Redeems

REDEEMS', REDEEM'ER, REDEMP'TION. In the O.T. these terms are specially applied to the repurchase of an estate, a field, which had come into some stranger's possession. According to the Mosaic Law, the original owner of such an estate or his descendants, or even his nearest kinsmen, still retained a right of proprietorship, which

they could enforce after ransoming the estate - that is, by paying back the sum for which it had been sold. Hence arose a number of metaphorical applications of the terms referring to this relation between God and his people, the children of Israel, whom he redeemed from the bondage of Egypt. Ex 6:6; Isa 43:1; Isa 44:22; Isa 48:20. In the N.T. the terms generally refer to the repurchase of the freedom of a person. To purchase a person's liberty for him is to redeem him, and the price paid is called the ransom. Sinners are in bondage to sin, but Christ, having given bis blood or his life as a ransom for them, redeems them, and is therefore called their Redeemer. Matt 20:28; 1 Pet 1:18. This ransom has an infinite value, being the work of the God-man, and is sufficient to redeem all men from captivity; but it is efficient and available only for the redemption of such as accept and appropriate it by a living faith in Christ Jesus, and walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.