trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence , 9 having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Him 10 unto a dispensation of the fulness of the seasons, to sum up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; in Him, I say , 11 in Whom we were also made GOD'S portion, having been foreordained according to the purpose of Him, Who worketh all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we should be to the praise of His glory, we who had before hoped in Christ; 13 in Whom ye also are, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise 14 which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of GOD'S own possession, unto the praise of His glory.
7. The great counsel of GOD, which was interrupted by man's sin, was accomplished by the redemptive work of Christ.
ejn w|/...paraptwmavtwn
]
In Whom
, as incorporated with Him and made members of His Body (Rom. 3:24
th'" ajpolutrwvsew" th'" ejn C. jI.
),
we have
and enjoy (Eph. 2:18; Rom. 5:1)
redemption
, or, more emphatically,
our redemption
the redemption which is the outcome of our Christian faith
through His blood
, even
the forgiveness of our trespasses.
Men as sinners are represented under a twofold aspect. They are captives at once and debtors: captives to the devil from whom they are ransomed; debtors to GOD Who remits what they owe to Him. For
ajpoluvtrwsi"
compare Addit. Note on Heb. 9:12.
dia; tou' ai{m. aujt
.] On the meaning of blood as essentially distinct from death, see Notes on 1 John 1:7. It may be observed that
qavnato", ajpoqanei'n
(common elsewhere: Col. 1:22; 2:20; 3:3) do not occur in the Epistle.
The various constructions under which the blood of Christ is presented in relation to the redemption and salvation of men should be carefully studied. We have
(1)
diav
c. gen.,
through, by means of.
Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:12.
(2)
diav
c. acc.,
by reason of.
Apoc. 12:11.
(3)
ejn
in
, implying a living connexion of the believer with the source of life, the life, as it were, encompassing him.
Rom. 5:9; Eph. 2:13; Heb. 10:19; Apoc. 1:5;5:9; 7:14. Compare Rom. 3:25; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:22, 25; 13:20.
(4) simple dat. of the instrument. 1 Pet. 1:19.
Diav and ejn are used in the same context: 1 John 5:6 note. th;n a[f. t. par .] the forgiveness of our trespasses. The exact phrase does not occur elsewhere. In the parallel, Col. 1:14, the commoner phrase th;n a[fesin tw'n aJmartiw'n is used, which recurs ten times in the Synoptists and the Acts, but not again in the Epistles. The original of the expression ( ajfievnai parapt .) is found in Matt. 6:14 ff.; Mk 11:25 f. The difference between trespass and sin seems to be, that trespass brings out the idea of the violation of a definite law, while sin expresses the essential estrangement from GOD implied in the act whereby man misses his true end. Compare Rom. 5:12-21, where the proper meaning of the two words can be seen plainly. The parallel of forgiveness of trespasses with redemption lies in the fact that through forgiveness man is placed in his true relation to GOD: he has received the atonement (Rom. 5:11), and is atoned to Him. The past with its results is that which holds us in bondage. The