GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
1 CORINTHIANS 1:30-31
30 Yet because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us the wisdom from God– that is, our righteousness, sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Take the phrase, “because of him,” and think back to verses 28-29 and the call to faith from God. Because of him, because of God, “you are in Christ Jesus.”
This is just the right place to talk about a Greek language concept, which is the preposition en with a dative noun. We have it here in the phrase “in Christ Jesus,” Greek: en Christo Iesou (ἐν Χριστῷ ᾽Ιησοῦ). The word “in” takes us into a circle or a sphere in Greek. Here, the circle is Christ. In Greek, you cannot be both inside and outside a circle. You are either in or out. So being “in Christ” is to receive every single benefit from Christ. You can’t receive only some of his blessings and not all of them. In the same way, a man can’t reject some of Christ, or part of what Christ did, without rejecting everything from Christ. This concept, known as the “dative of sphere” (Robertson’s Greek Grammar p. 589) “is so simple an idea that it appears in every variety of connection (with other uses of the word en)” (p. 589, par. 9).
There in the sphere of Christ, where God has brought us through faith, we hear true wisdom, which is the wisdom of God. And there we are given true righteousness, which is the righteousness Christ supplies. It is there that we are sanctified, which is to be set apart by God for a holy purpose. And it is there, in the sphere of Christ, only in Christ and nowhere else, that we have redemption, which is the forgiveness of our sins.
This is how the Holy Scriptures teach us Christian doctrine. Doctrine is not an opinion or a point of view, but the teaching of the word of God. While some people believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection “demonstrate” God’s redeeming love, the Bible teaches something very different. Christ’s death and resurrection brought that love of God to us directly, because Jesus paid the terrible price for our guilt with his life. He was killed in our place. He suffered the agony hell in our place. But his sacrifice was guiltless and innocent; there was no sin in him at all, no flaw, and after Jesus died the Father raised him from the dead (Galatians 1:1).
Therefore Jesus is called our Redeemer. He is our Redeemer in power, because he is God and has power to redeem the whole human race. The Psalm describes this payment from man’s point of view: “The ransom for their souls is costly, any payment would fall short” (Psalm 49:8), but then seven verse later he draws our attention to God: “But surely God will redeem my life from the power of the grave. Yes, he will take me to himself” (Psalm 49:15). Christ proved his power over the grave by raising a boy (Luke 7:14), a girl (Mark 5:41) and a well-known man and friend of his, Lazarus (John 11:43), all from the dead.
Jesus is also our Redeemer in affection. He is connected to us by the kinship, the family connection of his flesh with ours. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us” (John 1:14). And about his crucifixion he said, “The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). The eating of this flesh is faith itself, for he also said, “I told you that no one can come to me unless it (faith) is given to him by my Father” (John 6:65).
Jesus is also our Redeemer in effect, because he put forward his own blood to pay the price of our sin. “And the blood of Jesus,” John teaches, “purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). And somewhere else it says: “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14).
Besides redeeming us from the power of sin, death, and the devil, he also continues to redeem us. “Daily he redeems us from various temptations and adversities” (Gerhard, On Christ, §26, p. 27). Finally, he will redeem us from this fallen world, corrupt and perverse as it is, and he will transfer us into his kingdom and the place he has prepared for us there (John 14:1-3). The Psalm says: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this– those he redeemed from the hand of the foe!” (Psalm 107:1-2).
Paul concludes our chapter with a quote from the prophet: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23). Paul will bring this encouragement about proper boasting more into view in the second letter (2 Corinthians 10:8-18; 11:1-33 and 12:1-9), but the point is good to remember here: If anyone wants to boast, don’t try to boast about or be proud of your own wisdom, or your noble birth, or your secular authority. If you really want to boast, boast about Jesus. And make it a memorable, cheerful boast, the kind of boast that invites people to trust in the same gospel victory, the same Savior, the same Redeemer.
God loves me dearly, grants me salvation,
God loves me dearly; loves even me.
Therefore I’ll say again: God loves me dearly,
God loves me dearly, loves even me.
I was in slav’ry, sin, death, and darkness;
God’s love was working to make me free.
Therefore I’ll say again: God loves me dearly,
God loves me dearly, loves even me.
He sent forth Jesus, my dear Redeemer,
he sent forth Jesus and set me free.
Therefore I’ll say again: God loves me dearly,
God loves me dearly, loves even me.
Jesus, my Savior, himself did offer;
Jesus, my Savior, paid all I owed.
Therefore I’ll say again: God loves me dearly,
God loves me dearly, loves even me. (CW 583, public domain)
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 My true Redeemer