Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Text/SMS
Answer
The apostle Peter stressed the extreme value and enduring nature of our redemption through Jesus Christ, stating that we “were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18–19, NKJV).
In the original Greek, the word translated as “you were redeemed” (elytrōthēte) in 1 Peter 1:18 means that believers were “liberated or released by the payment of a price or ransom.” The Jews in Peter’s audience would understand the concept of redemption through the lens of their deliverance from Egypt. Redemption is seen in the Passover and the Jewish system of substitutionary sacrifices (see Exodus 12:1–51; cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7). The Gentiles might comprehend redemption as the payment for a slave to be set free. The New Living Translation illuminates these ideas: “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” (1 Peter 1:18–19, NLT).
Jesus Himself said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, NLT; see also 1 Corinthians 6:20; Galatians 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:6). The death of Jesus Christ on the cross paid the ransom price for our spiritual deliverance from our old, empty way of life. Before salvation, we were slaves to sin (2 Peter 2:19; Titus 3:3), but Christ satisfied our debt to set us free (John 8:31–36; Romans 8:1–2; Colossians 1:13–14).
Jesus paid for our freedom, not with “corruptible things” (NKJV) or “perishable things” (ESV, NIV)—that is, nothing subject to decay. In New Testament times, silver and gold were coins used as currency to buy and sell. They were considered decaying commodities or “corruptible things” because they had no eternal value. Money and currency only have worth in this life on earth.
A little later, Peter states that our salvation is “not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). The cost of our redemption and salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ cannot be valued in terms of money or precious metals. These corruptible things will one day burn up, but we who are born again by the Spirit of God will live forever (John 1:13; 1 Corinthians 9:25; 1 Corinthians 15:53–54; cf. Revelation 20:14–15; Matthew 13:42–43, 50).
Though valuable, earthly possessions and worldly treasures are ultimately transient and cannot attain the eternal salvation of our souls. Instead, our redemption is secured only by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (Psalm 49:7–9, 15). As the perfect sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 9:12–14), Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross is of infinite worth and permanence.
The central message to believers in 1 Peter 1 is to stay strong and stay the course because “we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay” (Peter 1:4, NLT). We must cultivate holiness and not squander our time living recklessly. We may have to endure hardship and suffering just as Jesus did (1 Peter 2:22–24). But God raised Jesus to glory (1 Peter 1:21), and He will likewise raise us, too (1 Corinthians 6:14). We have been redeemed with an incorruptible ransom. Jesus paid with His precious, eternal-life-giving blood. Thanks to His death and resurrection, we can confidently anticipate the eternal hope of heaven.
No amount of silver and gold can free a lost sinner (see Acts 8:20). We can never be redeemed with corruptible things such as these. But because of God’s great love for us and His immeasurable grace, we have been given the most precious gift of all—the enduring and incorruptible sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His Son (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 9:15).
