A simple trade would be the exchange of goods or service for an agreed payment, terms, and condition. In biblical context, it was normal to trade slaves. In ancient warfare, captives were used as slaves. But when someone affluent or of high stature was captured, he was traded or redeemed—set free after a ransom is paid. The technical term we want to illustrate in this week’s blog is redemption, which is a marketplace term.
The dictionary defines redemption as: 1. the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. 2. the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.1
In the Old Testament, so that the Israelites would not be in permanent slavery, they had a provision that obliged a kinsman redeemer to pay his relative’s debts, to purchase him out from slavery, and to buy back family owned land.2 The book of Exodus gives the most awesome example of God’s redemption; Israel is delivered from Egypt. Say therefore to the people of Israel ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God . . .’3
The New Testament uses this analogy to the problem of sin. Due to sin we are snared, bound, and crushed with affliction; and we are totally unable to free ourselves. It creates a debt before God that we cannot repay and that binds us under the curse of guilt. Thus, Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for many.4 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.5
When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God, God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think about it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s Cross.6 Redemption takes us from slavery to freedom, from affliction to salvation.
Notes:
1. https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/what-is-redemption.html
2. Leviticus 25:23-28
3. Exodus 6:6-7
4. Matthew 20:18
5. Galatians 3:13
6. Colossians 2:13-14 [MSG]
