state of bondage to his depravity. He fit the description of "one who was free when called," being no slave or prisoner; Yet, when brought to faith in Christ he became "Christ's slave." It is when men are "called to faith in the Lord" that they become the slaves of Christ.

Wrote John Gill on this verse:

"is the Lord's freeman; he is free from sin, not from the being, but from the servitude, guilt, and damning power of it: he is free from Satan, not from his temptations and insults, but from his dominion and captivity; he is ransomed from him, by the redemption of Christ, and is turned from his power in conversion..." (Commentary)

This is what has been stressed in the several chapters on conversion. Conversion is actual redemption, the time when slaves and prisoners experience release and liberation from their confinement.

Wrote another commentator:

"Christ’s service is perfect freedom, and the Christian’s freedom is the service of Christ. But here the Apostle takes, in each case, one member of this double antithesis from the outer world, one from the spiritual. The (actual) slave is (spiritually) free: the (actually) free is a (spiritual) slave. So that the two are so mingled, in the Lord, that the slave need not trouble himself about his slavery, nor seek for this world’s freedom, seeing he has a more glorious freedom in Christ, and seeing also that his brethren who seem to be free in this world are in fact Christ’s servants, as he is a servant." (Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary)

Wrote Dr. Charles Hodge:

"The connection is with the first, not with the last clause of 1 Corinthians 7:21. ‘Care not for your bondage, for,' etc. He that is called in the Lord; or, as the words stand, ‘The slave called in the Lord.' That is, the converted slave. Is the Lord's freeman, i.e. is one whom the Lord has redeemed. The possession of that liberty with which Christ makes his people free, is so great a blessing, that all other things, even the condition of slavery, are comparatively of no account. Paul, in Romans 8:18-23 says that the afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glorious liberty of the sons of God, towards which the whole creation, now subject to vanity, looks with longing expectation. A man need care little about his external condition in this world, who is freed from the bondage of Satan, the curse of the law, the dominion of sin, and who is made a child and heir of God; that is, who is conformed to the image of his Son, and made a partaker of his exaltation and kingdom. Likewise also he that is called, being free, is the Lord's servant (i.e. slave, הןץ ͂ כןע). The distinction between master and slave is obliterated. To be the Lord's freeman, and to be the Lord's slave, are the same thing. The Lord's freeman is one whom the Lord has redeemed from Satan, and made his own; and the Lord's slave is also one whom Christ has purchased for himself. So that master and slave stand on the same level before Christ." (Comp. Ephesians 6:9)

Prior to being saved, the jailer was shackled and chained, metaphorically speaking. His heart and mind were chained by his depravity, and the chief yoke was that of unbelief.

The Chain Of Unbelief

In the previous chapter we cited from Spurgeon and his reference to the shackles and chains that bind the souls of men in their lost depraved state. The chiefest of these chains, these "icy chains," is that of "unbelief." Notice these scriptures on the sin of unbelief.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12 NKJV)

“So we see that they could not enter in (rest) because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19 NKJV)

“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness of himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.” (1 John 5:10 NKJV)

The reason why sinners will be condemned in the day of judgment is because "when I called you refused." Wrote Solomon about the call of Wisdom:

"Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you." (Proverbs 1: 23-27 kjv)

The Lord said that the Holy Spirit would "reprove the world of sin." This he does in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and thereby says to men "turn you (repent) at my reproof." The promise to the one who obeys and "turns" to the Lord in repentance in faith, as a result of being "called," is that they will have God's own "spirit" to be poured out upon them and will be made to know the words of the Lord. On the other hand, those who "refuse" the call, who do not "turn" at the reproof, who "set at naught" the gospel message, will suffer a mocking calamity, an everlasting destruction.

In the Apocalypse we are told that "all unbelievers" will "have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone." (Rev. 21: 8) Jesus said "he that does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16: 16)

In "The Great World Prison and the Liberator," C.H. Spurgeon said (emphasis mine):

"When I was preaching in Dover, England, the mayor of the town let us rent the old town hall for our service. As I was walking by the building, I noticed a large number of windows on the lower level with metal bars on them. These windows belonged to the prison cells where the prisoners were confined. It struck me as an unusual combination, that we would be preaching the gospel of liberty on one level of the building while there were prisoners of the law beneath us. Perhaps the prisoners heard us when we sang praises to God, but the words of freedom above did not give them liberty, nor did the words of the song free them from their bonds. What an accurate picture this is of many people. We preach liberty to captives and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, but how many remain year after year in the bondage of Satan, slaves to sin?

This little circumstance fixed itself in my mind and impressed itself upon me in my private meditations. I daydreamed that some angelic warden was leading me along the corridors of this great world prison. He asked me to look into the various cells where the prisoners were confined, and he kept reminding me, as I looked sorrowful, that it is God who sets the prisoners free. He who does justice unto the oppressed; who gives bread to the hungry. The LORD looses the prisoners (Psalm 146:7)."

Spurgeon also said:

"The first cell is called the common prison – the ward of sin. All people have been prisoners here. Those who today live in perfect liberty once wore the heavy chains and were confined within the dark walls....nothing but that iron door of unbelief that the prisoners persisted in shutting securely made it a prison at all....It was unbelief that shut the prisoners in..."

Unbelief is the damning sin.

Spurgeon said:

"I passed that cell and stopped at another. This one also had an iron gate of unbelief, as heavy and as huge as the one before.

For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from the heavens the LORD beheld the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death (Psalm 102:19-20).

I saw some of them trying to file their chains with rusty nails. Others endeavored to melt away the iron by dropping tears of remorse on it, but these poor men made little progress at their work. The warden told me that this was the chain of habit, and the ball that dragged behind was the old propensity to lust and sin. I asked him why they had not been able to get their chains knocked off. He said they had been trying a long time to get rid of them, but they could never do it the way they were trying, since the proper way to get rid of the chain of habit was, first of all, to get out of prison. The door of unbelief must be opened, and they must trust in the one great Deliverer, the Lord Jesus, whose pierced hands could open all prison doors. After that, their bonds could be broken off upon the anvil of grace, with the hammer of love."

Beautiful thought! - "bonds could be broken off upon the anvil of grace, with the hammer of love"! This hammering first occurs in conversion but it continues throughout the life of the newborn soul. God's word is a "hammer that breaks the rocks into pieces." (Jer. 23: 29) It breaks the hard heart and beats away the imperfections in the believer continuously in sanctification.

Spurgeon said:

"I mourned that there were so many who still loved this house of bondage and would not escape..."

Do we who have experienced liberation in Christ not weep for our lost loved ones who are still imprisoned in their sins?

Who would ever choose to be entangled with a “yoke of bondage” again? In the next chapter we will address that question. We will also begin to focus on how the believer is daily being redeemed in his sanctification and growth in Christ.

 

Redemption (xiii)

In the immediate preceding chapters we have been presenting the biblical description of the state of bondage that sinners know. They are slaves of their own depraved natures, serving "various lusts and pleasures" (Titus 3:3), "fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (Eph. 2:3), "whose god is their belly" (Phil. 3:19), etc. They are also prisoners in shackles, as Paul said - "But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin's power" (Romans 11:32). As previously cited, Meyer's commentary said, sin has "brought all into ward under sin...sin has them, as it were, under lock and key." Sinful man is shackled and possessed by a wicked spirit, just like the Gadarene demoniac that was referred to earlier.

Wrote the great John Gill in his "Of Redemption by Christ" (Body of Doctrinal Divinity):

"...redemption stands in the first place and is a principal and most important blessing and doctrine of grace..." (see here)

I trust that those who have followed me in this series can give a hearty amen to this affirmation of the great doctor of theology.

Emancipation Of Sin's Prisoners

"I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (Isa. 42: 6-7)

"Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places." (Isa. 49: 8-9)

Remember that this deliverance from prison is a case of redemption. This fact in seen in the popular movie "Shawshank Redemption," involving several elements of "redemption" as it involves prisoners.

First, there was deliverance, or an "escaping" (it hardly can be called a "release"); Although in this case the one redeemed effected his own deliverance or redemption by his own wit, will, and perseverance (unlike redemption by Christ). Second, there was "vindication" of the prisoner, a setting things right as regards justice, against a tyrannical warden. Third, there was "restoration" of lost fortunes via his deliverance and redemption. Thus, in these ways, Andy Dufresne, the escaped prisoner in the movie, experienced "redemption."

This deliverance from the bondage of sin or "bondage of corruption/depravity" to freedom in Christ occurs first in conversion, when a soul is "set free" from both the penalty of the law (justification) and from the tyrannical governing power of sin (transformation begun). Through the preaching of the gospel the Spirit brings sinners to faith and repentance and thus "breaks the power of canceled sin." In the gospel sinners imprisoned by their moral depravity are called to "go forth." Some who are called to this freedom reject the call, however, to their own loss.

As we have shown in previous postings, originally, "redemption" often denoted the payment of a price to secure the release of a prisoner of war. The word also came to be used of the release of a slave and sometimes of a person under sentence of death (Exod. 21:28-30). Redemption always means the payment of a price to secure release as well as the actual release of the prisoner or slave.

Commenting upon Isaiah 42:7, one of the passages cited at the head of this chapter, Dr. Gill wrote the following in his commentary:

To open the blind eyes - Of the idolatrous Gentiles, who were spiritually blind, and knew not the wretchedness of their case; the exceeding sinfulness of sin; their need of a Saviour, and who he was; as they did, when their eyes were opened by means of the Gospel sent among them, through the energy of the divine Spirit; for this is a work of almighty power and efficacious grace: to bring out the prisoners from the prison;

who were concluded in sin, shut up in unbelief, and under the law, the captives of Satan, and held fast prisoners by him and their own lusts, under the dominion of which they were: and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house: of sin, Satan, and the law; being under which, they were in a state of darkness and ignorance as to things divine and spiritual. The allusion is to prisons, which are commonly dark places.

Commenting upon Isaiah 49: 9 he wrote:

That thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth - God's covenant people, while unconverted, are prisoners; they are in the prison of sin, under the power and dominion of it, and under the guilt of it, and obligation to punishment for it; and they are in the prison of the law, they are transgressors of it, and are accused and convicted by it, and are condemned, and put in prison, and held there; and they are also Satan's prisoners, and are held and led captive by him at his will; and by virtue of the covenant, and the blood of it, these prisoners are set free; and Christ in the Gospel speaks unto them, and proclaims liberty to them; and by the knowledge of the truth they are made free, and are brought into the liberty of the children of God; and are bid to go forth, and they are brought forth from their prison houses; and bid to go to the house of God, and walk at liberty, enjoying all the privileges and ordinances of the Gospel: to them that are in darkness...in a state of nature and unregeneracy, which is a state of infidelity and ignorance; when men are in the dark, and know not themselves, nor their lost state and condition; nor the exceeding sinfulness of sin; nor Christ, and the way of salvation by him; nor the Spirit, and the operations of his grace; nor the Scriptures, and the doctrines of them..."

The experience of redemption occurs first in conversion and is continuously experienced in greater length as the believer is progressively transformed into the image of Christ in sanctification.

Debtor's Prisons

Wrote Gill:

"The buying again of an Israelite, waxen poor, and sold to another, by any near akin to him; is a lively representation of the purchase and redemption of the Lord's poor people, #Le 25:47-49 who, in a state of nature, are poor, and wretched, and miserable; even so as to be like beggars on the dunghill; when such was the grace of Christ, who, though rich, for their sakes became poor, that they, through his poverty might be made rich; and to such a degree, as to be raised from the dunghill and sit among princes, and inherit the throne of glory. Though some may not sell themselves to work wickedness, as Ahab did, yet all are sold under sin; for if this was the case of the apostle Paul, though regenerate, much more must it be the case of an unregenerate man; who, through sin, is brought into subjection to it, a servant of it, and a slave to it; as the poor Israelite, sold to a stranger, was a bondman to him: and such an one cannot redeem himself, being without strength, unable to fulfil the law, and to make atonement for sin; nor can any of his friends, though ever so rich, redeem him, or give to God a ransom for him; such may redeem a poor relation, or friend from a prison, by paying his pecuniary debts for him; but cannot redeem his soul from hell and destruction; may give a ransom price to man for one in slavery and bondage; but cannot give to God a ransom to deliver from wrath to come: only Christ, the near Kinsman of his people, can do this, and has done it; he that is their "Gaol", their near "Kinsman", partaker of the same flesh and blood with them, is their Redeemer, who has given himself a ransom for them."

Debtor's prisons were outlawed in this country in 1833 and for good reason. (Note: sadly, they are making a comeback in this country! But, that is another story) But, throughout the history of the world there has been many a person who spent much, if not all, of their lives in prison for not being able to pay a debt. This certainly was true in Jesus' day. (See for instance Matt. 18: 23-33)

When a sinner turns to the Lord in repentance and faith, his sins are immediately discharged or forgiven. This is what the apostles preached everywhere to every man. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3: 19 KJV).

Gill continued:

"The delivery of a debtor from prison, by paying his debts for him, is an emblem of deliverance and redemption by Christ: a man that is in debt, is liable to be arrested, and cast into prison, as is often the case; where he must lie till the debt his discharged, by himself or another: sins are debts; and a sinner owes more than ten thousand talents, and has nothing to pay; he cannot answer to the justice of God for one debt of a thousand; nor can he, by paying a debt of obedience he owes to God, pay off one debt of sin, or obligation to punishment; and so is liable to a prison, and is in one; is concluded under sin, under the guilt of it, which exposes him to punishment; and he is held with the cords and fetters of it; which he cannot loose himself from; and he is shut up under the law, in which he is held, until delivered and released by Christ; who, as he has engaged to pay the debts of his people, has paid them, cleared the whole score, and blotted out the hand writing that was against them; in consequence of which is proclaimed, in the gospel, liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; and in the effectual calling Christ says "to the prisoners", "Go forth", opening the prison doors for them; and to them that sit in darkness, in the gloomy cells of the prison, "show yourselves"; all which is done in virtue of the redemption price paid by Christ for his people."

Deliverance from debtor prison is a case of redemption.

Gill continued:

"...redemption by Christ is nothing more nor less than buying his people out of the hands of justice, in which they are held for sin; and that is with the price of his blood and in virtue of this they are delivered from the dominion of sin; for though this is done in the effectual calling, by the power of divine grace, it is in virtue of redemption by Christ, by whom sin is crucified, and the body of it destroyed; so that it shall not reign in them, or have dominion over them: one branch of redemption lies in being delivered from a vain conversation; and, ere long, the redeemed shall be delivered from the very being of sin; when their redemption, as to the application of it, will be complete; as it will be in the resurrection; when the soul will not only be among the spirits of just men made perfect; but the body will be clear of sin, mortality, and death; which is called redemption that draws near, the redemption of the body waited for, and the day of redemption, #Lu 21:28 Ro 8:23 Eph 1:14 4:30."

Notice that Gill says that deliverance from a vain conversation is "one branch of redemption." This is the very point I have been stressing in the past few chapters in this series.

Prisoners Of Hope

"As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man." (Zech. 9:11-13)

In preaching upon these verses the venerable C.H. Spurgeon said:

"Do all of you, dear friends, know anything about the pit wherein is no water? Were you ever conscious of being in it? Regarding it as a state of spiritual distress, do you understand what it means to be in such a comfortless condition? It was a common custom, in the past, to put prisoners into deep pits which had been dug in the earth. The sides were usually steep and perpendicular—and the prisoner who was dropped down into such a pit must remain there without any hope of escape. According to our text, there was no water there, and, apparently, no food of any kind. The objective of the captors was to leave the prisoner there to be forgotten as a dead man out of mind. Have you ever, in your experience, realized anything like that? There was a time, with some of us, when we suddenly woke up to find that all our fancied goodness had vanished, that all our hopes had perished, and that we, ourselves, were in the comfortless condition of men in a pit without even a single drop of water to mitigate our burning thirst!...If I sought after water in my comfortless condition, I only found myself to be more intensely eaten up with thirst! Do you know what all this means? You need to know it, for this is the condition into which God usually brings His children before He reveals Himself to them!"

Spurgeon continued:

"The condition of being shut up in a pit wherein is no water is not only comfortless, but it is also hopeless. How can such a prisoner escape? He looks up out of the pit, and sees, far above him, a little circle of light, but he knows that it is impossible for him to climb up there. Perhaps he attempts it, but, if so, he falls back and injures himself—and there must he lie, out of sight, and out of hearing, at the bottom of that deep pit—with none to help him, and quite unable to help himself. Such is the condition into which an awakened conscience brings a man. He sees himself to be lost through his sin, and he discovers that the law of God is so intensely severe—though not unduly so—and the justice of God is so stern, though not too stern—that he cannot possibly hope for any help from them in his efforts to escape out of the pit in which he lies fallen as a helpless, hopeless prisoner!"

Spurgeon, like his predecessor, believed that it is in being converted that a sinner experiences his coming out of the prison of sin. Spurgeon also said - "But concerning those who have believed in Jesus, our text is true, and God can say, “I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.”

Spurgeon said further:

"There is this further comfort that if He has set us free, we are free indeed. It is only God who can deliver a conscience in bondage—and when it is delivered by Him, it need not be afraid of being dragged back to prison anymore. If a criminal breaks out of his cell, and is found at any time by the officers of the law, he may be arrested, and taken back to prison. But if the sovereign of the realm has set him free, he is not afraid of all the policemen in the world! He walks about the streets as a man who has a right to his liberty because of the authority which has granted it to him. Now, believer, God has brought you up out of all your trouble because of your sin. He has delivered you from all sense of guilt concerning it, and as He has done it, you are not afraid that it has been done unjustly, and you are, therefore, not afraid that you will be re-committed to prison..."

In our next entry we will continue looking at present redemption via conversion and sanctification.

 

Redemption (xii)

In this chapter in our series on "Redemption" we will continue to discuss how the sinner is "redeemed" from sin's slavery and imprisonment when he is converted to Christ and made his willing and obedient slave; And, having chiefly discussed how the Father and Son are "redeemers," we have begun to look at the work of the Spirit as a "goel," in conversion and sanctification.

Dr. Clark H. Pinnock under the sub heading "Neglect of the Redemptive Dimension" (see here) wrote (emphasis mine):

"The work of the Spirit in redemption has not suffered the degree of neglect that it has in relation to creation. Certain aspects have been regularly noted and widely discussed: for example, the Spirit’s work of revelation, regeneration, sanctification, ecclesiology, gifting, etc. Such topics receive lots of attention and rightly so. If the Spirit is the power of creation, it is even more obviously the power of redemption. Indeed the two themes are interconnected. By the power of the Spirit, God both creates the world and moves it along to consummation. The church understands well that the Spirit is paramount in the order of grace. Nevertheless, certain aspects of Spirit in relation to redemption do not often appear in theology: for example, the centrality of the Spirit in relation to the mission of Jesus is seldom noted, except in relation to the issue of our own empowerment. As far as Christology is concerned, one gets the impression that the Spirit is a junior partner and of much less importance for the work of redemption than Jesus. The atonement, too, is normally discussed in quasi-legal terms with little attention being given to its participatory and representative aspects. We hear much more about Christ’s work for us than about his work with us and in us. We hear more about salvation as a change of status than as union with God by the Spirit. There does seem to be at least some neglect of the Spirit’s role in redemption and with it (happily) a promise of fresh insight."

These are keen observations about the Spirit's work in creation and redemption. I agree that there is indeed "some neglect of the Spirit's role in redemption" in the minds of many bible students and thus the reason for this series on the subject. We do indeed need "fresh insight" into this glorious subject. It is the Spirit's role in redemption via conversion and sanctification that has been our focus in the immediate preceding chapters and this focus will be continued in this chapter.

The observation about the relation between the Spirit's work in creation and redemption is worth contemplating. In this series we have focused on this very point at times, arguing that "creation is unto redemption," or is a means unto redemption, as Paul affirmed in Ephesians 3.

I also agree with Pinnock that there is, among many Christians, more emphasis about "Christ's work for us than about his work with us and in us," and more about "salvation as a change of status than as union with God by the Spirit." Redemption, as we have seen, involves both objective and subjective aspects. Christ pays the redemption price "for us," but redemption is not experienced by the enslaved sinner till he is actually set free, till the Spirit works "in us."

In the preceding chapters we have seen how redemption involves delivering slaves and prisoners from their bondage and that this occurs first in conversion. It is in conversion that a sinner is freed from the slavery of sin and made a slave of Christ. Believers go from being prisoners of the law, and of sin, and of Satan, to being prisoners of Christ, of his word, and of truth and righteousness. This is when the chains of sin are removed from the sinner and he is "set free," let out of prison as it were. This is when a sinner's "master" is changed. Once he was the slave of master Sin, but now the slave of master Christ. It is a time when the sinner comes out from under "the yoke of bondage" and freely comes under "the yoke of Christ."

Redemption From The Slave Yoke

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal.5:1)

There are several kinds of "yokes" in the bible. Some were designed for animals, chiefly oxen, and some for humans, especially for slaves and prisoners. Some yokes were designed for a pair of oxen. Thus the Apostle Paul spoke of "the unequal yoke" in connection with partnerships between believers and unbelievers (II Corinthians 6:14). Thus in the OT we read: "Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together." (Duet. 22:10) Cattle were unequally yoked together when ox and ass were drawing the same plough.

Yokes for humans were generally singular, however. Of this kind Paul referred to in these words: "Let as many servants (slaves) as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." (I Tim. 6:1)

In Hosea there is reference to "the yoke on their jaws." (Hos 11:4) This we might call a "harness" today. There were yokes of wood and yokes of iron, the latter being worse for the one yoked. (Jer. 27:2)

In the New Testament the word "yoke" is used to denote bondage and servitude (Matt. 11:29, 30; Acts 15:10; Gal. 5:1). The prophet spoke of the disobedient Israelites being brought into bondage by this metaphor saying that the nation's "neck" would be brought "under the yoke of the king of Babylon" (Jeremiah 27:8). In becoming slaves and prisoners of the heathen king, the nation had a yoke around it's neck, denoting not only what is extremely burdensome, but what most often signifies a state of "hard bondage," the kind the nation had first experienced in Egypt.

Sin or moral depravity is a "yoke." Trying to find salvation outside of Christ is a heavy burden. It is truly "hard labor," the kind that slaves and prisoners know. Wrote Solomon - "the way of the transgressor is hard." (Prov. 13: 15) The Bible says, “The way of peace have they not known” (Romans 3:17). “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21). Expecting to get happiness from sin? Said Spurgeon:

"It must not be forgotten that some ungodly men expend a deal of labour to gratify their evil desires. The way to hell may be down-hill, but it is not all smooth. There are hill Difficulties even for the ungodly. “The way of transgressors is hard.” Hence the Saviour says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,” for sinners labour, and their sins prove to be a heavy burden. The same Hebrew word, and the same Greek word, stands both for “labouring,” and for “sin,” for sinning is often hard; as the prophet says, “The people labour in the very fire, and weary themselves for vanity.” Though men call sin pleasure, who does not know that it often jades and fags the man worse than the hardest toil! How the proud man toils for honour! How the miser pinches himself for gold! How the thief exhausts his ingenuity to get at another man’s wealth! How hard is the harlot’s drudgery! How heavy is the yoke of Satan!" (Travelling Expenses on the Two Great Roads - see here)

In his sermon "The Two Yokes" (here) Spurgeon said:

"ALL THROUGH THE BOOK of Jeremiah you will observe that the prophet taught the people not only by words, but by symbols. At one time he took his mantle and hid it in the earth till it was soiled and worn, and then taught them something by wearing it. At another time he took an earthen pot and broke it in their presence. And on this occasion he put a yoke about his own neck as the token that Israel should be subdued beneath the power of Nebuchadnezzar.

With this, by way of preliminary observation, we will now come to the text, and endeavor to make some use of it for ourselves. Hananiah took off the symbolic yoke, the wooden yoke, from Jeremiah's neck and broke it. Jeremiah comes again, and says, "You have broken the yoke of wood, but God has commanded that ye shall now wear yokes of iron." They were not benefited, therefore, by the change, but the reverse. This is suggestive of a broad principle. From the symbol, which was applicable in one case, we draw a general truth. Whenever men say of God, "Let us break his bands asunder, and cast his cords from us," they may do so if they will; but instead of the yokes of wood they will be sure to get yokes of iron. If they will not submit to the government of Christ, they will have to submit to the tyranny of Satan. Some yoke they will have to wear, and if they reject the easy yoke of the Christ of God, the wooden yoke as it were which he puts on men, there shall be made for them yokes of iron, which they shall neither be able to break off nor yet to support."

"So our thought will run this way. First, that men must wear some yoke or other; and, secondly, that the yoke of Christ is a very easy one; and, thirdly, that when it is refused, it is inevitable that men should wear a heavier one."

Spurgeon, elaborating on the hard labor of sin's service, said:

"We serve ourselves, and oh, the slavery of serving one's self! He that makes his belly his god, and bows down to the lusts of the flesh, serves a tyrant indeed. Something or other we must serve, not only because we are dependent creatures, but also it seems to be stamped upon us that we must follow some great principle, and must yield ourselves to some spiritual influence. A yoke of some kind or another we must submit to. The man who shall say, "I am perfectly free, and I live for nothing but myself," is so mean an animal, that he is hardly worthy to be called a man."

Said Spurgeon again:

"THOSE WHO REFUSE TO WEAR THE EASY YOKE OF CHRIST WILL HAVE TO WEAR A WORSE ONE. "Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron."

Observe! Adam wore an easy yoke in Paradise: he broke it. Himself and his posterity have had to wear yokes of iron ever since.

Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

And look at self-righteous men and women who try to work their own way to heaven. The Pharisees of old-what a slavery their life was! Any man who is seeking to be saved by his good works makes himself a slave. He must know in his conscience that his good works are imperfect, and therefore he has no title, no sure, clear title to heaven. Only the man who takes Christ to be his wisdom, his righteousness, his justification, his redemption, his all and in all-knows that he is saved; but he that getteth Christ hath all that God asks of him, he hath his sins punished in his Savior, he hath had the law fulfilled by his Savior, and he is thus saved. Those who will not have Christ, put upon their necks a horrible yoke. Oh, beware of superstition; beware of self-righteousness! These are iron yokes indeed.

Still giving but a word to each case, we have hearers who, when they listen to the word, are haunted with reproach, but never softened with repentance, because of their sins. They go on hardening their necks and persevering in their iniquities. Impenitent sinner, mark this word. The day will come when inasmuch as thou hast rejected the easy yoke of repentance, thou wilt have to bear the iron yoke of remorse. A man under remorse in this world is a dreadful sight. Horrified with the past and alarmed with the future, yet having knees so stubborn that they will not bow, and blood-shot eyes that will not weep; because, alas! his heart is like to adamant that cannot feel. Of all the pangs convinced and repentant sinners bear, there are none so dreadful as the gloomy torment of remorse."

Oh that sinners would be awakened to the truth that "men who seek their own pleasure put upon themselves a yoke of iron"! 

"The general principle running through every case is, that he who rejects the yoke of Christ bows his neck to something worse by far."

Well, amen to that! Thank God we "serve the Lord Christ"! (Col. 3: 24)