Redemption:
Paid in Full. Rev. 5:9
Revelation 5:9 NASB “And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain,
and purchased for God with Your blood {men} from every tribe and tongue and
people and nation.”
Redemption terminology
In the Old Testament there are two key words that are used to talk about
redemption. The first is the Hebrew word padah
which refers to the payment of a price to free something from some state, such
as slavery, or death or destruction. It always emphasises the payment of a
price. Whenever we think of the word redemption we need to think of paying a
price. It is a financial term at its core. We find this word used several times
in the book of Exodus, primarily as it goes back to the exodus event itself.
There are two key events in the Old Testament that provide a picture for
understanding redemption. The first is the redemption of
The second word found in the Old Testament that is related to redemption
is the word ga’al (verb); goel (noun). The reason for bring in the
noun is that it is significant in relationship to the book of Ruth and the
concept of the kinsman redeemer. The verb has the primary meaning of paying a
price. The noun emphasizes a kinsman redeemer, and the idea there is often
protection. The goel emphasizes the
responsibility of blood relatives to provide for and to protect blood
relatives. So there is a development of the concept from paying a price to
protecting those for whom one is responsible. The first place we see this word
used in the Old Testament is in Genesis 48:15, 16 when Jacob is blessing
Joseph’s sons: NASB “He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before
whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all
my life to this day,
That is the imagery that we get when we come to the New Testament and we
hear that Jesus is the one who redeemed us by means of His blood. There are
eight different Greek words in the New Testament that are used for redemption
and they all come back to this same root idea of the payment of a price. Note
that at their root they all have the syllable lu, and this comes from a root
Greek verb LUO [luw], meaning to release. So the basic idea here is to
release something by the payment of a price.
The first word is ANTILUTRON [antilutron]. This has the
idea of substituting money, the payment for the freedom of a slave or a
prisoner. Usually this is translated “ransom” and it has the idea of purchasing
freedom from slavery. 1 Timothy 2:6 NASB “who gave Himself as a
ransom for all, the testimony {given} at the proper time.” This is used with
the preposition HUPER [u(per] indicating the payment of a price for someone in
substitution for someone.
APOLUTROSIS [a)polutrwsij] means deliverance procured by the payment of
a ransom, to release a slave upon receipt of a ransom. Used in Romans
LUTRON [lutron], the noun, the root, and it has the idea of the
payment of a ransom in order to set free, to let someone loose. The verb that
is built on LUTRON is LUTROO [lutrow] which means to pay the ransom price. In the middle
voice, the way it is used in 1 Peter 1:17-19, it means to redeem.
LUTROSIS [lutrwsij] means redemption, deliverance or freedom. When we
are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb we are given true freedom. The only basis
for true freedom in life starts at the cross.
LUTROTES [lutrwthj] means a redeemer, the
deliverer, the one who pays for the freedom of the nation. Acts
All of these six that we have seen so far are built off the same root
word for redemption. The last two that we will look at come off another word
based on the noun AGORA [a)gora] meaning the market place, to purchase something or
to buy something in the market place. It is used 31 times in the New Testament.
Christ paid the price to purchase those who were slaves to sin. 1 Corinthians
EXAGORAZO [e)cagorazw] – ex
means out of, so it means to purchase something out from the slave market, to
completely, totally liberate a slave. The price is completely and totally paid.
This means that nothing can be added to the price.
Pictures from the Old Testament
The first picture we have seen is the picture of the exodus, the picture
of redemption. Exodus 6:6;
The picture here for the church age believer is that we are born slaves
to sin, dead in trespasses and sins. We only have one option and that is to
operate on the basis of our sin nature. Every person can produce good deeds but
they have no spiritual value; they have no value as far as God is concerned. But
just as God freed the Jews from slavery in
The second great illustration that comes out of the Old Testament is
that of the goel, the kinsman
redeemer. This is the idea that if someone, for example, in a marriage where
the husband dies and the wife was left without resources, then the brother of
the dead husband could come along and take her as his wife and protect her and
to pay whatever debts there were. If there was a brother who was unmarried then
he would be the kinsman redeemer. The picture of this is that the one who
redeems mankind must be a kinsman, a full, true human being. This is the
picture that is given from the book of Ruth. So the two elements that we have
in the picture of redemption from the Old Testament is first of all the picture
of the payment of a price, freeing from slavery of sin; and secondly, that it
must be done by a kinsman redeemer. This is exactly what we see in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Five
characteristics of the redeemer that apply to Jesus Christ
a) The redeemer was a
blood relative of the one who was to be redeemed. Jesus Christ is our blood
relative; He is true humanity.
b) The redeemer must
be willing to redeem. Deuteronomy 25:7-10. Christ voluntarily left heaven to
pay the price for our sins, according to Philippians 2:5-8.
c) The redeemer must
be able to redeem. He must be able to pay the redemption price. Only Jesus
Christ could pay the price of our redemption; only He was perfect and without
sin.
d) The redeemer, the goel, must be free himself from the
calamity from which he must free his kinsman. Jesus Christ, because He was free
from sin, could pay the redemption price.
e) The redeemer must
act to pay the redemption price. This is what Jesus Christ did.
In the Old Testament, in Isaiah 40-66 Yahweh is presented as the Redeemer
par excellance: Isaiah 41:14 NASB
“Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of