The Death of Christ: Part 5 - Redemption, the Payment of a Price

TBC Glassboro Sermons and More · The Death Of Christ: Part 5 - Redemption, The Payment Of A Price

Believers have been released from the bondage of sin through the payment of a price, the price being he sinless blood of Jesus.  Another Greek term for redemption is lutroō meaning to obtain a release by the payment of a price.     It refers to the money paid to buy back or liberate a prisoner of war.  Lutroō is the key term used in the New Testament to define the work of redeeming or liberating sinners from the bondage and slavery to sin.  

• In Him we have redemption (apolytrōsis) through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. - Ephesians 1:7
• Knowing that you were not redeemed (lutroō) with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. - 1 Peter 1:18-19

The verb lutroō in the context of 1 Peter 1:18 is in the aorist tense and passive voice.  The aorist tense indicates that the payment of the price is a completed action, not an ongoing process.  Jesus is not continuously being offered again and again.  He has offered Himself as a sacrifice once for all time.

• Who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.         - Hebrews 7:27

The passive voice of the verb indicates that the subject of 1 Peter 1:18 — believers — received the results of the action (i.e., the shedding of blood).  Only His blood can bring true redemption.  

• and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (lutroō).  - Hebrews 9:12