Dr Paul Allen

“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 ) How glibly we use the terms redeemed, redemption, and ransom. But what do they mean, and more importantly, what did Christ’s act of redemption mean? Three Greek words and their derivations are used in the New Testament to denote various aspects of this truth. In our text, “redeemed” comes from lutroo, which means to set free, buy back, or ransom. Christ’s innocent blood, sacrificed for us, bought us back. “By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” ( Hebrews 9:12 ). Redeemed from what? From slavery to sin. Jesus taught, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” ( John 8:34 ). Thankfully, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law” ( Galatians 3:...

And in the fullness of time, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came into the world to secure both of these goals. He came for the vindication of his Father’s glory, and for the salvation of his Father’s children. And he did this by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. The night before he died, in great distress he said, “What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:27–28). Christ died for glory-belittling sinners to show that God does not sweep the dishonoring of his name under the rug of the universe. He died to vindicate the worth of his glory (Rom. 3:23–26). And he also came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He said, “The Son of Man came . . . to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). A ransom from everlasting misery to everlasting joy—“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy...

“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” ( Matthew 20:28 ) The thought that the death of Jesus and His shed blood were somehow the ransom price paid to redeem lost sinners from an eternal prison in hell has been a stumbling block to many of those very sinners. Yet that is the teaching of Scripture, whether it appeals to their reasonings or not. “Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. . . . But with the precious blood of Christ” ( 1 Peter 1:18-19 ). In the Old Testament economy, ransoms were paid for various reasons, such as freeing slaves. The last use of “ransom” in the Old Testament, however, seems to foreshadow the New Testament concept. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death” ( Hosea 13:14 ). But to whom was the ransom of Christ to be paid? Not to the devil, of course, or to any human king. It can only have been paid to God H...