A note from our Pastor:

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”

Colossians 1:14

Good Morning Dearly Beloved,

In our study verse this week, the Apostle Paul adds another thought to his building lesson. In the prior verse, he told the saints that we have been translated from a kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of light. In this verse, the Apostle explores themes of redemption with implications on repentance.

First, the Apostle focuses on the subject of redemption. Redemption of the elect of God includes many complex theological concepts for which there is not time or space in this venue to discuss. At a high level though, eternal salvation can be thought of as happening in two steps. The first step was the covenant aspect. The covenant, executed before the creation of the world, was essentially a contract that God made with himself. It outlined the details of salvation including who would be saved and how salvation would occur.

The second phase of eternal salvation is the legal work to execute the contract. Consider it in these terms, if you sign a contract for a service to be performed that contract is binding. But the benefit of that contract is not fulfilled until it is executed and the service is provided. In the same fashion, the covenant made before creation was sure as it was made by God who cannot lie. But it took the legal work of the death of Christ to execute that contract. Thus, the Apostle says the children of God have redemption through the blood of Christ.

The second half of this verse is important for the believer in Christ to understand. The Apostle establishes that the children of God have redemption through the death and resurrection of Christ. But then he also says we have forgiveness of sins. In theory, God could have chosen to secure redemption for his people but then placed a burden on them to continually seek forgiveness of their sins. Many Christian viewpoints essentially teach this approach. But that is not the truth of the scriptures.

Rather, the Apostle says that Christ secured the forgiveness of sins (all sins) for his people. What does this mean? It means that the disciples are not responsible for coming to God and continually seeking forgiveness for the sins they will inherently commit. So what is the point of repentance? It is not to seek forgiveness, but rather to recognize your sins and to seek to reconcile your life with God’s teachings. This view of repentance replaces the guilt of asking for forgiveness with the hope of experiencing joy.

Our Prayers are with you daily,

Brother Jeremiah