Ephesians 1:7 - We have redemption

1:7

We now learn how this grace has worked out. We have redemption through His blood. Then Paul emphasises that this means the forgiveness of our sins. Redemption implies that once we were in captivity or slavery, but we have now been set free. This setting free involved a payment, and this payment was the blood of Jesus. There has been debate over the years over who the redemption was paid to. We must reject the idea that the redemption was paid to the devil. We have been set free from any hold he might have over us, but the redemption was not paid to him. Our sin was against God, and it is God who expelled us from the Garden of Eden. He handed us over to death. The blood was paid for our sins, as David says in Psalm 51:4 “Against you, and you only, have I sinned”. This was all done “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”. All notions of “cosmic child abuse” and lesser expression of the same gross misunderstanding are complete nonsense and do nothing other than demonstrate utter ignorance of the Bible. The cross was a joint enterprise between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was the greatest act of grace. God’s Son paid the penalty for sin that we should have paid (but were unable to do so).