“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

Redeemed from slavery to sin

The dictionary defines redeem as “to buy back”, it’s the “freeing of a prisoner, captive or slave by payment of a ransom, thereby saving them from bondage, captivity, or death.”
We were slaves to sin that leads to death, but we have been freed by Jesus who paid our ransom on the cross with his blood.

Redeemed for a purpose

We have been bought at a price, so we are not our own, but we belong to Christ, and we owe him full obedience.
1 Cor 6:19-20 reads, “… and you are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
We were not freed to return to slavery to sin, but freed from sin to be slaves to righteousness that leads to life.
Rom 6:16 “… you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness.”
Rom 6:21-22 “Those things result in death! [When you were slaves to sin] But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”

Nature of our freedom

Sin originated in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve choosing to know better than God, they reinterpreted his commands as they saw fit. That sin was repeated in subsequent generations, with Cain and Lamech showing proud self-determination.
When people think of freedom, we think of being able to choose our own way of doing things. But that fails to recognise we are completely dependent upon God, who created us and has planned the very best for us, beyond what we can imagine.
So, to think that being freed from slavery to sin enables us to decide for ourselves how to live our lives, is just to return to that same slavery, it is to reject the gift that Christ won for us on the cross.

Freedom from sin is only maintained by being bound to Christ. It’s like being bound to a lifeboat in the stormy sea of life, allowing Christ to protect and preserve us.
Receiving freedom by following Christ in all we do, and being obedient to him as a slave would to his master, is not contradictory.

Positive Freedom

This reminds me of the two types of freedom:
Negative freedom is “freedom from” restraint, it’s the removal of barriers to what we can do, like release from prison.
Positive freedom is “freedom to”, it’s being enabled or equipped to do things, like the teaching of work skills so the released prisoner can earn a living. When a child is forced to go to school, he loses the freedom to roam aimlessly, but he (hopefully) gains the freedom to read, write and calculate, to think logically and gain understanding.
To be owned by Christ is to be given positive freedom. As he lives in us, he guides us and his Spirit equips us to become all that he has planned for us.

Personal application

Each day is a gift from God, to be used according to his good purpose. If I ask myself what I feel like doing today, it will usually be some lazy activity that wastes the day. But if I begin the day with prayer, and ask for God’s guidance on how I am to use the gift of the day, I am able to receive the satisfaction and contentment of being useful for God’s good purpose.