Bought At A Price

[didymus]

Acts 20.28: "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."

I Corinthians 6.20: "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s."

I Corinthians 7.26: "You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men."

Have you ever considered the full ramification of these statements, that the church of God was purchased with His own blood, that you are bought at a price?

Let's say you are in the market for a house. You go look at a house. You like it. You decide to buy it. The purchase price for the house is $100,000. You pay the purchase price with your own money. You buy the house with all its individual parts. Does the house belong to itself? Of course not. You bought it at a price, you purchased it with your own money. It's your property. Do any of the individual parts of the house have the right to do what they want? For example, can the siding say, "I am leaving and going to be a part of another house? Of course not.

Then why is it different for the church? Why is it that individual members can claim to have rights to do things as they want? We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to He who purchased us. We are His property. Certainly people in America understand property rights. Whether an individual member or not, we are His property. And just as the individual parts of a house work together to benefit the whole house, in the same way the individual members of the church of God must work together for the benefit of the whole church.

The apostle Paul put this way in I Cointhians 12. 12-27:

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

Just because we are individually members does not make us any less a part of the whole body that belongs to God that purchased us with His own blood. He owns us. We belong to Him. We are His property. We have been bought at a price.

[didymus]

Do I have to beg for comments on this one. That's okay, I am not beyond begging.

;D

[MoGrace2U]

I understand the analogy of a house, but that example is of an inanimate object. A living breathing organism that has its own will is a different scenario! Each part of a living body has its part to do as it effects the health and operation of the whole organism and not just itself. which is why Paul uses that analogy and not one like yours. We are not just rote members with no will of our own, instead we must conform our wills to the greater health of the whole structure. The siding on the house can't do that! We are to be active participants in the building up of the body of Christ, not just put there for window dressing...in other words we have not been put here merely to look good, we are here to DO good.

[didymus]

The point I was making is that once something is purchased, it belongs to, is owned by, and is the property of whoever did the purchasing. God purchased the church of God with all it's members with His own blood.

I used the house analogy only for that purpose. Besides, Jesus used physical inanimate objects in his parables, such as the parable of the fig tree.

Since the church of God is often called the house of God, I thought the analogy of the house would be a good metaphor.

[MoGrace2U]

I once did a study on purchases depicted in scripture, it seems to be an important theme especially for prophecy.

Abraham purchased a field in Hebron for a burial plot.

Jacob purchased the birthright from Esau.

David purchased the site for the temple.

Jeremiah purchased a field to show the assurance of returning from Babylon.

And of course as you said, Christ purchased the Church with His own blood.

What these purchases show is that once ownership is established the right of inheritance cannot be taken away.

[didymus]

So what you seem to be saying is that those purchases are eternal. Does that not lead to security that when we are purchased by the blood of Christ, we will never be sold again.

That sounds like eternal security.