Peculiar Because Redeemed
Peculiar. Odd. Strange. Weird. Unusual. Irregular. Abnormal. Uncharacteristic. Atypical. Curious. Eccentric. We have all used one of more of these on occasion. And, God used this concept as well about His people!
Speaking of Jesus, Paul wrote, “…who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people.” (Titus 2:14). Some versions replace the highlighted phrase with the word “peculiar”.
The original Greek phrase is eautw laon periousion ”a people for His own possession”. The last word in the phrase means, “special, belonging only to oneself”. This is a “peculiar” word in Scripture. It occurs only here in all the NT.
People in the world really do think that Christians are peculiar and strange. They just do not understand why anyone would want to live the way that we do. They just don’t understand that we use the Bible as our rule for faith and practice.
So, why does God say that we are peculiar? We are peculiar because we are God’s people. Not everyone can make that claim. Sure, they are God’s people in that they owe their existence to Him as the Creator of all. But, they are not His people by choosing to make Him the Lord of their lives.
We are peculiar because we stand out, or at least we ought to. Christians should present themselves in such a way as to show a lifestyle that is different from the world around us. Christians cannot look like, talk like, and act like everyone else and still claim to be different.
We are peculiar because we have a home in heaven awaiting us. It is a sad fact that many of our friends and neighbors are not in a saved relationship with God. It is our peculiarity that will guarantee us that home. We must maintain our peculiarity if we want to be there for eternity.
Notice one more word in the verse above. It is the word “redeem”. This word means, “to release by paying the full ransom.’ Figuratively, it is to restore something back into the possession of its rightful owner; rescuing from the power and possession of an alien possessor.”
The Old Testament stage of history vividly portrays what redemption is. Moses reminded the people before his death, “…the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from thee had of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” The Egyptians paid the redemption price with the deaths of the firstborn children because their parents were disobedient to the LORD.
Some 40 years later, the Israelites stood ready to begin their conquest of the promised land. Joshua said, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city! Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it…And you, by all means, abstain from the accursed things…But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.” (Joshua 6:17-19).
In this, the Israelites symbolically paid the ransom price for their redemption. Now, they were God’s people in the land He was giving them. They were redeemed fully from their Egyptian experience having their own place. We are redeemed fully from the possession of the evil one and live in our own place in God’s family.
-Mike Johnson
