Redemption

1 Peter 1:17-19 “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

Read another thought-provoking study again that dealt with the issue of Christian redemption. It challenged how convincingly we use the terms redeemed, redemption, and ransom. But what do they mean, and more importantly, what did Christ’s act of redemption mean?

Three Greek words and their derivations are used in the New Testament to denote various aspects of this truth. In our text, “redeemed” comes from lutroo, which means to set free, buy back, or ransom. Christ’s innocent blood, sacrificed for us, bought us back. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “redeemed” as: delivered from bondage, distress, penalty, liability, or from the possession of another, by paying an equivalent. In theology, to rescue and deliver from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's violated law, by obedience and suffering in the place of the sinner, or by doing and suffering that which is accepted in lieu of the sinner's obedience. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Redeemed from what? From slavery to sin. Jesus taught in John 8:34, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And from death as the penalty of sin.

Hebrews 9:11-12 “Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

The Greek word here is “exagorazo”, meaning to buy up, to ransom from the market place, which could be called “the slave market of sin.” He ransomed us, He redeemed us from the horrors of slavery to sin by His death on the cross. Webster’s dictionary defines the word “redemption” as: In theology, the purchase of God's favor by the death and sufferings of Christ; the ransom or deliverance of sinners from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's violated law by the atonement of Christ.

The final word is “apolutrosis”, means to ransom in full. Christ has paid the full penalty! “It is finished”. In Him alone “we have redemption through His atoning blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace”. Webster’s dictionary defines the word “ransom” as: The money or price paid for the redemption of a prisoner or slave, or for goods captured by an enemy; that which procures the release of a prisoner or captive, or of captured property, and restores the one to liberty and the other to the original owner. In Scripture, to redeem from the bondage of sin, and from the punishment to which sinners are subjected by the divine law.

Each of us needs to sever an ecclesiastical benefice of His plan, and annex it to a spiritual corporation, sole or aggregate, being the patron of the living, because “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” - Romans 3:23-24.

Blessings