REDEMPTION: PART 1

In Ephesians 1: 7 Paul says that 'in (Christ) we have redemption through His blood'. In this and the next two chapters we will consider what it means for us to be redeemed through the atoning death of Christ.

What is redemption?

The basic meaning of the word 'redeem' in English is to 'buy back'. In the past, the word was associated mainly with the pawn shop where one could leave an item such as a watch in exchange for a loan and then hopefully some time later one could 'redeem' the item by paying back the loan along with a little interest. Nowadays we talk more commonly about 'redeeming' a voucher - which means exchanging it for the goods or services to which the voucher shows one is entitled. More metaphorically, a situation is 'redeemed' when it is brought back from the brink of disaster. And a person's 'redeeming' feature is the one aspect of his character or personality that is favourable and saves him from being written off as all bad.

In order to understand what the New Testament teaches about our redemption, it is important that we first consider the Old Testament background to this.

Old Testament Background

There are three Hebrew words that can be translated 'redeem'. The first (pada) suggests one thing being given in exchange for another. For example, in the Israelite community, every first-born male, animal or human, was regarded as belonging to God. However, the firstborn son in every family was 'redeemed' either by the substitution of an animal or by the payment of a fixed sum (Numbers 18: 16).

The second Hebrew word (gaal) has to do with an action taken or a payment made in order to retrieve something or someone that has been lost. It refers to:

'the deliverance of some person, property, or right to which one had a previous claim through family relation or possession. Goel, the participle of gaal, is the term for the person who performed the duties of a 'redeemer'. It was the duty of a man's redeemer, usually his next of kin, to buy back the freedom that he had lost (e.g., through debt). An example of such 'redemption' is found in Leviticus 25: 47-49, where an Israelite who has had to sell himself into slavery because of poverty may be redeemed by a kinsman or by himself. Property sold under similar conditions could likewise be redeemed, thus keeping it within the family (Leviticus 25: 24-25; Ruth 4: 1-6; Jeremiah 32: 6-9).'1

As Ruth's kinsman-redeemer (goel) Boaz's duty, provided he was both willing and able to provide for her, was to marry Ruth in order to ensure that her property and any male children she might have in the future would remain in the family line of her deceased husband.

The third Hebrew word (kapar) means 'to cover' and, as we have already seen, this is the root word behind the term 'atonement' in the Old Testament. When translated 'redeem' it means to give a payment in exchange for one's own or someone else's life. For example, if the owner of a bull that has gored someone to death is convicted of negligence, the law of Moses provided that: 'the dead person’s relatives may accept payment to compensate for the loss of life. The owner of the ox may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded' (Exodus 21: 30 NLT). A payment of this kind was known as a 'ransom' (cf Psalm 49: 7).

In the Old Testament, then, the redemption of a person involves a payment being made or an action being taken to secure their release from slavery, captivity or death and their return to the family, household or tribal clan to which they belong.

As we shall see in the next two chapters, all of this feeds through into the New Testament idea of redemption through the blood of Jesus. 

New Testament Background

In the New Testament context, the word 'redeemed' was associated mostly with the idea of redemption from slavery. The term 'justification' comes from the law courts; the term 'redemption' comes from the slave markets that were common in Paul's day.  In the Greco-Roman world, the word redeem meant 'to liberate a slave by purchasing their freedom'.2

There were many ways in which people could become enslaved in the Roman world. Some were born into slavery. Some had been born free but were later sold into slavery to pay off a debt or as punishment for a crime they had committed. Some had been taken as prisoners of war or captured by pirates and sold into slavery.

'Slavery in ancient Rome differed from its modern forms in that it was not based on race. But like modern slavery, it was an abusive and degrading institution. Cruelty was commonplace.'3

'The fate of a slave depended largely on the temperament of his or her master. Masters could punish slaves brutally for real or perceived infractions. Sexual abuse of slaves was also common.'4

Many slaves were involved in hard manual labour but others were involved in more skillful occupations such as tutoring, bookkeeping, and estate managing. Many worked under strict supervision but others were given positions of trust and responsibility which involved a greater degree of autonomy. Needless to say, the fitter and more skilled a slave was, the greater the price that was paid for him.

Slaves were not the same as hired servants - who were generally employed by the day and paid a wage for the work they did. By contrast:

'Under Roman law, enslaved people had no personal rights and were regarded as the property of their masters. They could be bought, sold, and mistreated at will and were unable to own property, enter into a contract, or legally marry.'5

Hired servants were never regarded as the property of their masters and did not become part of the household.

Slavery was not necessarily permanent. Masters often freed their slaves for various reasons, including as a reward for obedience and loyalty. Some masters even allowed their slaves to buy their freedom. Of course:

'Many wouldn't have the money to pay, but with their peculium it could be achieved. Granting peculium was the practice of masters allowing enslaved people to manage their assets. While legally the peculium belonged to the master, it was considered the enslaved person's property and could be used to purchase freedom.'5

And naturally, the prospect of gaining their freedom encouraged most slaves to be obedient and hard working.

A person who had been sold into slavery to pay off a debt was freed once he had paid off his debt - or after he had worked long enough to have earned the amount that was originally paid for him. Alternatively he could be 'redeemed' by someone else - usually a member of his family or occasionally by a kind benefactor who was willing to pay the price that was required to set him free.

In Roman society there was a clear distinction between those who were slaves and those who were free. According to Paul one was either Jew or Gentile, either male or female and either slave or free (Galatians 3: 28). There was no middle ground.

'The Roman Empire was a slave society. According to Gaius, a second-century Roman lawyer: ‘The principal distinction made by the law of nature is this, that all human beings are either free people or slaves’ (Institutes 1.9). ‘Slave,’ ‘freed slave’ and ‘freeborn’ were fundamental categories of identity. A person’s status determined their legal rights (or lack of rights), their ability to protect their own bodies against abuse and their capacity for social honour.'6

To lose one's freedom in such a society was to lose one's status and one's rights entirely and to become the property of another. To gain one's freedom, on the other hand, was to be set free from bondage to another and to acquire a completely new legal status and all the rights and privileges that went with it. It was what every slave dreamed of and longed for.

The Redeemer Of Israel

Throughout the Old Testament, God is frequently referred to as Israel's Redeemer. The supreme act of redemption which the people of Israel were called to remember and to celebrate was the way in which God had intervened to 'redeem' them from their slavery in Egypt and to set them apart for Himself as His people. It was through His mighty acts which were designed to liberate them from bondage to their Egyptian slave-masters that He had first and most clearly demonstrated His commitment to them and showed Himself to be their mighty redeemer.

In Exodus 6: 6-7 God tells Moses to say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.' And in Psalm 77: 15 the psalmist says to God: 'With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.'

Then, from the time of the exodus onward:

'The Lord reveals Himself as a deliverer, redeeming people from danger, oppression, captivity, and death (Psalm 72: 14; 103: 4; 106: 10; 107: 2; Jeremiah 32: 16–44; 50: 34; Isaiah 43: 1; 48: 20).'7

After the exile, the prophets began to speak of a time when God would again come to redeem His people through their Messiah. In the book of Isaiah - and especially from chapter 43 onward - when God speaks to His people He frequently refers to Himself as their Redeemer. In Isaiah 43: 1 He tells them 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.' He speaks initially of their redemption from the Babylonians but as the prophecy continues it becomes clear that there is a much greater redemption still to come - when God will redeem His people from their wickedness through the work of His suffering servant. 

In Isaiah 59: 20 we read: ''The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins’ declares the Lord.' Fast forward 700 years and in the opening chapter of his gospel, Luke records that Zechariah, speaking of the birth of Jesus, was filled with the Spirit and prophesied: 'Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to His people and redeemed them' (Luke 1: 68).

God's people around the time of Jesus were clearly expecting redemption from their enemies to come through their long-awaited Messiah. The two travelers on the road to Emmaus say of Jesus: 'We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel' (Luke 24: 21). Following that we are told that 'beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He (Jesus) explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself' (Luke 24: 25). And perhaps it was then, or shortly afterwards, that for the first time they began to understand the true nature of the redemption that Jesus had come to bring and how it had been accomplished.

The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, in its entry on Redemption says:

'Fundamental to the message of the New Testament is the announcement that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of Israel's messianic hope and that, in him, the long-awaited redemption has arrived. Deliverance of humankind from its state of alienation from God has been accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ (Romans 4: 25; 2 Corinthians 5: 18-19). In the New Testament, redemption requires the payment of a price, but the plight that requires such a ransom is moral, not material. Humankind is held in the captivity of sin from which only the atoning death of Jesus Christ can liberate.'8

We saw in the last chapter that reconciliation was the purpose of the atonement from God's point of view. 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself' (2 Corinthians 5: 19). The reason the Father sent His Son to die for us was that we might be reconciled to Him. But we also see from the New Testament that the reason Jesus came into the world was to accomplish our redemption. This was the purpose of the atonement from His point of view. He came 'to give His life as a ransom for many' (Mark 10: 45) and 'by His blood' to purchase 'people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation' (Revelation 5: 8-9).

Notes

1. https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/redeem-redemption.html 

2. 'Redemption' by Leon Morris in The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters edited by Gerald F. Hawthorn, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid.

3. https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/slaves_freemen.html 

4. https://thesacredpage.bibleodyssey.org/articles/slavery-in-the-new-testament/#google_vignette 

5. https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/nero-man-behind-myth/slavery-ancient-rome 

6. https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/what-was-slavery-like-in-the-nt-world 

7. https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Redeemer.html

8. https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/redeem-redemption