Leon Morris, “Redemption” Chap. 5 of his The Atonement Inter-Varsity Press (1983)

I. Introduction A. freedom a theme which runs throughout the NT B. meant a lot to the early Christians, brought them liberation 1. knew what slavery was like (some were slaves!), still insisted that in Christ people are free. (Gal. 5:1) C. Today’s culture: We are constantly reminded that there are limitations on our freedom. 1. theme often present in conventional Christianity (a rigidly defined way of live, taboos, hard & fast patterns, etc.) D. “Redemption” 1. one of the ways Christians spoke of freedom 2. modern use (minus something like “redemption of a bond” etc.) is almost always in a religious context a. not so for 1st century people; originally a secular word b. used by the common people c. We use word in a more general sense (means much the same as “deliverance”) d. In antiquity, the word was more specific. Meant deliverance in a particular way

II. The Greek Background A. in the all-pervasive Greek culture, the term had its origins in the practices of warfare. 1. conquered taken as slaves 2. later some of the captured discovered to be “men of rank” back home a. not of much use as slaves, but of value to the conquered country b. “Then the victors let it be known back in the land of the vanquished that they were ready to release such-and-such captives, always, of course, on receipt of a consideration.” (p. 108) c. home folk would buy back their captured brothers (“redemption”, “redeem”, “redeemer”, “ransom” 3. meaning a. people whose rightful place was in their homeland, fell, as a result of war into the power of a strong enemy b. could not break free c. if nothing done, they would remain in captivity for the rest of their lives d. If they were to be set free, money would have to be paid (the “ransom”); they would have to be “bought out of their captivity.” e. “This buying of prisoners of war out of their captivity was the basic idea in redemption.” (p. 108) 4. word came to be used of other forms of freeing people a. setting slaves free (master set him free, well-wisher would buy him and let him go)

Page 1 b. slave could save the price of his freedom, then “buy himself out of slavery” (sacral manumission) i. go to temple of some god, pay the money (that is, what he had saved up!) into the temple treasury ii. owner went through solemn rigamarole of selling him to the god for freedom iii. someone would carve into the wall the proceedings iv. example (p. 109): female slave, Nicaea (1). sold to Apollo (2). “But as far as men were concerned she was free. The price had been paid. She was no longer a slave.” (p. 109) 5. slight difference in words (secular Greeks as compared to Christian use) a. Greek speakers used lytrosis, NT writers used the compound apolytrosis b. could be no more than that in that period people seemed to have a liking for compound word (as opposed to the simple, the ordinary)? But may be more. c. “It seems to me that the New Testament writers chose to use an unusual and distinctive word because they wanted to bring out the truth that the redemption Christ brought about in dying for sinners was no ordinary redemption, not just one redemption among others.” (p. 11)

III. The Jewish Background A. early Christians were not Greeks, but Jews (though they used the Greek language for their writings) B. knew of “redemption” from their Old Testament C. Septuagint translates the redemption words from 3 word-groups in Hebrew 1. First Hebrew root: g’l a. has to be with the family, furthering its life and fortunes b. pity that English has no equivalent for a verb like “to kinsman” (an excellent equivalent of the verb from this word-group), says C. Ryder Smith. c. “. . . the basic idea is that of promoting the interests, the welfare of the family.” (p. 111) i. book of Ruth: duty a kinsman had of looking after the family fortunes when a man died without children (see p. 111) (1). Boaz & the childless widow ii. another example: when a murder took place and next of kin was required to put this right iii. other ways, examples (1). become destitute, sell oneself into slavery to settle debt (2). still, could be, had the right to be, redeemed (p. 111) (3). “the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, told him to buy his cousin’s field in Anathoth (Jer. 32:7; 32:9-12) iv. all these from a Hebrew word that denotes a man who acted in any one of a number of ways to forward the welfare of the family d. “. . . when the OT was being translated into Greek the redemption words were used only when it was a question of paying money to secure release.” (p. 112) Page 2 i. could have been persons or property, “But the price-paying idea was fundamental.” (p. 112)

IV. The Lord, the Redeemer A. God sometimes said to redeem. 1. problem: is unthinkable that God should make a payment to any creature a. God made no payment to the Egyptians to secure His people’s release 2. note importance of reference to God’s “outstretched arm” (Ex. 6:6) or “You stretched out your right hand . . .” (Ex. 15:12) a. (contrast passages in which God is so great & the people of the earth so little that the greatest of men are as nothing) (Is. 40:15) i. such language not used when the idea of redemption is in mind b. is rather the “stretched out arm” that is emphasized i. Ps. 77:14-15; Prov. 23:10-11; Jer. 50:33-34) ii. “. . . emphasis is on the power of God, a power that He puts forth on behalf of His people.” (p. 113) iii. As great as He is, He could rescue them with effortless ease . . . but He saves them at cost iv. exertion of mighty force = it costs much v. metaphor of “price-paying” is not out of mind in these passages

V. Redemption and Grace A. second Hebrew word: pdh 1. carries none of the family obligation content; people may redeem or not. 2. element of grace here a. person might be left in captivity, but the other chooses to redeem 3. application: animals of the domestic herd a. are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb, all the firstborn males of your livestock are to be sacrificed (Ex. 13:12) i. some animals not suitable (e.g., donkey); must be redeemed or destroyed -- owner cannot benefit from it 4. human sacrifice forbidden (animal sacrifice for firstborn son instead) (Ex. 13:13) a. when God delivered Israel out of Egypt, were many firstborn sons who had never been redeemed! Solution? b. Levites in their place, belong to the Lord, do His service in the sanctuary & elsewhere, became the ransom prices for these unredeemed firstborn (Num. 3:40-41) 5. again, passages in which God is said to “redeem Israel” 6. again, thought is of the exertion of His mighty power which He puts forth (Neh. 1:10; Ps. 78:42-43; 2 Sam. 7:23) a. is plain from such passages that the basic idea of cost in present i. “God puts forth a mighty effort to save those He loves. His deliverance is at cost.” (p. 116) 7. [Again] When this word-group is used, there is no thought of obligation.

Page 3 a. question: whether God is free i. g’l has the notion of family, expected that God the Great Kinsman, would act in behalf of His own ii. not so with pdh (1). no trace of “obligation” (2). rather, God’s deliverance always a matter of grace (a). sinners can never say, “God must save me. (b). No. No necessity is laid upon God. He saves freely. (c). Where this word group is used, grace and redemption go together.

VI. Ransom A. 3rd word group: root kpr 1. differs from others a. In the others, the verb is most prominent. b. In this one, we find the noun (“ransom”) c. meaning? “money that anyone pays to be delivered” 2. example: man who owns a dangerous bull and it gores someone & the victim dies a. animal must die (Ex. 21:28-29) b. owner guilty, but not of pre-meditated murder; he was careless. c. may pay a ransom & not be executed himself (vs. 30) 3. word also used of what happens at the census: Each must pay the Lord a ransom for his life when counted. a. Then no plague will come upon him, them (Ex. 30:12) b. “The ransom is paid in the place of a life that would otherwise be forfeit.” (p. 117) 4. term sometimes used in a prayer that a man be saved from death a. Jb. 33:24; Prov. 13:8; Is. 43:3-4 5. term conveys the thought of price; God’s people are delivered at cost. B. Conclusion re: redemption terminology in the OT 1. concerned with release on payment of a price a. payment of a price (the “ransom”) is basic to all the redemption words b. is always the thought of deliverance at cost (sometimes from slavery, sometimes from sentence of death) c. Morris: “. . . [in the literature of antiquity] redemption . . . always denotes deliverance from a state of captivity (the prisoner of war) or from slavery, or from a death sentence. And always it is deliverance in a particular way, by the payment of a price. The idea of the payment of a price is fundamental to redemption.” (p. 118) 2. analogy in modern world: a pawnshop (p. 118) 3. analogy in modern world: our descriptions of sporting practices (pp. 118-19)

VII. Slaves of Sin A. How does all this help when all we want to do is to understand the NT? B. must go back to the beginning of the Bible Page 4 1. Genesis1 - God’s creation of all (mankind included) a. We belong to God. We are His by right of creation. b. Even if we deny Him, we are His. 2. Genesis 2 -- Garden of Eden a. first fellowship, then sin -- causing a radical alteration of things b. see Jn. 8:31-32 i. last word (“free”) seems to have riled the Jews. ii. “We are children of Abraham. We are free!” iii. Jesus’ reply: “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (Jn. 8:33-34) C. is all too terribly true: sin makes slaves of all of us. 1. example: person with a temper (p. 120) 2. first time we commit a particular sin, struggle against it and lose; next time, there was less struggle, etc. 3. “The trouble is that we are still in this situation. a. Sin is simply too strong for us. b. from time to time, we may chalk up a small victory (beat a bad habit) c. but what cannot be done is to break all our bad habits; to sin is to become the slave of sin.

VIII. Christ the Redeemer A. what all this amounts to 1. God created man, man belongs to God; set him in Eden 2. man sinned, became a slave of evil, cannot break free 3. Morris: “This is precisely the situation that the ancient world saw as calling for an act of redemption. We who belong to God have gotten into the power of a strong enemy from which [whom?] we cannot break free. If I can say it reverently, God, if He wants us back, must pay the price. And the great teaching of the New Testament is that God has paid the price. He has redeemed us. Christ has become our Redeemer.” a. Mk. 10:45

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