Redeemer

(Job 19:25; Matt 20:28; 1 Pet 1:18 and elsewhere). To redeem someone means to purchase his freedom at a certain price. The price paid for freedom is called a ransom, or redemption. All sinners were, and are, in bondage to sin and therefore under the yoke of condemnation. The Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down His life and shed His blood upon the cross, redeemed us all from sin, the curse, and death, and is therefore called the Redeemer. Holy Scripture speaks of this redemption in the following way.

Of deliverance from sin: 'In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace' (Eph 1:7). Of deliverance from the curse: 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us' (Gal 3:13). Of deliverance from death: 'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage' (Heb 2:14-15).

The Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice - redeemed - for us all; that is, He obtained grace and salvation for all. Yet those among us benefit from it who, on their part, voluntarily take part in His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death (Phil 3:10), through a living faith of the heart, through the saving Mysteries, and finally through crucifying the flesh with its passions and lusts. The preaching of redemption through the death of the God-man forms the chief subject of apostolic preaching, and faith in redemption is the center of our faith in Christ. Without this faith, justified by our life and deeds, we cannot be heirs of eternal life and salvation.