For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:20
In 1974, the leftist terrorist group Montonerros in Argentina kidnapped two brothers, Jorge and Juan Born, who were wealthy grain traders in that country. The two men were held captive for nine months before they were freed after the payment of a ransom valued at $60 million. That amount would be the equivalent of $293 million today, and according to Business Insider magazine stands as the largest ever ransom paid for the release of any kidnapping victim. That amount is truly staggering. But consider the reason the terrorists targeted the Born brothers: their family and business were wealthy and could raise the money. How different the ransom paid to release you and me from the shackles of sin, a ransom of far greater value than every other ransom ever paid on this earth, and all for bankrupt sinners who had no value and no resources of our own.
The expression ‘ye are bought with a price’ causes us to consider the reason for the ransom, the results of the ransom, and the response to the ransom. The reason for the ransom is difficult for us to understand. Nothing in us deserved deliverance from the judgment that we were facing. We can claim no merit of any kind, nor offer anything of ourselves to help raise the ransom. The price was truly steep, because we had each of us earned the penalty of death, with varying degrees of punishment depending on our situation. To find a reason for our deliverance, we must look, not to ourselves, but to the One who paid the ransom. Our rebellion and rejection was met by infinite love, love that took into consideration only the great fact that God is love, and that love must flow out to undeserving sinners in the giving of His son. The ransom price, the blood of Jesus Christ, was willingly, lovingly, and freely paid because God so loved the world.
If the value paid for our ransom is incalculable, so too are the results of that ransom. As individuals, we can appreciate that the ransom delivers us from eternal judgment and assures us of eternal bliss. It also provides us with the all of the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ Jesus, everything from the peace of knowing sins forgiven, the joy in having God’s presence and care with us, the sweetness of fellowship with God and with His people, the riches of the Word of God, and so many more.
In response to being bought with a price, we find the world does not care, and the Christian does not care enough. Our first response to being bought with a price should be to reckon ourselves to be the possession of the One Who paid the price. – Jim MacIntosh