Redemption In The Bible
By Michael
A. H. Back
What is a redeemer? What
does He do?
Greek: archegos,
agoradzo, eksagoradzo, lutron, lutroo, and apolutrosis
The basic meaning of all
words translated with some form of "redeem" is "ransom,
or to pay a price."
A subtle, but important
difference between how WE think of "paying a ransom" and
how these words were used is that these words usually indicate that
the person who was being held for ransom is obligated for life to the
person who frees them (the ransom payer). The redeemer, the
"ransom payer," now morally OWNS the person who is freed.
He "bought" them by paying the ransom. This
"ownership" or "obligation" is NOT slavery,
however. It was more of a "moral obligation" than an actual
legal ownership. You could say that the person becomes a voluntary
bondservant for life.
That sounds extreme, but
the ransoming really did save the person's life. Their life was over
(if the ransom was not paid, they were usually killed or forced into
hard labor as a slave for life). Thus, according to anything they
could do by their own power, their life was over. Their only hope for
survival was the mercy and intervention of someone else. And if
someone DID intervene and pay the ransom, they STILL considered their
old life over. The old person died back there, and this
"new" life they are living is purely because of the ransom
payer. Thus, all of this "extra life" they now experience,
which they had no hope of ever seeing by their own power, is morally
considered to belong to the ransom payer. And it takes their WHOLE
remaining life to pay for the gift of life that was given back to
them (a life for a life).
But there is more.
Part of it was the
obligation of the ransom payer to ensure that the "ransomee"
will remain free, and never fall into any kind of bondage again. The
person who was ransomed COULD legally walk away from their obligation
to the ransom payer (remember, they are morally obligated as
bondservant, not legally), but if they do, they loose the protection
the redeemer would grant them to keep them from falling into life
threatening bondage again. And the odds of someone bailing them out a
second time when they did not fulfill their moral obligation the
first time is very, very thin. 2 Peter 2:1 alludes to this, in that
the false teachers have denied the master who purchased them (paid
their ransom), and so, because they have no protector, swift
destruction is coming for them.
An interesting point to
note here is that the expected word "redeemer" (the person
who pays the ransom) does not appear in the New Testament (it occurs
in the Old Testament only). However, the reason for that is that a
different word appears, which is tied in meaning to the "full
obligation" of the redeemer and the redeemed as it was
understood in the first century.
We do not have an English
word that corresponds to this one, so it is notoriously difficult to
translate. The Greek word is a0rxh/goj [archegos], and occurs only
four times in the New Testament. It is translated author or prince or
ruler, but actually means much, much more. It has three parts to its
meaning, and once I explain what it means, you will see why it is so
hard to translate into English.
An archegos is a person
who does ALL three of the following:
1) establishes a place
(founder, author, builder, creator);
2) provides a means for
others to come to that safe place (guide, hero, tracker);
3) remains there to
protect and rule over those who came to live there (prince, ruler, judge).
Archegos could be applied
to other situations besides ransom payers, but THIS word sums up what
a ransom payer, a redeemer, does as it was understood in the first century.
He establishes and
provides a safe place (usually his home, of if he is a king, his city
or country), he pays the ransom and thus, provides the means for the
person to come to his safe haven, and he continues to keep that
person safe for the remainder of his life, and in return, the person
voluntarily "serves" the redeemer (and usually ends up
becoming a part of his household).
You can see why this word
is so difficult to translate. No single English word captures the
fullness of its meaning. We simply don't have an English word that
means all of this. The four verses where it occurs are:
"And you killed the author
of life, whom God raised up from the dead, of which we are
witnesses." Acts 3:15
"God has exalted
this One as a Ruler and Savior to His right hand, to give to
Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins." Acts 5:31
"For it was fitting
for Him, since all things are because of Him, and through Him are all
things, bringing many sons to glory, to perfect Him as the Author of
their salvation through sufferings." Hebrews 2:10
Notice how Paul says that
it is fitting for Jesus to be the archegos, because he fulfilled
points 1 and 2 of our definition of archegos. 1) establishes a place
(created all things); 2) provides a means to come to that safe place
(bringing many sons to glory). This also ties archegos into
redemption, as one of the things he did as archegos was to "pay
a price" for us in his sufferings.
"&ldots;looking to
the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus, who because of
the joy set before Him, endured the cross&ldots;" Hebrews 12:2
Note again that it is
inherent in his role as the archegos that he paid the price as a
redeemer (endured the cross).
A recent movie that
portrays the obligation of the "ransomed" bond servant to
his "redeemer" in a way understandable to modern audiences
is "The Count of Monte Christo." When the hero, Edmon,
spares the life of a smuggler he is forced to fight, that man, who
expected to die, says, "I am your man," then voluntarily
serves him as a servant in complete and utter loyalty for the
remainder of his life. The former smuggler could "legally"
walk away, but doesn't because of the moral obligation he has to
Edmon, who spared his life ("gave his life back to him").
In response, Edmon finally ends up treating the former smuggler as
family, not as a servant. At the end, Edmon includes him among the
"only things in life that matter to me" along with his wife
and son.
This is as much a story
of spiritual redemption as physical redemption. It is a story of the
loss of faith in God, which is replaced by hatred and bitterness. But
the story shows how God never actually abandons us, no matter what we
do, and how God continues to work in Edmon's life. In the end, it
shows how regaining that faith again frees Edmon from hatred and
bitterness, and of the "redemption" that happens when that
faith is regained. The redemption story is interwoven on several
levels: (how the life of the smuggler is changed when he is
"redeemed" by Edmon, and how Edmon is changed when he is
"redeemed" by love and forgiveness, and the restoration of
his faith in God).
If you have not seen it,
I highly recommend the movie, by the way.
There are five words
listed below. The first two are agoradzo and eksagoradzo. The second
one is merely a strengthened form of the first. This is set one.
The last three words are
lutron, lutroo, and apolutrosis. Lutron and lutroo are noun and verb
of the same meaning, and apolutrosis is generalized and strengthened
from of lutron. This is set two.
All of these words mean
roughly the same thing, that is, some form of "paying a ransom
to set someone free." The difference between the first related
set (agoradzo and eksagoradzo) and the second related set (lutron,
lutroo, and apolutrosis) is emphasis only.
BOTH have two elements to
their meaning: "a big price (ransom) is paid" and after the
ransom is paid, "the person is set free."
The first set emphasizes
that a BIG PRICE (ransom) must be paid to set someone free, the
second set emphasizes that once the price (ransom) is paid, the
person is completely and totally FREE. Same meaning, subtly different
emphasis. Set one emphasizes the first half of the definition, set
two emphasizes the second half.
The difference in
emphasis is so subtle that to express the difference in English would
probably be difficult to do with out OVER-emphasizing it. These words
are synonyms with very subtle differences concerning which part of
their shared definition they emphasize.
Below you will find the
scripture reference for every occurrence of these five words, which
are the ONLY Greek words translated "redeem, redemption,
redeemed, etc." throughout the entire New Testament. These words
are also occasionally translated "bought" or "purchased."
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