Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20091011.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Ephesians: Overcoming Our Insecurities In Christ
Part I: The Believer's Secure Position In Christ, Ephesians 1:1-3:21
D. Overcoming The Insecurity Of Our Eternal Record Of Sin Before A Holy God
(Ephesians 1:7)
  1. Introduction
    1. One of the great fears many face is that their sins can never be so fully atoned that they will escape some kind of torment after death: (1) Islam requires many works, but that, on Judgment Day, each person's good and bad deeds will be balanced to determine his eternal destiny. ("Islamic Lore," SIM NOW, July-August 1989, p. 5). (2) "The dying Roman Catholic, after he has done all that he can do and after the last rites have been given to him, is told he still must go to purgatory. There he will suffer unknown torture, with no assurance as to how long it will continue, but with the assurance that if his relatives pay with sufficient generosity his suffering will be shortened." (Loraine Boettner, Roman Catholicism, 1978, p. 267)
    2. Marvelously, the believer's standing in Christ supplies complete and blessed liberation and confidence before God regarding this matter, and Ephesians 1:7 briefly but powerfully explains this truth (as follows):
  2. Overcoming The Insecurity Of Our Eternal Record Of Sin Before A Holy God, Ephesians 1:7.
    1. Ephesians 1:7 KJV states that in Him, in our position in Christ, we who trusted in Him for salvation (Eph. 1:13) have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
    2. Expounding the words in this verse from the Greek Testament (U. B. S. Greek New Testament, 1966 ed., p. 664) reveals a wealth of theological information rich in priceless application for our lesson (as follows):
      1. The expression "we have" (KJV, NIV, ESV) is from the verb echo, meaning to "have, hold, possess" (Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 332), and since this verb appears here in the present tense, it means we believers in position in Christ continually possess God's redemption!
      2. The word "redemption" (KJV, NIV, ESV) translates the noun apolutrosin (from apolutrosis) that means "a ransom being paid with resultant deliverance of the one in difficulty," cf. John F. Walvoord, Jesus Christ Our Lord, 1969, p. 169. That from which we are freed is explained elsewhere as follows:
        1. Christ's redemption removes one from the curse of the Mosaic Law's condemnation, Galatians 3:13.
        2. Christ's redemption releases one from bondage to man-authored legalism and sin into the freedom of God's grace, 1 Peter 1:18-19, cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Ephesians 1:7.
      3. This redemption is based on Christ's death, i.e., "through His blood", Ephesians 1:7 KJV (NIV, ESV).
      4. The expression "the forgiveness" (KJV, NIV, ESV) is from the Greek word aphesin (from aphesis), and it means "a cancellation of an obligation, a punishment or guilt," Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 124.
      5. The KJV and NIV prepositional phrase "of sins" (ESV "of our trespasses") translates paraptomaton from the noun paraptoma that means "a false step", or sin perceived as a misstep from God's righteous standard, Ibid., p. 627; Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1963, p. 485.
    3. Summarizing this information, Ephesians 1:7 in the Greek New Testament teaches believers in their POSITION "in Christ" continually possess deliverance from the Law's condemnation and from bondage to man's legalistic rules by Christ's death, which state includes the cancellation of all moral obligations, punishment and guilt before God for every misstep from His righteousness!
    4. In conclusion, there is simply NO obligation for ANYONE "in Christ" to perform ANY work of penance or good works to find forgiveness or to atone for any sins he has done or does in this life so as to escape some tormenting punishment after this earthly life. "In Christ," the sin, moral obligations, punishment and guilt of the believer are so fully covered positionally that the instant he leaves this earthly life, he is taken into God's heavenly bliss, 2 Corinthians 5:8; Luke 23:39-43.
Lesson: Once one trusts in Christ to be saved, he is POSITIONALLY put "in Him" with his SINS so FULLY COVERED by the CROSS that he NEVER needs to FEAR TORMENT AFTER THIS LIFE!

Application: (1) May we RELAX about our SIN question in our POSITION in Christ -- it's SETTLED! (2) Yet, re: our WALK, may we CONFESS our CURRENT ACTS of SIN for restoration to CURRENT FELLOWSHIP with God and escape His CURRENT DISCIPLINE, 1 Jn. 1:9 with 5:16; 1 Cor. 5:3-5!