Colossians 1:14 Commentary and Bible Study

The apostle is inspired to switch the attention now from the Father to Christ, the Son. The Son has paid a ransom for us; he has suffered and died to purchase us, ‘through his blood.’ You do sometimes hear, even from good teachers, the idea that the blood of Christ is only a symbol. Now I know what they mean and what they say is not so terrible, but nevertheless the blood is more than just a symbol. They say, ‘Whenever you read the blood of Christ in the Scripture just understand it as the death of Christ. The blood is a kind of synonym for the death of Christ. Think more of his death, think of his yielding up his life. The blood itself, the chemical, is not so important’, but it is. That is why the term is used so often in the Scripture. Yes, when you think of the blood of Christ, you think of the death of Christ; of course you do. The blood is intentionally used and I’ll tell you why. There is a little cluster of reasons.The blood reminds us so clearly that Christ was truly a man. He was God but he was truly man and therefore he could shed blood and blood draws our attention to the fact that he became a man for us, to represent us, to stand in our place. The blood also seals in our minds the fact that he died a terrible death and he suffered agonies. Actually, it slightly sanitises things to talk about the death of Christ – to talk about the blood reinforces in our minds that there was a tremendous price paid. The shedding of Christ signals the humiliation of Christ, another aspect of his suffering and death. Of course, he suffered spiritually, he suffered as the Son of God terrible separation from the Father, but it is very important to speak about his humiliation. He went through humiliation in order to bear our humiliation, if we trust in him, when we are finally discarded and judged and sentenced by God for our sin. He shed his blood like a criminal hanging on a cross with the life blood running out of him from his wounds, his life ebbing away. That is humiliation to the ancients and the blood tells us about it. ‘Even the forgiveness of sins.’ Christ died to make us pure. Following conversion, you are a lot purer than you were, but the full purity awaits the last day. Christ suffered and died to take away every detailed, individual spot and blemish, every sin we have ever committed. Is there such a thing as a small sin? We use the term for the sake of understanding. But the smallest sin, the millions of smallest sins, strewn through your life, he had to suffer for and die for in every detail. We are looking not only at our lives as a whole, but also at every detail, every thought, every word, every deed that has ever been offensive to Almighty God. We cannot search out the exacting nature of Calvary, the price he had to pay so that death would never take hold of us again. How could the Lord suffer it all? How great the price he had to pay!