Bought and Purchased

 

            These two words are only found a handful of times in the New Testament, but they have a lot of meaning.  For the Christian they are a beautiful thing, bought with the blood of Jesus.  People don’t like to talk about the blood these days, not as much anyway.  But when you become a Christian, you come under the blood of Jesus, and you are purchased by Him.  You are no longer your own, you have a Lord and Savior now, although many prefer to just focus on the Savior part, because it isn’t fun to have someone else call the shots in your life!

 

            The word “bought” has meanings including “purchased” and “redeemed”, so we will look at “redeemed” after a bit.  In Strong’s this is in the Greek, #59.

 

            Anyway, let us take a look through most of the passages that use either of the two words.  I will skip a few that are talking about ordinary purchases, for they have nothing to do with the study.

 

“45: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Matthew 13:45-46 KJV

 

            To me the merchant is Jesus who gave up everything for you.  We understand that God loves us, and that He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die, that would make you someone worth a great price!  Many have a hard time understanding how valuable they are to God, but you are incredibly precious to Him.

 

“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” Acts 20:28 KJV

 

            Here we see that the church of God has been purchased with Christ’s blood.  Next we see it in First Corinthians:

 

“19: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” First Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV

 

            A bit of the “Lord” part comes into play, for you are not your own anymore.  But indeed bought with a price, the temple of the Holy Ghost if you are a believer.  One chapter later we see this:

 

“22: For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
23: Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.” First Corinthians 7:22-23 KJV

 

            Talking of servants here, but again bought with a price.

 

“13: In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14: Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14 KJV

 

            This is talking of the Holy Spirit of course, being the earnest or guarantee that God is for real.  Again a purchased possession; and that would be you if you’re a believer.

 

 

Redeemed

 

            A slightly different word, although it’s part of the meaning of “bought”, but again let’s see how the blood of Jesus fits in:

 

“18: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” First Peter 1:18-19 KJV

 

            It’s beautiful.  Understanding the power of the blood is absolutely beautiful, for it washes you from your past sins.

 

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;” Romans 3:25 KJV

 

            I add that because some people will try to tell you that your future sins are already forgiven, thus making the consequences of them much less.  Not true.  Let’s press on:

 

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;” Revelation 5:9 KJV

 

            Oh, the blood of Jesus!  This is good stuff!  Now let us think on it for a minute.  All of these passages talk of those who are saved, no?  This speaks of the church, no? 

 

            Hence we conclude that those who are purchased with the blood of Jesus are saved. 

 

A Little Monkey Wrench

 

            All’s well until we look at a verse in Second Peter:

 

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” First Peter 2:1 KJV (Emphasis added)

 

            Suddenly we have a problem.  We’re going to have a really hard time calling these people Christians if they are actually false teachers bringing in damnable heresies and destruction to themselves.  Yet they have been bought by the Lord which means they have been saved according to the other references we have looked at.

 

            Let us quickly establish that those who are false are not in good standing with God:

 

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Matthew 7:15 KJV

 

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” Matthew 24:11 KJV

 

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matthew 24:24 KJV

 

“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke 6:26 KJV

 

“6: And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus:
7: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
8: But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
9: Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
10: And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” Acts 13:6-10 KJV (Emphasis added)

 

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” First John 4:1 KJV

 

Convinced?  Yet we still have the problem of these false teachers who may now deny the Lord that bought them.  Since they cannot be both saved and lost at the same time, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that these people were once saved yet are not saved now, having lost their salvation.

 

So does this mean that “Once saved always saved” IS damnable heresy?

 

Of course it does.