Ephesians 1:7
What does Ephesians 1:7 mean?
in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
The short answer
Ephesians 1:7 compresses the whole gospel into a single clause. Paul says that in Christ "we have our redemption" — present tense, something believers already possess, not something they are still waiting to earn. Redemption is a marketplace word. In the ancient world it described buying someone out of slavery or captivity by paying a price. Paul immediately names what that redemption looks like in practice: "the forgiveness of our trespasses." The debt of our wrongdoing has been cancelled, and we have been set free from it.
But freedom like that is never cheap, and Paul does not pretend it is. The redemption comes "through his blood" — a phrase that points to Christ's death as a sacrifice. Paul uses this same language elsewhere (Romans 5:9, Ephesians 2:13, Colossians 1:20), and the point is consistent: the cross was not an accident or a tragedy God salvaged, but the deliberate, costly means by which forgiveness was secured. Something real was paid so that something real could be released.
Then comes the measure of it all: this happened "according to the riches of his grace." Not merely out of God's grace, but in proportion to it — a wealthy giver giving on the scale of his wealth. Paul is saying that forgiveness is not doled out grudgingly or in careful rations. It flows from an abundance. The verse holds three things together in one breath: what we have (redemption and forgiveness), what it cost (Christ's blood), and why it was given (the lavish generosity of God). Read that way, Ephesians 1:7 is less a doctrinal formula than a doxology — a line meant to make the reader marvel at how much was spent, and how freely.
What scholars say
Douglas Moo, discussing sacrificial language in Romans, places Ephesians 1:7 among the passages where Christ's blood is named as the means by which salvation is secured, marking his death as a sacrifice. Donald McKim then follows the verse forward into Christian living: the forgiveness received in Christ becomes forgiveness extended to others.
“Later in the New Testament, forgiveness is seen as a way of life for Christians. It is in Jesus Christ that we have “redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14; Eph. 1:7). From this forgiveness comes our response as forgiven people—to forgive others: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13).”
“In this case, the phrase modifies hilastērion and indicates the means by which individuals appropriate the benefits of the sacrifice. It is harder to know whether "in his blood" indicates the object of "faith"—"faith in his blood" (see KJV), modifies the verb "set forth"—"through his blood God has presented him," or modifies hilastērion—"a propitiation in blood" (note the reversal of terms in NASB: "a propitiation in his blood through faith"). But Paul never elsewhere makes Christ's blood an object of faith, so the latter is preferable. "In his blood" singles out Christ's blood as the means by which God's wrath is propitiated. As in several other texts where Christ's blood is the means through which salvation is secured (Rom. 5:9; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:20), the purpose is to designate Christ's death as a sacrifice.”
What it means for you
If forgiveness came to you at such a cost and in such abundance, it changes how you carry your own failures. You do not have to keep paying for what has already been paid for. Guilt that lingers after genuine repentance is arguing with a settled account.
It also changes how you treat the people who have wronged you. Later in this same letter, Paul draws the line straight: forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). The forgiveness of Ephesians 1:7 is not meant to stop with you — forgiven people become forgiving people, extending to others a smaller version of the grace they received.
Ephesians 1 in context
Ephesians 1 opens with one of the longest sentences in the New Testament: verses 3–14 form a single, cascading blessing in the original Greek. Paul piles up everything believers have "in Christ" — chosen before the world's foundation, adopted as God's children, redeemed, forgiven, let in on God's plan to unite all things, and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Verse 7 sits at the center of this cascade, naming the cost that makes the rest possible. From there Paul turns to prayer (1:15–23), asking that his readers actually grasp the riches he has just described.