Redemption (apolutrosis from apo = marker of dissociation or separation + lutroo = to redeem <> from lútron = ransom <> from lúo = loosen what is bound, loose any person tied or fastened) is the payment of a price to ransom (lutron = money for a ransom = ransom or price paid for a slave who is then set free by the one who bought him), to release (of someone from the power of someone else), to buy back or to deliver one from a situation from in which one is powerless to liberate themselves from or for which the penalty was so costly that they could never hope to pay the ransom price. In other words, the idea of redemption is deliverance or release by payment of a ransom.
Apolutrosis is used only once in the Septuagint in Da 4:19 where it refers to the time of Nebuchadnezzar's recovery from his madness without any suggestion of price or cost.
Rightemire rightly notes that...
The central theme of redemption in Scripture is that God has taken the initiative to act compassionately on behalf of those who are powerless to help themselves. The New Testament makes clear that divine redemption includes God's identification with humanity in its plight, and the securing of liberation of humankind through the obedience, suffering, death, and resurrection of the incarnate Son. (Redeem, Redemption - from the well done summary article in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary)
Spurgeon writes that...
The figure of redemption is very simple, and has been very frequently used in Scripture. When a prisoner has been taken captive, and has been made a slave by some barbarous power, it has been usual, before he could be set free, that a ransom price should be paid down. Now, we being, by the fall of Adam, prone to guiltiness, and, indeed, virtually guilty, we were by the irreproachable judgment of God given up to the vengeance of the law; we were given into the hands of justice; justice claimed us to be his bond slaves for ever, unless we could pay a ransom, whereby our souls could be redeemed. We were, indeed, poor as owlets, we had not wherewith to bless ourselves. We were, as our hymn hath worded it, "bankrupt debtors;" an execution was put into our house; all we had was sold; we were left naked, and poor, and miserable, and we could by no means find a ransom; it was just then that Christ stepped in, stood sponsor for us, and, in the room and stead of all believers, did pay the ransom price, that we might in that hour be delivered from the curse of the law and the vengeance of God, and go our way, clean, free, justified by his blood. (Spurgeon's sermon Justification by Grace)
Apolutrosis is found 10 times in the NT and is translated - redemption, 9; release, 1.
Luke 21:28 "But when these things (Always stop and ask "What things?" - then go back and read the preceding context - see question posed to Jesus in Lk 21:7 - ) begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption (future tense salvation - glorification, which marks the consummation and completion of our redemptions - cp Ep 1:14 below) is drawing near."
Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Romans 8:23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
1 Corinthians 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
Ephesians 1:7 (note) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,
Ephesians 1:14 (note) who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 4:30 (note) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Colossians 1:14 (note) in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 9:15 (note) And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 11:35 (note) Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection;
Thayer - Everywhere in the New Testament this word is used to denote deliverance effected through the death of Christ from the retributive wrath of a holy God and the merited penalty of sin.
Ryrie (Ryrie Study Bible) adds that...
Three ideas are involved in the doctrine of redemption:
(1) paying the ransom with the blood of Christ
1Cor 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
(2) removal from the curse of the law
Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"
Gal 4:5 in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
(3) release from the bondage of sin into the freedom of grace (here and in 1 Peter 1:18).
1Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, (see note)
Redemption is always through His blood; i.e., through the death of Christ (Col 1:14).
Colossians 1:14 in Whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins. (see note)
Newell exhorts us - Before you leave verse 24, apply it to yourself, if you are a believer. Say of yourself: "God has declared me righteous without any cause in me, by His grace, through the redemption from sin's penalty that is in Christ Jesus." It is the bold believing use for ourselves of the Scripture we learn, that God desires; and not merely the knowledge of Scripture. (Romans 3 Commentary)
Barclay writes that apolutrosis conveys
"In every case the conception (of) the delivering of a man from a situation from which he was powerless to liberate himself or from a penalty which he himself could never have paid." He goes on to relate that the Roman philosopher Seneca who tutored and advised Nero was "full of this kind of feeling of helpless frustration. Men, he said, were overwhelmingly conscious of their inefficiency in necessary things. He said of himself that he was a homo non tolerabilis, a man not to be tolerated. Men, he said with a kind of despair, love their vices and hate them at the same time. What men need, he cried, is a hand let down to lift them up. The highest thinkers in the pagan world knew that they were in the grip of something from which they were helpless to deliver themselves. They needed liberation. It was just that liberation which Jesus Christ brought. It is still true that he can liberate men from helpless slavery to the things which attract and disgust them at one and the same time." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)
Apolutrosis was used was used in secular Greek as a technical term for money paid to buy back and set free prisoners of war or to emancipate (= to liberate a person from subjection or domination, to free from restraint, control, or the power of another) slaves from their masters.
Apolutrosis would have been a very meaningful term to the first century reader as there were by some accounts up to 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire! Many of these slaves became Christians and fellowshipped in the local assemblies. A slave could purchase his own freedom, if he could collect sufficient funds or his master could sell him to someone who would pay the price and set him free. Redemption was a precious thing in Paul's day.
Jesus answering the unbelieving Jews who claimed never to have been enslaved to anyone (which of course was incorrect historically)
"answered them" declaring "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." (Jn 8:34)
Believers have been ransomed, bought out of slavery to sin, like the redemption of a bondservant by a kinsman-redeemer (Lev 25:49).
Before redemption we were held captive by Satan to do his will and were enslaved to our old sin nature inherited from Adam. As noted above a Roman or Grecian slave could be freed with the payment of money, but no amount of money can set an enslaved sinner free.
The redemption of a sinner is only possible by payment of the ransom price, the blood of Christ. Peter writes that believers
were not redeemed (lutroo) with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile (a lifestyle that is without purpose, unfruitful, and useless) way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (see note 1 Peter 1:18-19, cf 1Co 6:20; Rev 5:9-note)
Jesus explained to His disciples that
"even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom (lutron = the ransom price) for many." (Mk 10:45 cf Mt 20:28)
I Gave My Life for Thee
Play Hymn
Frances Ridley Havergal
(Her first hymn!)
I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed;
That thou might ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead.
I gave, I gave, My life for thee,
What hast thou given for Me?
Jamieson comments that...
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (is) a most important clause; teaching us that though justification is quite gratuitous, it is not a mere fiat of the divine will, but based on a "Redemption," that is, "the payment of a Ransom," in Christ's death. That this is the sense of the word "redemption," when applied to Christ's death, will appear clear to any impartial student of the passages where it occurs.
Guzik - The word redemption had its origin in the release of prisoners of war on payment of a price and was know as the "ransom." As time went on, it was extended to include the freeing of slaves, again by the payment of a price. The idea of redemption means that Jesus bought us, therefore we belong to Him. Paul expressed this thought in another letter: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. (1Co 6:20) (Ref)
A dignified looking lady once approached the great preacher Dr. G. Campbell Morgan and said,
“Dr. Morgan, I don’t like to hear about the blood. It is repulsive to me and offends my esthetic nature."
Dr. Morgan replied,
“I agree with you that it is repulsive, but the only thing repulsive about it is your sin and mine."
It is repulsive to man, but it is through His blood that we have redemption.
Paul writes that in Christ
"we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us." (Eph 1:7-8-note)
Christ's shed blood is a metonym (figure of speech in which one thing is designated by the mention of something associated with it) for death, the penalty and the price of sin. Christ’s death, by the shedding of His blood, was the substitute for our death and the ransom price that freed us from the bondage and guilt of our old Master "Sin" and introduced us into a life of liberty.
Paul gives us an interesting "definition" if you will of "redemption" writing that in Christ
"we have redemption (apolutrosis), the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:14-note)
Christ's Blood shed for me for the forgiveness of sins. His death for my life. Redemption results in the forgiveness of sins.
Paul explains that in regard to our salvation we can never boast about anything but the Lord for
by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption (apolutrosis)" (1Cor 1:30)
Paul explains that the Holy Spirit
is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption (apolutrosis) of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory." (Eph 1:14-note) (Comment: This is a reference to our "future" redemption)
Later in the same letter he makes another reference to our future redemption, admonishing the saints not to
grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (apolutrosis)" (Eph 4:30-note)
Comment: Here Paul refers to that future day when our bodies are glorified, that day when final redemption is realized. It is worth noting therefore that Christ's death on the cross has purchased not only present but final liberation. This is good news beloved
In Romans he again refers to our future redemption writing
we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption (apolutrosis) of our body. (Ro 8:23-note)
"Future" redemption is that day when we receive our resurrected glorified body and final deliverance from the "ills that the flesh is heir to". It refers to the final and complete deliverance of our earthly bodies not just from the power of Sin (see note) but even the presence of sin and the pleasure of sin and the resultant tension which we constantly feel as long as we are in these mortal bodies.
The writer of Hebrews explained that Jesus
is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption (apolutrosis - Cranfield calls "the innermost meaning of the cross" ) of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant (here we see the explanation of how sinners could have been saved in the OT before Christ was crucified - see same idea in Ro 3:25-note), those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Heb 9:15-note)
One of the effects of the apolutrosis procured by the death of Christ was to redeem all those who had believed in God under the Old Covenant. After Christ died, they saw what had only before been a promise - it was a certain promise, a guaranteed promise, but until the Messiah’s atoning death, it was an unfulfilled promise. The point is that Christ’s atoning death was retroactive. Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) also pictured symbolically what Christ’s atonement did actually, for Yom Kippur was "retroactive". When the high priest sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat, the unintentional sins of the people were covered for the previous year.
Redemption, Redeem (apolutrosis)
Vine's Greek Lexicon
apolutrosis a strengthened form of lutrosis, lit., "a releasing, for (i.e., on payment of) a ransom." It is used of...
(a) "deliverance" from physical torture, Heb 11:35, see
apolutrosis under DELIVER
(b) the deliverance of the people of God at the coming of Christ with His glorified saints, "in a cloud with power and great glory," Lk 21:28, a "redemption" to be accomplished at the "outshining of His Parousia," 2Thes 2:8, i.e., at His second advent;
(c) forgiveness and justification, "redemption" as the result of expiation, deliverance from the guilt of sins, Ro 3:24, "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;" Eph 1:7, defined as "the forgiveness of our trespasses," RV; so Col 1:14, "the forgiveness of our sins," indicating both the liberation from the guilt and doom of sin and the introduction into a life of liberty, "newness of life" (Ro 6:4); Heb 9:15, "for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant," RV, here "redemption of" is equivalent to "redemption from," the genitive case being used of the object from which the "redemption" is effected, not from the consequence of the transgressions, but from the transgressions themselves;
(d) the deliverance of the believer from the presence and power of sin, and of his body from bondage to corruption, at the coming (the Parousia in its inception) of the Lord Jesus, Ro 8:23; 1Cor 1:30; Eph 1:14; Eph 4:30. See also PROPITIATION. (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. 1996. Nelson
To the Jews "redeemed" would bring to mind the picture of God's deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Ex 6:6, 15:13). Years later the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon was depicted in similar terms (Isa 52:3) Jehovah declaring that
You were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed (Hebrew = Ga'al = act as kinsman redeemer; Lxx = lutroo - word study) without money.
In the Old Testament, redemption involves deliverance from bondage based on the payment of a price by a kinsman redeemer, a concept beautifully pictured by Boaz's redemption of Ruth which prefigured the Messiah as Kinsman-Redeemer of all who would receive His free gift by faith. (Click study on Ruth - with discussion of Goel = Kinsman Redeemer on this website).
REDEMPTION, n. [L. redemptio.]
Websters 1828 Dictionary
1. Repurchase of captured goods or prisoners; the act of procuring the deliverance of persons or things from the possession and power of captors by the payment of an equivalent; ransom; release; as the redemption of prisoners taken in war; the redemption of a ship and cargo. (Redeem: To purchase back; to ransom; to liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying an equivalent; as, to redeem prisoners or captured goods; to redeem a pledge. To repurchase what has been sold; to regain possession of a thing alienated, by repaying the value of it to the possessor.)
2. Deliverance from bondage, distress, or from liability to any evil or forfeiture, either by money, labor or other means. (Redeem: To rescue; to recover; to deliver from)
3. Repurchase, as of lands alienated. Lev. 25. Jer. 32.
4. The liberation of an estate from a mortgage; or the purchase of the right to re-enter upon it by paying the principal sum for which it was mortgaged with interest and cost; also, the right of redeeming and re-entering.
5. Repurchase of notes, bills or other evidence of debt by paying their value in specie to their holders.
6. 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. (Redeem: 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. In commerce, to purchase or pay the value in specie, of any promissory note, bill or other evidence of debt, given by the state, by a company or corporation, or by an individual. The credit of a state, a banking company or individuals, is good when they can redeem all their stock, notes or bills, at par.)
Jesus describing the events surrounding the end of this age uses apolutrosis to describe the final redemption brought about by His triumphant return declaring that
when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. (Lk 21:28)
In this context apolutrosis in suggests not just redemption from slavery to Sin but redemption from political oppression and establishment of an independent Jewish state. Apolutrosis is found on a coin struck circa 133-34AD, which reads "First year of the Redemption of Israel".
It cost more to redeem us than to create us. In creation it was but speaking a word. In redemption the Word became flesh and blood (Jn 1:1,14) and shed of His precious blood (1Pe 1:19 - 1Peter 1:19). Creation was the work of God's fingers (Ps 8:3-Spurgeon's note); redemption was the work of his arm (Lk 1:51). In creation, God gave us ourselves; in the redemption he gave us Himself. By creation, we have life in Adam; by redemption, we have life in Christ (Col 3:3-note). (From The Ten Commandments by Thomas Watson.)
The Gospel is first presented as the bad news to bring one to the point of conviction of personal sin before it can be understood as the good news of redemption from bondage to sin.
Sermons by Spurgeon related to redemption...
Exodus 10:26 Full Redemption
Luke 19:10 The Mission Of The Son Of Man
Matthew 20:28 Particular Redemption
Psalm 130:7 Plenteous Redemption
Ephesians 1:7 Redemption Thru Blood, The Gracious Forgiveness Of Sins
Redemption Defined
The word means to buy back by paying a price, and set free
1. Man’s ruin - Isaiah 52:3; Jn 8:34; Ro 6:20- note
2. Man’s helplessness - Ps 49:7-note; Micah 6:7
3. A redeemer provided - Job 33:24; Ps 111:9 - note
4. Redemption by blood - Eph 1:7 - note; Acts 20:28; He 9:12 - note
5. Redemption by power - Eph 1:13, 14 - note; Eph 4:30-note; Ro 8:23-note
6. Redemption from iniquity - Titus 2:!4 -note; 1Pe 1:18- note
7. Redemption from the curse - Gal 3:3; Ps 103:4 - note
8. Redemption of the body Ro 8:23 - note; Php 3:20 - note
(From the Book of 750 Bible and Gospel Studies, 1909, George W Noble, Chicago)
John Piper speaks about the practical importance that every believer understand this section of Romans writing that
If you build your life on these verses (Ro 3:23,24) - if the truth of these two verses becomes the foundation of your life - you will be unshakable in a hundred crises. If these verses become the sun in the solar system of your life, all your planets will orbit in harmony around the will of God. But if you put these verses out on the rim of your life (say near Neptune or Pluto) you need not be surprised if there is confusion and uncertainty and fear and weakness in your life. There are some truths that are so foundational and so central that you should memorize them, meditate on them, bind them to your mind and heart with chains and ropes and every kind of adhesive you can find. Many professing Christians are very weak, and amble through their days pretty much like unbelievers, because they don't hold on to these verses the way a drowning man takes hold of his rescuer's arm. (Read full sermon text The Demonstration of God's Righteousness)
Below is a Contemporary example of "redemption" taken from the Global Prayer Digest (01/06/01)...
"The two men stood in the shadowy door of a popular brothel in the heart of Phnom Penh's red light district. Five hundred dollars was exchanged. This was not the fee for one night with a prostitute. This "fortune" was paid to redeem a young girl's life from prostitution. God is opening a better way, and there is new hope. Seten Lee's organization, Kampuchea for Christ, received a generous gift from the U.S., providing funds to build a home for these girls on a plot of land close to Phnom Penh. It will provide housing, food, counseling, and vocational training for these girls as they leave their degrading lives of prostitution." Do you think they in a human sense could sing the old hymn "Redeemed how I love to proclaim it". May God's Spirit move that they can also sing "Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!"
Nor Silver Nor Gold
by James Gray
Click to play
Nor silver nor gold hath obtained my redemption,
Nor riches of earth could have saved my poor soul;
The blood of the cross is my only foundation,
The death of my Savior now maketh me whole.
Refrain
I am redeemed, but not with silver,
I am bought, but not with gold;
Bought with a price, the blood of Jesus,
Precious price of love untold.
Nor silver nor gold hath obtained my redemption,
The guilt on my conscience too heavy had grown;
The blood of the cross is my only foundation,
The death of my Savior could only atone.
William Newell closes this section writing that...
- Bible
- Read the Bible
- Bible Versions
- Verse of the Day
- Reading Plans
- Verses by Topic
- Books of the Bible
- Bible Images
- Study
- Commentaries
- Concordances
- Dictionaries
- Encyclopedias
- Sermons
- Bible Atlas & Maps
- BP Wiki
- Devotionals
- Today's Devotionals
- Light of the World
- All Devotionals
- Inspirational Quotes
- More
- Picture Quotes
- Videos
- Inspirational
- Bible Study
- What The Bible Says
- Bible Q&As
- Daily Bread
- Bible by Genre
- Bible Stories
- Random Bible Verse
- Community
- Store