Program / Course 10: Salvation and Eschatology / Lesson 5.2
What you will learn
- Explain the Old Testament background of redemption in the exodus, the kinsman-redeemer, the jubilee and the return from exile.
- Read the New Testament words for redemption and ransom in context.
- Describe the early debate over to whom the ransom was paid.
- Compare how the main traditions use redemption language.
The big idea
To redeem is to buy back, to free by paying a price. In the Old Testament God redeems Israel from Egypt, from debt and from exile. The New Testament takes up this language and applies it to Christ, who gives his life as a ransom for many and sets people free from sin, death and the curse of the law. Christians agree that redemption is God’s gift and is the work of Christ. They differ about how literally to press the image of a price, and about to whom, if anyone, it is paid.
Key terms
- Redemption
- Release or deliverance, often by payment. In the Bible it can refer to freeing a slave, recovering property or rescuing a people.
- Ransom (lytron)
- The price paid to free a captive or slave. Jesus uses it of his own death in Mark 10:45.
- Go’el (kinsman-redeemer)
- The Hebrew word for a relative who has the duty to redeem a family member from slavery or debt, or to recover family land. Boaz is a go’el in the book of Ruth.
- Jubilee
- The fiftieth year in Leviticus 25, in which land returned to families and slaves were freed.
- Exodus
- Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, the foundational redemption in the Old Testament.
- Apolytrosis
- The Greek noun for redemption, used in Romans 3:24, Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14.
- Curse of the law
- A phrase in Galatians 3:13 for the condition under which people stand because they have not fulfilled the Law. Christ redeems from it by becoming a curse for them.
Background
The vocabulary of redemption comes from the marketplace and the household. In the ancient world a captive could be ransomed, a slave bought out of slavery and a family’s land bought back from a creditor. When the Bible speaks of God as redeemer, it draws on these pictures. They speak of a rescue that costs something and that restores belonging.
It is useful to read the images in order: first the Old Testament pattern, then Jesus’ own words, then Paul and the other writers. Then it is easier to see why the church has not turned any single image into a complete theory. Each picture shows something real. Pressing every detail can lead to questions that the Bible does not ask.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The exodus and the redeemer
God says to Israel in Egypt, “I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments” (Exodus 6:6). The people are slaves, they cannot free themselves, and God acts for them. Later he is called their redeemer (Isaiah 43:14, 44:24). The laws of Leviticus 25 provide for kinsmen to redeem relatives from debt slavery and for the land to return in the jubilee. In Ruth, Boaz acts as the go’el who takes responsibility for Naomi’s family. Job, in distress, says, “I know that my redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25).
Step 2: Return from exile
The prophets use the same language for the return from Babylon. Isaiah 40 to 55 speaks of God coming to redeem his people, to lead them home and to forgive their sins (Isaiah 52:3, 62:12). The theme includes release from captivity, return to the land and renewal of the relationship with God. Many scholars hold that when the New Testament speaks of redemption, it is thinking of this great hope of a new exodus, fulfilled in Christ.
Step 3: Jesus and the apostles
Jesus says of himself, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Paul writes that believers are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24), and that in Christ “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). He writes that Christ “hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Peter says that believers were not redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). Hebrews says that he obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).
From these texts, the church has said that redemption includes release from sin’s guilt and power, from death and from the law’s curse. Romans 8:23 adds that redemption has a future side: believers wait for the redemption of the body.
Step 4: To whom was the ransom paid?
The Bible does not say. Origen and some later writers suggested that the ransom was paid to the devil, who held humanity captive. Gregory of Nazianzus rejected this, asking why the devil should receive the blood of God. He asked whether it was paid to the Father, and answered that this too seemed wrong. Anselm held that no ransom was paid to the devil, who has no right to humanity, and he framed the matter as satisfaction of honor owed to God.
Many interpreters today hold that the question presses the image beyond its purpose. The point of the metaphor is that deliverance cost something, and that Christ himself bore the cost. Others hold that the image has legal force, with the price paid to God’s justice. Both approaches appear in the traditions.
Step 5: Redemption and its fruits
Redemption is not only about being freed from something. It is freedom for something. Paul writes that Christ gave himself “that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14). Galatians 4:5 says that he redeemed those under the law “that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Redemption leads to belonging, which is the theme of the next lesson.
- What does the exodus teach about who frees and who is freed?
- Why might Jesus have chosen the word ransom for his own death?
- Is it necessary to say to whom a ransom is paid? What happens to the image if one insists on it?
- How are redemption from sin and redemption of the body related?
- What does the kinsman-redeemer in Ruth suggest about Christ’s relation to humanity?
- Why might freedom language appeal to people who feel trapped?
Examples
Boaz and Ruth
Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem poor and without a man to protect them. Boaz, a relative, publicly takes on the responsibility, buys the family’s land and marries Ruth. Readers from many traditions see in him a picture of a redeemer who acts not from obligation alone but from love. The book does not claim this is a picture of Christ, but later readers have used it that way.
The slave market
In the first-century Mediterranean world, a slave could be freed when someone paid a price to the owner, sometimes in the name of a temple god. Paul’s readers would have known such a practice. The picture shows what the word redeem could suggest to them, though the Bible does not press the comparison point by point.
Different perspectives
Orthodox
Redemption is the whole work of Christ in freeing humanity from death, the devil and sin. Orthodox hymns say that Christ trampled down death by death. The East does not usually ask to whom the ransom was paid, and warns against pressing the image into a legal transaction.
Catholic
Christ redeemed humanity by his passion, death and resurrection. The Catechism teaches that his death is both the sacrifice of the new covenant and the ransom that frees from sin, and that the price was not paid to the devil. The Church celebrates redemption in the Mass and sacraments.
Lutheran
Luther spoke of redemption as Christ’s winning of forgiveness and victory over sin, death and the devil. In the Small Catechism, he says that Christ has redeemed him, a lost and condemned creature, with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.
Reformed
Reformed teaching emphasizes redemption as the purchase of the elect by Christ’s blood, with the price paid to God’s justice. The Westminster Confession says that the Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice, has purchased reconciliation and an everlasting inheritance for those whom the Father has given to him.
Arminian and Wesleyan
Redemption is accomplished for all and received by faith. Wesley’s hymns and sermons celebrate it as freedom from sin and the power of sin. The language of purchase is used of all humanity, since Christ died for all.
Why it matters
Redemption is one of the oldest and richest words in the Christian vocabulary, found in hymns, creeds and prayer. Understanding its Old Testament roots keeps students from reading it as only a legal or a commercial image. It also shows how the New Testament understands Jesus in the light of Israel’s story, as the one who finishes the exodus.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Redemption means God had to pay the devil.
Correction: Some early writers suggested this, but later fathers and the medieval church rejected it. The Bible does not say that the ransom was paid to the devil, and the Catechism denies it.
Misunderstanding: The Bible has a single theory of redemption.
Correction: It uses many images: ransom, purchase, exodus, return, kinsman. They overlap but are not the same.
Misunderstanding: Redemption is only about the afterlife.
Correction: The Bible speaks of redemption from sin now, and of the future redemption of the body (Romans 8:23). Both belong.
Misunderstanding: Redemption and forgiveness are separate.
Correction: Ephesians 1:7 puts them together: redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Knowledge check
What are the main Old Testament backgrounds of redemption?
They include the exodus from Egypt, where God redeems Israel from slavery, the laws of redemption in Leviticus, including the kinsman-redeemer and the jubilee, and the prophets’ promise of return from exile. Together they give redemption its meaning as costly rescue that restores a people to freedom and belonging.
What does Jesus say about ransom in Mark 10:45?
He says that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. The saying presents his death as an act of service by which others are set free. It does not say to whom the ransom is paid, and the church has not defined that.
Why did Gregory of Nazianzus object to the idea of a ransom paid to the devil?
He asked why the devil should be paid the blood of God, since the devil has no rightful claim over humanity. He also doubted that the Father should receive the price. His objections helped push the church away from a ransom paid to the devil and toward other ways of explaining the cross.
What does redemption lead to, according to Titus 2:14 and Galatians 4:5?
It leads to belonging and good works. Christ redeemed his people to purify for himself a people zealous for good works, and he redeemed those under the law so that they might receive adoption as sons. Redemption is freedom for a new relationship with God and with his people.
Think it through
- Which of the images, ransom, exodus, kinsman or return, speaks most to you, and why?
- Why might the Bible use several images rather than one?
- How does knowing that redemption has a future side change your reading of Romans 8:23?
Independent assignment
Tracing a word
In your notebook, write 400 to 600 words. Use the Scripture list in this lesson to trace the word redeem or redemption through at least six texts: two from the Old Testament and four from the New. For each, note who redeems, who is redeemed and what the redemption is from. Then write a paragraph describing what the images have in common and one question you would still like to ask.
Further study
- Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word Read the sections on the death of the Word and the defeat of corruption.
- Anselm of Canterbury, Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man) Read for Anselm’s argument against a ransom paid to the devil.
- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism Read the explanation of the Second Article.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Read the sections on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice.
- Exodus 6:6 I will redeem you with a stretched out arm.
- Ruth 4:9 Boaz acts as redeemer.
- Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
- 1 Peter 1:18 Redeemed not with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ.