REDEMPTION
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By John W. White
When you read passages that deal with redemption in
the Old Testament it is very clear that redemption has to do with those in the
family. The Old Testament reveals that God redeems those in his family, the
children of Israel, from the bondage of others so that they could serve Him.
Exodus 4:22-23
"And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD,
Israel
is my
son, even my firstborn:
And I say unto thee, Let my son go,
that he may serve me." In
Leviticus we see that only the next of kin can redeem a man that has sold
himself because of debt. Leviticus
25:47-49 "And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth
by him wax poor, and sell himself
unto the stranger or sojourner by
thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family:
After that he is sold he may be redeemed again;
one of his brethren may redeem him:
Either his uncle, or his
uncle's son, may
redeem him, or any that is
nigh of kin unto him of his family
may redeem him; or if he be able,
he may redeem himself."
Basically there are two Hebrew words that deal with
the doctrine of redemption. The first
word is "6299.
PADAH, paw-daw'; a prim. root; to sever, i.e. ransom;
gener. to release, preserve:-- X at
all, deliver, X by any means, ransom, (that are to be, let be) redeem (-ed),
rescue, X surely." Strong's Concordance. There are other words that are
derivatives of
PADAH: 6302, 6304,
and 6306. (The word numbers are from Strong's Concordance). The
Second word is "1350.
GA'AL, gaw-al'; a prim. root,
to redeem (according to the Oriental law of kinship), i.e. to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative's property,
marry his widow, etc.):-- X in any wise, X at all, avenger, deliver, (do,
perform the part of near, next)
kinsfolk (-man), purchase, ransom, redeem (-er), revenger." 1353 is a feminine
passive participle of 1350." Strong's
The first occurrence of the word
PADAH is found in
Exodus 13:13-15
"...All the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou
redeem.
And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What
is this? that thou shalt say unto
him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD
slew all the firstborn in the land
of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I
sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix,
being males; but
all the firstborn of my children I
redeem." The Lord instituted
this practice to stimulate a man's son to ask the question "What is this?" It
was then that a father could tell the exodus story of how God redeemed them
from the bondage of Egypt. This passage shows that it is
only the first born male child that was to be redeemed and none of
the other children. The blood on the door was there only for the protection of
the first born, but the lamb was to be food for all that were in the house.
The first and only occurrence of
redemption in the book of Genesis is found in
Genesis 48:16 "The
Angel which redeemed (Hebrew,
GA'AL) me from all evil
(Hebrew,
RA' translated
adversity, affliction, calamity,
distress, misery, sorrow, trouble.).." This was Jacob's testimony to his
grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, that the Lord had been faithful to redeem him
from the bondage of evil. The next occurrence of the Hebrew word
GA'AL is found in Exodus
6:6 "Wherefore say unto the
children of Israel, I am the LORD,
and I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will
rid you out of their
bondage, and I will
redeem you with a stretched out
arm, and with great judgments:" When God's people, the children of Israel,
heard that the Lord was going to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt
Exodus 4:31c "...they
bowed their heads and worshipped." Not only was the Lord going to deliver
them from bondage, but He was going to bring them into their
inheritance. Exodus 3:8
"And I am come down to deliver them
out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto
a good land and a large, unto
a land flowing with milk and honey...."
Leviticus 25:10
"And ye
shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim
liberty (a]qesiv
remission, LXX) throughout all the
land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a
jubilee (a]fesiv,
remission, LXX) unto you; and ye shall return every man unto
his possession, and ye shall return every man unto
his family." Two things were to
take place every fifty years.
First, every man that had sold his
land, which was part of his family's inheritance, was to have it returned to
him and his family. Second, every
man that had sold himself to another was to be released back to his family. In
Leviticus 25:23-25 "The land shall
not be sold for ever: for the land is
mine; for ye are strangers and
sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a
redemption
for the land. If thy
brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away
some of his possession, and if any
of his kin come to redeem it, then
shall he redeem that which his brother sold." We can see that
only those who were in the
family could redeem their brother
and his possessions. This was to ensure that each family in the nation of
Israel would have an inheritance in the land.
Leviticus 25:28 "But if he be not
able to restore it to him, then that
which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the
year of jubilee: and in the jubilee
it shall go out, and he shall return
unto his possession." Redemption is a family matter. Only those who were
next of kin could redeem a brother or his possessions, the land of his
inheritance.
In the book of Ruth we have the story of the
kinsman redeemer. Because
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, and their two sons had died in Moab without
having children, therefore there was no children insure that the family would
have an inheritance in the land.
Boaz, brother of Elimelech, was a near kinsman and willing to redeem Naomi and
Ruth. Boaz was very careful to make sure that the nearest kinsman had the
first chance to redeem Naomi and Ruth because the right of redemption belonged
to him. Ruth 4:1-6 "Then went Boaz
up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman (GA'AL)
of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit
down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. ...And he said unto the kinsman,
Naomi, ..selleth a parcel of land,
which was
our brother Elimelech's:... Buy
it before the inhabitants, and
before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem
(GA'AL)
it, redeem it: but if thou
wilt not redeem it, then tell me,
that I may know: for there is none
to redeem it beside thee; and I
am
after thee. And
he said, I will redeem
it. Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of
Naomi, thou must buy
it also of Ruth the Moabitess,
the wife of the dead, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his
inheritance. And the kinsman said,
I cannot redeem it for myself,
lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself;
for I cannot redeem it." The nearest
kinsman was willing to redeem only the land. This would give his children a
larger inheritance. When he found out that he would have to bear children with
Ruth then he refused to redeem Naomi and Ruth. Having more children with Ruth
would mar,
spill,
lose, or perish his own
inheritance. Boaz is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Naomi is a type of the
nation of Israel, and Ruth is a type of the church both of which are in the
family. When we are part of the
family then we have a kinsman redeemer, Jesus Christ, so that we will not lose
our inheritance.
There is not a single reference in the Old
Testament of the dead being redeemed, only those who were alive. We are first
given life by being born from above into the family of God. As a child of God
we are to please Him by serving Him. As a child of God we can choose whom we
serve. Romans 6:16 "Know ye not, that
to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are to whom ye obey...?" When we disobey the Lord, we
sell ourselves to another master.
Isaiah 50:1 "... Behold, for your
iniquities have ye sold yourselves..."
Matthew 6:24 "No man can serve two
masters.." We can not serve the Lord and sin. God that has made it possible
for us to be redeemed from any master we may chose to serve other than the
Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 6:12 "Let
not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, that ye should obey it
in the lusts thereof."
In the New Testament there are five Greek words
that are translated redeem, redeemer,
or redemption and they are
agora>zw (59),
apolu>trosiv (629),
ejxagora>zw (1805),
lutro>w
(3084), and
lu>trosiv
(3085). The words
apolu>trosiv,
lutro>w, and
lu>trosiv
all have the same root word. That word is
lu>w
(3089) which means
to loosen, unbind, and
unfasten as found in the The Analytical Greek Lexicon. The word
apolu>trosiv is also translated
deliverance in
Hebrews 11:35. The word
lu>tron (3083) is part of the family of words related to
redemption and is used twice, and is translated
ransom. The word
agora>zw
means to purchase but is translated
redeemed in the book of Revelation.
When
agora>zw
has the prefix
ejk
then the word could be translated to
purchase out from because the preposition
ejk means out
from. (The word numbers are from Strong's Concordance.)
The first occurrence of the word
redeem in the New Testament is in
Luke 1:68 "Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and
redeemed (Greek,
lu>trosiv) his people (those in the family),"
This first use of the word redeem carries the meaning of redemption
from the Old Testament into the New Testament. The Lord redeeming His people
from their enemies and those who hated them as shown in
Luke 1:71 "That we should be saved
from our enemies, and from the hand
of all that hate us;"
Luke 1:74 "That he would grant unto
us, that we being delivered out of
the hand of our enemies might serve him
without fear," In both the Old and New Testament we see the purpose of
redemption is to deliver us from the bondage of our enemies and those who hate
us so that we can serve and honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:7
"In whom
we have redemption through
his blood, the
forgiveness (a]fesiv
= remission, liberty, deliverance) of
sins, according to the riches of his grace;"
Colossians 1:14 "In whom we
have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins:"
The phrase "In whom" helps us to
determine where we have redemption
and remission. "In whom" is a
reference to "in Christ Jesus" in Ephesians 1:1 and "in Christ"
in Colossians 1:2. If we are not
born from above, we are not in the family of God, neither are we
in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man
be in Christ,
he is
a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new." The parsing of the
verb "We have" in both verses is
3rd person, plural, present, active, indicative. The present tense expresses
action as continuous and the active voice tells us that the subject "We"
is doing the action of the verb "Have."
To whom does the word "We" refer to
in both Ephesians and Colossians?
The "We" of Ephesians 1:7 is a
reference to the "Saints" and "Faithful"
of verse 1. The "We" of Colossians
1:14 is a reference to the "saints and
faithful brethren" in verse 2. The action of the present tense can be
stopped any time. When we become unfaithful to the Lord, then we have chosen
another master and we need to be redeemed. As a child of God we can either
accept or refuse to be delivered. Redemption and remission have to be
continuously available to us, otherwise we would never be able to be free to
serve the Lord. If we refuse to appropriate the shed blood of Jesus Christ and
confess our sins, we will continue to be in bondage to our new master until we
accept our redemption and remission. 1
John 1:7 "But if we walk (present,
active, subjunctive, "we may walk")
in the light, as he is
(present, active, indicative) in
the light, we have (present, active, indicative) fellowship one with another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth (present, active,
indicative) us from all sin." We
may or may not walk in the light. Either we are faithful or we are unfaithful.
If we continue to walk in the light we will continue to have fellowship with
Him, and we can be sure that our sins are continually being cleansed.
1 John 1:9 "If
we confess (present active
subjunctive, "we may confess") our
sins, he is (present, active,
indicative) faithful and just
to forgive (aorist, active, subjunctive,
"He may forgive") us
our sins, and to cleanse (aorist, active, subjunctive,
"He may cleanse") us from all unrighteousness." The phrases
"He may forgive" and
"He may cleanse" is dependent upon
whether we confess our sins or not. If we confess our sins He is faithful to
forgive and cleanse, but if we will not confess, He is faithful not to forgive
and cleanse.
Titus
2:14
"Who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all
iniquity (ajnomi>a,
lawlessness), and purify unto himself a
peculiar (periou>sion,
being above) people, zealous of good
works." The sin of lawlessness
is known as the presumptuous sin. Numbers 15:30-31 "But the soul that doeth
ought presumptuously,
whether he be born in the land, or a
stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from
among his people.
Because he hath despised the word of
the LORD, and hath broken his commandment,
that soul shall utterly be cut off;
his iniquity shall be upon him." To be cut off was to die prematurely. In type,
when one perished, one lost his
inheritance and not his salvation.
Hebrews 9:12
"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having
obtained (euJri>skw
= to
find) eternal (aijw>niov = age, an
adjective describing redemption)
redemption (Greek,
lu>trosiv)
for us."
Only in this age do we need redemption. When we enter into our
inheritance in the heavenlies, we will no longer need to be redeemed. We will
be subject to only one master, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:24
"Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption
(Greek,
apolu>trosiv) that is in
Christ Jesus:" Notice again that redemption takes place "In
Christ." Redemption delivers us from the hand of our enemies that we might
serve the Lord without fear. We are exhorted to have grace so that our service
will be well pleasing to God. Hebrews
12:28 "..let us have
grace, whereby we may serve
God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear:" To have His grace is to
have the power of Christ resting upon us.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "And
he said unto me, My grace is sufficient
for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon
me." If we are not redeemed, God is not going to give us grace to serve
another master. Abraham was obedient and faithful to the Lord when he offered
up Isaac. Hebrews 11:17 "By faith
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up
Isaac."
Hebrews 11:6 "But without
faith it is
impossible to please
him."
James 2:21 "Was not
Abraham our father
justified by works, when he
had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?"
Romans 8:33 "Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of
God's elect? It is God that
justifieth." (See the tract
Election Check It Out) Works done by grace through faith please God and they
are works of gold, silver and precious stones. Works done apart from grace and
faith will be burned. 1 Corinthians
3:13-15 "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall
declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every
man's work of what sort it is. If
any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon,
he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall
be saved; yet so as by fire." The charge against those works that burned is
that they did not please God. 2
Corinthians 5:10-11 "For we (the
saved) must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the
things done in
his body, according to
that he hath done, whether it be
good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror (fear)
of the Lord, we persuade (saved)
men..." Colossians 3:23-24
"And whatsoever ye do, do it
heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Knowing that of the Lord ye shall
receive the reward of the
inheritance: for ye serve the Lord
Christ."
Matthew 6:24
"No man can
serve two masters: for either he will
hate the one, and
love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and
despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Romans 6:16 "Know ye not,
that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or
of obedience unto righteousness?" Luke
1:74 "That he would grant
unto us, that we being delivered out of
the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear," Joshua 24:15 "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD,
choose you this day whom ye will serve;
whether the gods which your fathers served that
were on the other side of the flood, ....:
but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
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