to be understood in its strict sense, viz. deliverance by ransom ; because this particular mode of redemption is always either expressed or implied. We are re- deemed neither by power, nor truth, but by blood ; that is, by the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. <A sacrifice is a ransom, as to its effect. It delivers those for whom it is offered and accepted. The words διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ, by his blood, are explanatory of the words in whom. In whom, i. e. by means of his blood. They serve to explain the method in which Christ redeems. —
The redemption of which the apostle here speaks is not the inward deliverance from sin, but it is an outward work, viz. the forgiveness of sins, as the words τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων necessarily mean. It is true this is not the whole of redemption, but it is all the sacred writer here brings into view, because for- giveness is the immediate end of expiation. Though this clause is in apposition with the preceding, it is by no means coextensive with it. So in Rom. 8, 23, where believers are said to be waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, the two clauses are not coextensive in meaning. The redemption of the body does not exhaust the idea of adoption. Nei- ther in this passage does the forgiveness of sin exhaust the idea of redemption. This passage is often quoted in controversy to prove that justification is merely pardon.
This redemption is not only gratuitous, but it is, in all its circumstances, an exhibition and therefore a