Slowly, very slowly, does this mighty truth grip us. “Redeemed,” “bought,” “ransomed,” are words familiar to us all, but how little we sometimes appreciate what flows out of them! In eternity we shall come to know and happily acknowledge what redemption means, and what it is to be “bought with a price.” In the meantime, it is a wise thing to lay the matter deeply to heart, and to seek special help from God, that, with spirit, soul and body redeemed, we may love and serve Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.
In Psalm 100, we have this subject beautifully alluded to in connection with our creation: “Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.” Sin severed the connection but could not destroy the obligation; and now infinite grace restores the connection and doubles the obligation, thus giving to us “double” for all our sin. This double tie of creation and redemption binds us to God as those restored to Him and created anew in His image. But it is the redemption tie only that Paul contemplates, as if the creation link were swallowed up in it, when he says, “Ye are not your own: for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God . . .” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
It is this truth that will maintain the lowliness of saints in the midst of eternal glories such as angels never knew, and will preclude all possibility of pride, even in the very precincts of the Throne of God. There can be no pride where redemption is clearly apprehended, and there can be no self-will when the ransom price of our atonement is fully realized. Pentecost brought the power of the cross so to bear on everyone and on everything, that no one then said that anything he possessed was his own. Person, possessions, time, talents, all were seen as belonging to Another. Thus also did Paul fully surrender himself after he was brought into the light as he went to Damascus. He then began the fight, he commenced his course, he laid hold on the faith; and when his martyr’s crown was in view he was able to say, “I have fought the fight,” and gained the victory; “I have finished the course,” abiding by the rules; “I have kept the faith,” and not given up anything that was committed to my charge.
Redemption of the person involves all belonging to it, and a redeemed life means redeemed years and redeemed moments. Let the blood and its claims mark all, and the object constantly before our minds will no longer be self, but God. God’s claim will then be recognized, rejoiced in, gloried in; and the soul’s highest liberty will be found in doing the will of God. In proportion as Christ is known, and the mighty work He has accomplished in us is understood, so shall we realize what this liberty is. Made free by the Son, we shall be “free indeed.” This is the law of liberty, the law of the new life spoken of in James 2:12.
But “ye are not your own” contains not only a reminder of the position we stand in towards God, but also of the relation in which God has placed Himself towards us. It contains a precept, but it also contains a promise — an infinite promise of help, of protection, and of grace. The One “whose we are” exercises almighty love and will cause all to work together for the good of those who are His. The infinite price that God has paid for us attaches an infinite value to that which He has purchased. If this were more appreciated by us, our unbelieving doubts would give way to a firmer and bolder faith. In the consciousness of the betrothal of divine love, we would know what it is to say, “My God,” and what it is to hear Him say, “My people.” The object of life here would then be that which it shall be through eternity, to “glorify God,” and to fulfill His desire in redeeming us — that we should be unto Him “for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory” (Jer. 13:11). Then we would understand our Lord’s words, “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are” (John 17:22).