(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
What are the two sides of redemption?
Intro:
Today you’re going to hear the word redemption or redeemer more than once, and you’ll hear it in both our NT segment and our OT segment.
But were you aware that there is, in a sense, two sides to that coin?
When a word has a range of meaning, the four dollar word that linguists use is “semantic range.” It’s why, when we interpret, we look from the big picture to the small one — so that we can understand something in context. We understand a word in light of a sentence, the sentence in light of a paragraph, a paragraph in light of the passage or even whole book, and so on.
Side note, that’s also why reading a single verse is dangerous.
The word that’s translated “redemption” in the NT is a word that can mean, on one side, redemption or ransom, and on the other side is releasing or liberation.
3391 λύτρωσις (lytrōsis), εως (eōs), ἡ (hē): n.fem.; ≡ Str 3085; TDNT 4.351—LN 37.128 liberation, redemption, ransoming, releasing (Lk 1:68; 2:38; Heb 9:12+)(1)
And as we often do, in our Bottom Line segment I’ll give you additional factoid that’ll help you avoid a critical error and/or spot that in a conversation.
NEW TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
Yesterday in our NT segment we left off at the point in the story where the angel Gabriel has told Mary that she’ll bear a child who is the promised Messiah.
Passage: Luke 1:39-80
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 42
Words: ~898
1:68…The prophets and later writers (cf. the Dead Sea Scrolls) spoke of God visiting his people for redemption and judgment. The use of “redeem” here compares this new event to when God saved his people from Egypt; the prophets had promised future deliverance in a new exodus.(2)
Original TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
In our OT segment, you’ll recall that we’re into the second round of speeches. Yesterday we heard Eliphaz take Job to task saying that his words condemn him, and Job’s response was, among other things, that there is hope for the sufferer and that he has an advocate in the heavens. Of course, along the way he calls his buddies “miserable comforters,” and now Bildad replies.
Passage: Job 18-19
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 113
Words: ~1859
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Our focus question today is “What are the two sides of redemption?” And as we heard Job say, “my Redeemer lives.” The good news is that God — Father, Son, and Spirit — is sovereign and eternal, and Job has his moments that God’s also good and will ultimately rescue.
But let’s think back to our recent reading in Hebrews…the writer argued that Jesus
…entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. Heb 9:12, CSB
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, (he can and will) cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God? Heb 9:14, CSB
See the two sides of redemption? He pays a price, a ransom, a debt that had to be paid, and He liberates or releases us from slavery to sin. As Leland Ryken puts it…
At the heart of the image is the idea of paying a price to regain something that will otherwise be forfeited. Redemption thus carries double connotations: it implies deliverance and restitution but also a cost that must be paid. Distinct developments occur as we move from the OT to the NT.(3)
So here are two things to remember. God, the liberator, in fact redeemed his people in the OT in a way that foreshadowed Jesus, right? He brought them out of slavery to Egypt. That’s under the Old Covenant when the nation of Israel was the object of the God’s covenant.
In the ultimate sense, however, said liberation isn’t sociopolitical in an earthly sense. — it’s deliverance from the same Accuser that is accused Job before God. And what did the Accuser, the Satan say to God? “Let me at him and he will stumble morally. I can get him to sin.”
What often gets missed or oversimplified is that Jesus saying he came to proclaim liberation for the captives is because we don’t have the ability to do so ourselves — and it’s that we’re all sinners who have fallen short (Ro 3) and owe a debt that can’t be paid to the judge.
The good news is that He proved by conquering death on the cross that He can both pay the price and set us free from the ultimate oppressor and oppression.
I love you!
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
(2) Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 1:68.
(3) Leland Ryken, Jim Wilhoit, et al., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 698.