redemption Summary and Overview

the purchase back of something that had been lost, by the payment of a ransom. The Greek word so rendered is "apolutrosis", a word occurring nine times in Scripture, and always with the idea of a ransom or price paid, i.e., redemption by a lutron (see Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). There are instances in the LXX. Version of the Old Testament of the use of "lutron" in man's relation to man (Lev. 19:20; 25:51; Ex. 21:30; Num. 35:31, 32; Isa. 45:13; Prov. 6:35), and in the same sense of man's relation to God (Num. 3:49; 18:15). There are many passages in the New Testament which represent Christ's sufferings under the idea of a ransom or price, and the result thereby secured is a purchase or redemption (compare Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Gal. 3:13; 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Titus 2:14; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Rev. 5:9). The idea running through all these texts, however various their reference, is that of payment made for our redemption. The debt against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ's blood or life, which he surrendered for them, is the "ransom" by which the deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin and from its penal consequences is secured. It is the plain doctrine of Scripture that "Christ saves us neither by the mere exercise of power, nor by his doctrine, nor by his example, nor by the moral influence which he exerted, nor by any subjective influence on his people, whether natural or mystical, but as a satisfaction to divine justice, as an expiation for sin, and as a ransom from the curse and authority of the law, thus reconciling us to God by making it consistent with his perfection to exercise mercy toward sinners" (Hodge's Systematic Theology).

REDEMP'TION or REDEEM In the O.T. these terms are specially applied to the repurchase of an estate, a field, which had come into some stranger's possession. According to the Mosaic Law, the original owner of such an estate or his descendants, or even his nearest kinsmen, still retained a right of proprietorship, which they could enforce after ransoming the estate - that is, by paying back the sum for which it had been sold. Hence arose a number of metaphorical applications of the terms referring to this relation between God and his people, the children of Israel, whom he redeemed from the bondage of Egypt. Ex 6:6; Isa 43:1; Isa 44:22; Isa 48:20. In the N.T. the terms generally refer to the repurchase of the freedom of a person. To purchase a person's liberty for him is to redeem him, and the price paid is called the ransom. Sinners are in bondage to sin, but Christ, having given bis blood or his life as a ransom for them, redeems them, and is therefore called their Redeemer. Matt 20:28; 1 Pet 1:18. This ransom has an infinite value, being the work of the God-man, and is sufficient to redeem all men from captivity; but it is efficient and available only for the redemption of such as accept and appropriate it by a living faith in Christ Jesus, and walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.