“knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers.”
like silver or gold
“Silver or gold” was the most precious earthly metals at the time of writing of 1 Peter. Gold was the most highly valued metal in the ancient world. Terms for gold are widespread throughout the world today, even as the presence of gold or knowledge about gold is likewise almost universal. After gold, the next most highly valued metal in the ancient world was silver.
Valuable as these metals are, it is only the blood of Christ that can purchase our salvation.
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood,” (Acts 20: 28).
No human being other than Jesus Christ could purchase someone else out of the slave market of sin because every human being is in the slave market of sin. Under Roman law, only a free person could purchase someone out of slavery.
Jesus is the only truly free man because He was the only man who was never a slave to sin. He was never in the slave market because He never sinned. He did not receive a sin nature because He did not have a human father. Therefore, He was not a sinner by nature. Jesus is the only truly free person in God’s economy. So Jesus was the only person eligible to purchase us from the slave market of sin.
If Jesus would not, or did not die for our sins, we would be forever lost! But He did die for our sins! If the commodity of the salvation of the soul is so high that it cannot be purchased by money, religion, or tradition, what is the purchasing power? Verse 19 answers that question: “but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
PRINCIPLE:
Only Jesus is eligible to save us from sin.
APPLICATION:
We cannot buy salvation with money. Silver or gold are often snaring to salvation. No amount of money will redeem us.
If someone kidnaps a child, people will pay any amount of money to rescue their loved one from the abductors. However, in the case of salvation, no amount of money will ever purchase heaven for anyone. The ransom price is too high for any human to pay. Only Jesus was eligible to pay for our sins. We owe it all to Him.
