Bought at a Price

The term redemption means “to buy back.” We were slaves, exposed for sale in Satan’s slave market. The apostle Paul said, “I am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). In the Roman culture of his day, to sell somebody as a slave was to sell him under a spear. He would stand on a block with a spear extended out over his head. When you saw him standing there like that, you knew that he was being sold as a slave.

Paul was saying in this statement, “My sin is the spear over my head, which has caused me to be sold as a slave in the slave market.” And there, too, were we — all of us, sold with Paul as slaves because of our sins.

But one day, Jesus walked into the market and said, “I’ll buy them.” What’s the price? The blood of Jesus. We were bought out of Satan’s kingdom and brought into God’s kingdom.

A slave has no choice about the type of job that he or she will perform for his or her master. One slave may be a cook, another a prostitute—it is the slave owner’s decision. That is how we were. Some may have been respectable slaves, but they were no better than those who were not so respectable. Do not despise prostitutes or alcoholics, for it was the slave owner’s decision that made them what they are. Satan decided what they would be, but Jesus’ blood breaks his hold and sets them free from the devil’s designs.