‘In whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. According to the riches of His grace which he made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence.'
And it has all been made possible by His redeeming work and resulting forgiveness. He has stepped in, borne the punishment for our sin, paid the price for our deliverance, and pours out His forgiveness on us. (This latter is in response to repentance and faith (Ephesians 1:13), but in this catalogue of God's gracious working only God's side is being described. For all is His effective working).
‘Redemption through His blood.' Now we come down to the means by which this was carried out. It was carried out by the Redeemer, Who redeemed us with His own precious blood (1 Peter 1:18-19). He gave Himself a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:6). He bought us ‘with a price' (1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23). In these verses in 1 Corinthians there may be a deliberate contrast with Isaiah where His people were redeemed ‘without money' (Isaiah 52:3 compare Isaiah 55:1). It was not, however, without cost, indeed the cost was the greatest that could be. He ‘gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity' (Titus 2:14).
Redemption always results from special costly effort or the payment of a ransom. In this case Christ has done both. He has given Himself as a ransom instead of us (Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6), redeeming us through His blood (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 1:18-19), and He has exercised His power at great cost in defeating the forces that are against us, triumphing over them in the cross (Colossians 2:15) and bearing our sin as a sacrifice for sin. He has taken what is on record against us and has nailed it to His cross, like a list of debts that have been crossed out as evidence that they have been paid, with ‘it is finished' written across them. Indeed He has blotted out the Law (the handwriting of ordinances) which condemned us (Colossians 2:14). The stress in redemption is on the price that had to be paid and the power that was involved and the deliverance that was accomplished.
‘The forgiveness of our trespasses.' The word for forgiveness here is 'aphesis which means ‘cancellation' and is used to mean the cancellation of the guilt of sin. It is common in the New Testament, see Matthew 26:28; Mark 1:4; Luke 1:77; Luke 3:3; Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38; Acts 5:31; Acts 10:43; Acts 13:38 (by Paul); Acts 26:18 (by Paul); Hebrews 9:22; Hebrews 10:18. But it is rarely used by Paul in his epistles (only here, in Colossians 1:14, a parallel passage and in a quotation in Romans 4:7) who tends to think more in terms of ‘reckoning righteous'. Elsewhere he speaks of ‘pardon' (charizomai) for sin (Colossians 2:13) and the ‘passing over' of sin in the light of Christ's future redemptive work (Romans 3:25). Thus its use here together with ‘trespasses', ‘deviations from what is right' (paraptoma), suggests that the main thought is of the cancelling of our particular failures to do what is right, restoring our personal relationship with God, and removing all that was against us. Usually it is used with ‘sins' (hamartia), a more general word for sin. For such forgiveness see Psalms 51:1; Psalms 51:9; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 44:22. See also James 5:15; 1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:12.
‘According to the riches of His grace.' Again Paul emphasises that it is the richness of the grace of God that has brought about this redemption and forgiveness, and that it is full and complete in accordance with those riches. There is no stinting in His forgiveness. It is rich and overflowing. Redemption involves our deliverance, forgiveness involves the restoration of our relationship with God and the putting right of the heart in its relationship with God, although the distinctions must not be over-pressed for they are all closely entwined.
‘Which He made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence.' Some may have felt that God's goodness to such sinners as we are is misplaced. But Paul assures us that God's actions reveal the wisdom and prudence of God. He does nothing rashly. His actions have been carefully considered by the eternal will, and therefore are effective in the bringing about of His final purposes, and His wisdom is revealed in what will be accomplished. For what will result will prove once and for all His great glory.
Notice again the stress on the abounding nature of what He does for us and of what He offers to us. God withholds nothing from those who are His own. We may feel jaded and under attack by sin, and that God is not near, but if we are His through faith, all His grace and love is abounding towards us at every moment, and especially so in times of chastening.
Some see the ‘wisdom and prudence' as that given by God to His own (Colossians 1:9), given along with His other spiritual blessings. But later (Colossians 1:11) we are told that God works everything ‘after the counsel of His own will', which ties in with it being His wisdom and prudence here.