What does it mean that Jesus is our Redeemer?

Answer

A redeemer is someone entrusted with securing one’s release from oppression, harm, evil, enslavement, or some other binding obligation. A redeemer restores the lost rights and freedoms of another by avenging any wrongs and paying whatever price is required to set that person free. The role of a “Redeemer” is uniquely assigned to Jesus Christ, who rescues believers “from the dominion of darkness” and delivers them into God’s kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13-14).

In the Old Testament, two main words and their derivatives communicate the concept of redemption. The verb gaʾal means “to buy back; to ransom or redeem by paying the price.” The term is used in Exodus 6:6 and 15:13 to designate God’s sovereign act of redeeming Israel from slavery in Egypt, see also Psalm 77:15. From this point forward, the Lord reveals Himself as a deliverer, redeeming people from danger, oppression, captivity, and death (Psalm 72:14; Psalm 103:4; Psalm 106:10; 107:2; Jeremiah 32:16-44; 50:34; Isaiah 43:1; Isaiah 48:20). In the book of Ruth, Boaz acts as a kinsman-redeemer to Ruth and Naomi “And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.”, (Ruth 2:20), liberating them from destitution and widowhood by buying back the land of Elimelech and taking Ruth to be his wife (Ruth 4:1-12).

The idea of redemption from sin is included in the Old Testament legal terminology.

Meditate on (Psalm 26:11; Psalm 49:7; Psalm 103:8; 130:8; Isaiah 1:27; Isaiah 59:20), which relates to an animal being offered as the ransom for either a person or another animal (Exodus 13:13; Exodus 34:20). Within Israel’s sacrificial system for sin, these terms and ideas were constant reminders that a price or ransom had to be paid for release from the guilt and penalty of sin.

The theme of redemption is further developed in the New Testament with two additional terms. The first is lutron, meaning “to redeem,” “to liberate,” or “to ransom.” The Gospels use this term to convey the essence of Christ’s mission as Redeemer: Jesus came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28; see also Mark 10:45). His death on the cross paid the ransom to free sinners from bondage to sin (Revelation 1:5; Romans 3:23-24; 6:18, 22; Hebrews 9:15; Titus 2:14; Titus 3:3-5; 1 Peter 3:18). Just as the Old Testament animal sacrifices atoned for Israel’s sins, Christ “bore our sins in his body on the tree” and settled the debt we owed «who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. », (1 Peter 2:24).

Another New Testament term, agorazein (and its related terms), is used to illustrate the costly nature of God’s redemptive work in Christ (John 3:16;John 10:10-11). Believers are “justified by his blood” and “saved from God’s wrath through him!” «Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. », (Romans 5:9). We are forgiven and cleansed from our sins (Matthew 26:28;Hebrews 9:14;Ephesians 1:7;Colossians 1:14;1 John 1:7), released from guilt and condemnation (Hebrews 9:14;Romans 5:9;Romans 8:1-2), and restored to fellowship with God (1 John 1:6-9;Romans 5:10;Ephesians 2:13;Colossians 1:19-22;Ephesians 2:14). Jesus our Redeemer sets us free from evil forces and powers of darkness in the world (Acts 26:18;Colossians 1:13;Colossians 2:20;Galatians 1:4) and rescues us from “the terrors of the coming judgment” (1 Thessalonians 1:10;1 Thessalonians 5:9).

The apostle Paul explains that our complete redemption will be experienced in the future. Currently, we have “the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory” as we “wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us” «And not only they, but ourSelves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” , (Romans 8:23, NLT). In the eternal state, we will enjoy every glorious aspect of the spiritual inheritance God has promised to His people (Ephesians 1:14; Romans 8:17-18; 1 Peter 1:3-5). Oh, what a Redeemer we have in Jesus! May we always remember and rejoice in the deliverance and freedom He supplies.