Grow Your Vocabulary: Devotions From Time Of GraceShembull

Redemption The world of the Roman Empire, in which Christ and the apostles lived and carried out their saving ministry, was just as thick with slavery as pre-1865 America. The slave population continuously swelled because of the steady influx of military captives and insolvent debtors. At least in the Roman system slaves could be redeemed if someone could pay the stiff ransom price, in the neighborhood of 500 denarii (a denarius was the equivalent of a day’s wage for a workingman). Scripture teaches that we are all born into bondage, the slavery of sin. But here’s the terrible difference--the Roman slaves could accumulate money and buy their way out. We can’t. Money won’t pay for our sins, and neither will our good intentions, religious observances, sacrificial acts, self-justification, excuses, blaming, or earnest efforts. Our only hope is that God himself would find a way to make the ransom payment. So great was the Father’s love for his lost children that he did find a way. He blamed, punished, and executed his own Son in our place, and in this way the payment was made in full. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7). This is the very heart of the gospel message. There’s only a little time left--believe it! Share it!