Bible Study

The Gift of Eternal Life Berean Bible Study Course

Part IV--The Family Of God / The Body Of Christ

A. Lesson 19--The Nature Of Christ's Body

2. READ: COLOSSIANS 1:1-14

d. What do we have in Christ?

Answer: In Christ, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, (verse 14).

MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

• "Redemption" is literally "buying back." This is a release on payment of a ransom for a slave or debtor:

  Hebrews 9:15: "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant."

• "The forgiveness of sins" is literally a "sending away" of sins:

  Ephesians 1:7-8: "In Him [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

• So then, Jesus Christ buys us back from the ruler of the kingdom of darkness (the ruler of the kingdom of the air), and then sends away our sin:

  Ephesians 2:1-10, 13: "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do...But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ."