Commenting upon these words of the apostle, F. B. Meyer wrote:
"We are, therefore, taught that the death of Jesus was intended, not for our forgiveness and justification merely, but for our sanctification, and our deliverance from the power of all our besetting sins."
In the previous chapter we focused on what it means to be "redeemed from all lawlessness" and showed how redemption has a past, present, and future aspect to it. In this chapter we will focus our attention on "and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (kjv)
I like the Amplified rendering of the passage, which says:
"Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us (purchase our freedom) from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people [to be peculiarly His own, people who are] eager and enthusiastic about [living a life that is good and filled with] beneficial deeds."
What I like about this translation are these things:
1) the explaining of "redeem us" by the parenthetical "purchase our freedom"
2) using the words "for himself" instead "unto himself"
3) "a people to be peculiarly His own" is superior to "a peculiar people"
4) "eager and enthusiastic" is better than "zealous"
5) the parenthetical thought "living a life that is good and filled with" helps bring out the meaning
6) "beneficial deeds" is better than "good works"
λυτρόω (Lutroo) "redeem" is in middle voice which indicates that the person who carries out the action (of redemption), i.e. the "redeemer," has a special interest in the transaction. He is both viewed as doing the redemptive work as well as the one for whose interest and benefit the work is done. Though the redeemed slave benefits, of course, from being redeemed, yet the Redeemer also is benefited by it, receiving the praise of his Father, of the holy angels, and of all redeemed humanity. It was all done with a view to the glory of the Son of God who chose to condescend to become man for the purpose of redemption.
As emphasized throughout this series, enslavement to sin is bondage, whereas enslavement to God is freedom. While we are enslaved to sin, while unconverted, we are "free" from God and righteousness, as Paul said: "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." (Rom. 6: 20 NKJV)
John Calvin in his Commentary wrote:
"Let us then remember that the Apostle still reasons on the principle of contraries, and in this manner, “While ye were the servants of sin, ye were freed from righteousness; but now a change having taken place, it behoves you to serve righteousness; for you have been liberated from the yoke of sin. He calls those free from righteousness who are held by no bridle to obey righteousness. This is the liberty of the flesh, which so frees us from obedience to God, that it makes us slaves to the devil. Wretched then and accursed is this liberty, which with unbridled or rather mad frenzy, leads us exultingly to our destruction."
"Righteousness" does not have dominion and control over the slave of sin. Sin is a shackle, but so is righteousness. The former binds and keeps men in their servitude to sin, the latter however binds and keeps them in their servitude to righteousness.
The slave of sin has no restraints from righteousness to hinder his movements in sin. All the restraints of his sin keep him from God, truth, and righteousness. All the restraints of righteousness, however, keep the slave of righteousness from Satan, error, and unrighteousness. One thing or the other will rule and dominate the lives of every sinner. Will it be sin or righteousness? God or the world? The flesh or the Spirit? Freedom, like bondage, are both relational. One may be free in regard to one thing but be in bondage in regard to another thing.
Those who are "redeemed" or "set free by purchase" are being delivered from "lawlessness." What is the essence of this "lawlessness"? Wrote one writer:
Lawlessness is living as though your own ideas are superior to God's.
Lawlessness says, "God may demand it but I don't prefer it."
Lawlessness says, "God may promise it but I don't want it."
Lawlessness replaces God's law with my contrary desires. I become a law to myself.
Lawlessness is rebellion against the right of God to make laws and govern His creatures. (Expositor's Greek - here)
Looking over these characteristics of lawlessness, we are able to see well how Satan first taught lawlessness to Eve in his encounter with her at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Purification & Possession
In redeeming from all lawlessness or iniquity, there must be
1) purification, for both body and soul, but chiefly for the latter, and
2) possessing of the "purchased possession," (taking ownership of the newly redeemed slave), and
3) equipping and making an enthusiastic servant out of the redeemed slave
The need for purification arises from the fact of moral filth and defilement. Sin makes us not only guilty but also unclean before a holy God. Purify is from the Greek word "katharizo" (from katharos) and denotes what is pure, cleansed, without stain or spot. We have English words derived from this Greek term, such as "catharsis" (emotional or physical purging), "cathartic" (substance used to induce a purging). Simply, the word means to "free from stains or shame" and "free from adulteration."
Says Expositor's Greek Testament:
"καθαρίσῃ ἑαυτῷ λαόν: This is a pregnant expression for “purify and so make them fit to be his people”. St. Paul has in mind Ezekiel 37:23, “I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.”
1) redeemed (or freed by payment)
2) separation and release from lawlessness
3) purification
4) becoming God's people
5) becoming enthusiastic workers for the Lord
All these elements are part of the redemptive process.
In all purification or purging there is "riddance" and "separation." What was formerly a mixture of items (joined together as one) is divided or separated out. This separation is the essence of the purification process. In purifying metals or chemicals it is necessary that the "bond" that holds the elements together be broken.
Filth in all its forms adheres, is bonded to, or otherwise clings to the flesh. To remove it one must wash, bath, or be cleansed. Metaphorically speaking, moral filth in a like manner clings to the soul and spirit, to the heart and mind. In the words "redeemed from all iniquity" the Greek preposition "apo" (from) indicates effective removal from (or separation from).
Redemption has as one of its ends the cleansing of the redeemed slave. Slaves and prisoners, when they are first emancipated and released from their bondage, come forth with the filth of their confinement upon them (most prisons have historically been filthy places). They must be thoroughly cleansed and their filthy garments removed.
This purification is not done in an instant. It is true that first conversion brings a washing in the blood of Jesus (I John 1:7), and a "washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5: 26), but two things must be said about this cleansing, purging, or purification:
1) It is both objective and subjective, and
2) It is both a) instantaneous and complete and 2) linear and progressive.
Objective
- "legal purging" involving "expunging from the record" a person's sins (crimes)
- theological terms are "justification" (exoneration and "freedom" from prosecution) and "forgiveness"
- this is an instantaneous event and is complete
Subjective
- moral cleansing of the conscience, purifying of the heart by ridding it of "uncleanness" and guilt
- in theological terms this first occurs in regeneration (rebirth) and conversion and sanctification
- this is a linear or progressive experience
The cleansing of the believer, though begun in initial conversion, and is, in some respects, completed at that moment, yet is in other respects continuous in the life of the saint and is not completed till the soul enters heaven at death. Saints are daily and regularly being cleansed by the blood and word of the Lord. Of this the scriptures are clear, and on this I will have a few more things to say as we look at how "redemption," via sanctification, is linear and progressive in the life of the released slave.
A People For His Own Possession
On the words in the KJV "purify unto himself a peculiar people" Spurgeon comments:
"The translation “peculiar people” is unfortunate, because “peculiar” has come to mean odd, strange, singular. The passage really means that believers are Christ’s own people, His choice and select portion. Saints are Christ’s crown jewels, His box of diamonds; His very, very, very own...He desires that you, who are being disciplined by his grace, should know that you are altogether His. You are Christ’s men. You are each one to feel, “I do not belong to the world; I do not belong to myself; I belong only to Christ. I am set aside by Him for Himself only, and His I will be.” The silver and the gold are His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills are His; but He makes small account of them, “the Lord’s portion is His people.” ("The Two Appearings and the Discipline of Grace")
Did Jesus die to make us “strange” or “queer” or “odd”? No, but he did die and does save sinners via conversion, thus making them his special people. Converts to Jesus no longer "belong" to Satan, nor to the world, to depravity, nor to self. Recall the words of the apostle to believers - "you are not your own," i.e. "you do not belong to yourself," but you belong to Christ, having been "bought with a price." (See I Cor. 6: 20)
The translation "peculiar people" does not justify anyone being a religious oddball in order to prove that he is holy or orthodox. The thought that the apostle wishes to convey to us is this: God's redeemed people are Christ's costly possession and His distinctive treasure. In other words, believers are those that belong in a special sense to Christ. Below are other translations for comparison, and which are superior to the KJV:
people to be peculiarly His own - Amplified
His own special possession - Analyzed Literal Translation
so that we can be His special people GWT
a people who are truly His - NET
a people that are his very own - NIV
His own special people - NKJV
a people of his own - Phillips paraphrase
a people as his own treasure - Rotherham
people who belong to Him alone - TEV
a people who should be specially His own - Weymouth
a people of His own private possession, - Wuest
Vincent's Word Studies says that "peculiar" is
"derived from peculium, a private purse, a special acquisition of a member of a family distinct from the property administered for the good of the whole family. Accordingly the sense is given in Ephesians 1:14, where believers are said to have been sealed εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν τῆς περιποιήσεως with a view to redemption of possession, or redemption which will give possession, thus = acquisition. So 1 Peter 2:9, where Christians are styled λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν a people for acquisition, to be acquired by God as his peculiar possession."
What I hope the reader sees is the fact that "redemption" involves finally "acquiring" or "taking possession" or "reclaiming" what had been disponed away or a repossessing of what are called "lost inheritances."
When does Christ "takes possession" of what he has purchased or redeemed? That is one of the chief questions we have been studying in this series. He first takes possession of the slaves that he has acquired by purchase in conversion. And, again, this action of "taking possession" of property can be viewed as both instantaneous and linear (progressive). By Christ's death on the cross, he paid the price of redemption, and immediately obtained legal title (ownership) of the slave. But, legal possession and actual possession are two different things.
Wrote F. B. Meyer:
"ἑαυτῷ corresponds with λυτρώσηται ἀπό. The sentence is pregnantly expressed, and its meaning is: “that He by the purifying power of His death might acquire for Himself (ἑαυτῷ) a people for a possession.”
That I think is an excellent translation of the passage and brings out several important points involved in the work of redemption.
In I Peter 2: 9 we have another place where we find the words "a peculiar people." There again we have a misleading translation of the Greek term, as we have seen. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..."
As we compare the different English translations of this verse and consider the alternative meaning of the word peculiar, it becomes clear that "peculiar" in this verse also denotes that believers are a “special people.” This is because they were chosen from before the foundation of the earth to be “God’s own possession,” and purchased by Christ via his sacrificial death, and have been taken possession of in being born again. This is what makes them different from the world around them. Further, because they are being transformed by the indwelling Spirit, they are more and more being "taken over," or more and more fully possessed, influenced, and controlled.
Better translations say of I Peter 2:9 say:
"A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION" (NASB)
"His own special people" (NKJV)
"a people for his own possession" (RSV)
"a people belonging to God" (NIV)
Happy To Be His People
Those who have been redeemed by purchase and have become the special and treasured possession of Christ, are a cleansed people, a people who are no longer enslaved to moral depravity, but are happy and zealous in their new status as the people of God. To be "zealous of good works" is a sure result of having been redeemed. It is one of the objects of their having been redeemed.
"God's end in election," said Spurgeon, or "the end of all his purposes, is not answered until they become a people "zealous of good works.""("Good Works" delivered on March 16, 1856)
In Paul's letter to Titus, there are several references to doing good. We are told that a church leader is to be "a lover of what is good" (Titus 1:8). Christians are to be "zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14) and "ready for every good work" (Titus 3:1). Believers must "maintain good works" (Titus 3:8). Dorcas...was full of good works and charitable deeds. —Acts 9:36
When a slave is graciously freed by a redeemer or deliverer, he is sure to be thankful to the one who set him free, and be eager to please him, especially considering the severity of the bondage and the immense enjoyment of the freedom that a strong and kind Redeemer has brought. Anyone who truly appreciates this freedom in Christ will be eager to please their new master.
Good works do not mean that you must have been a soup kitchen worker at a place for feeding the poor, or that you put money in the collection plate, etc. These things are good, but they are not the only nor the chief good that redeemed sinners practice. The most important good works are daily activities that Christians do, often without conscious thought, it becoming more of a habit, such as praying, meditating, reading and studying the word of God, praising and worshipping, helping your neighbor, being a kind and wise father, brother, husband, friend, etc. These things are a delight to the new man who has been made the peculiar possession of the Lord Jesus.
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