Many words used in the Bible are chosen to convey the wonder of God’s plan to save man. None of these words are used exclusively because no one word is adequate to fully describe its perfection. Words like “redemption,” “reconciliation,” “propitiation,” “salvation” and “justification” portray different images of the same plan. Each of these describes a wonderful gift made available in Christ. This article will explore the concept of “redemption.”

A redeemer was the nearest of kin who had the right to buy back a kin’s inheritance that had been forfeited through poverty and debt. This redeemer might hold the land in possession until the year of Jubilee (50th year) when all property went back to the original owner. This practice is taken by New Testament writers to describe an heir who is spiritually bankrupt and sold into sin’s bondage where Satan rules. Jesus freed his kinsman from bondage by buying him/her back to possess until the inheritance is received.

The Hebrew writer explains, “And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15).

The redeemer must pay the price, the ransom. Peter explains, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” (1 Peter 1:18-19, cf. Eph. 1:7).

The price paid for redemption was the blood of Christ. Life is in the blood (Lev. 17) in as much as blood is essential for life. So, the shedding of blood is equivalent to the giving up of life. The ransom price was the life of the sinless Son of God that freed the sinner from the bondage of sin and setting God’s seal upon him (Eph. 4:30).

To set the stage for being the redeemer, Jesus had to take on flesh; that is, he had to become a man. The Bible reads, “For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15).

The sacrifice of his life for our life places him in the position of being in Satan’s house, death and the grave. You may recall Mark 3:27 where Jesus explains, “No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.” This illustrates that when Jesus was in the grave, he could bind Satan and destroy his power over death, the final blow. Peter taught in Acts 2 that Jesus could not be held in the grave nor his flesh see corruption. In coming forth from the grave, he made such a breach in the wall of death that the spiritual kinsman may walk through the valley of death with no fear.

1 Corinthians 15:20 and 23 read, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept…. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” The connection between the resurrection and redemption is also seen in Revelation 14:4, which reads, “These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.”

When Paul writes about “waiting for our adoption” (a sort of Jubilee) he marks it as being the time of the “redemption of our body.” Therefore, there is not only an initial ransom price paid that releases the kinsman from the bondage of sin, but there is a final deliverance from this fleshly this body. Paul writes, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption (the physical body will be raised incorruptible), and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:53-57).

There is a “day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30) at which time the purchased possession will be redeemed. “…the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:14). Once again, notice that there is first a purchased possession by the redeemer who will one day on what is called a “day of redemption” grant the eternal inheritance.