In him we have redemption through the blood of his Son: Believers were once prisoners of sin. Now they are free from God's judgment and from the bondage to sin because of Christ's sacrificial death (see 1:14; 4:30; Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Colossians 1:14; compare Matthew 26:28; Mark 10:45; Hebrews 9:11–12, 26; 1 Peter 1:18–19).