1Pet. 1:17-19 ¹⁷And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ¹⁸knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Peter tells us that Jesus has ransomed his people from futility.  What does it mean to be ransomed?  R.L. Hubbard writes that redemption, a closely related biblical concept, “involves the release of people, animals, or property from bondage through outside help” (Hubbard, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, “Redemption”).  Through the outside help of Jesus Christ, we have been ransomed, or redeemed, from the futility of this world.  The blood of Jesus Christ was the ransom payment for his people.

When the only hope that we have is in this world, the pattern of our life is determined by the standards and influences of this world.  When we have been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, the pattern of our life should no longer be determined by the futile patterns of this world.  If we have been bought with the blood of Christ, ransomed from the futility of our former life, let us not bind ourselves again to such vanity, to such sin.