Jesus, the
Christ as the one who 'redeemed' his people 'with his own blood' (Acts 20:28) — buying back from slavery what was lost, fulfilling Job's confident 'I know that my redeemer liveth' (Job 19:25).
Redeemer (Hebrew goel; Greek lytroumenos / agorazō) is one of the great OT and NT titles of God and Christ. To redeem is to buy back, to pay the price to release. Several biblical layers. (1) The OT goel — kinsman-redeemer. A near relative had the right and responsibility to buy back family land, free a relative from slavery, or marry a widow to preserve the family line (Leviticus 25:25-49; Ruth 4). Boaz is the famous kinsman-redeemer of Ruth. (2) The LORD as redeemer of Israel. Exodus 6:6 — 'I will redeem you with a stretched out arm.' Throughout the OT, the LORD is Israel's redeemer (Isaiah 41:14; 43:14; 44:6, 24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7, 26). (3) Job's confession. Job 19:25-27 — 'For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.' One of the earliest, most powerful expressions of resurrection hope. (4) Christ as the NT redeemer. Galatians 3:13 — Christ 'hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.' Galatians 4:4-5 — God sent his Son 'to redeem them that were under the law.' Titus 2:14 — Christ gave himself 'to redeem us from all iniquity.' (5) Price paid: his blood. 1 Peter 1:18-19 — 'ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... But with the precious blood of Christ.' Acts 20:28 — the church 'which he hath purchased with his own blood.' Revelation 5:9 — 'thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.' (6) Future redemption. Romans 8:23 — 'the redemption of our body.' Christian redemption has a now-and-not-yet quality. We are redeemed; we await the full redemption of the body at Christ's return. (7) Liberation. To be redeemed is to be released — from sin, from the law's curse, from slavery, from condemnation. Romans 8:1 — 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.'
“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”
“God sent forth his Son... To redeem them that were under the law.”
“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity.”
“Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things... But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish.”
Embrace your status as redeemed. The price has been paid — Christ's own blood. Live free from slavery to sin (Romans 6:18). Live free from the law's condemnation (Galatians 3:13). Glorify God in body and spirit, 'for ye are bought with a price' (1 Corinthians 6:20). Look for the consummate redemption — the redemption of the body at Christ's return.
A redeemer is one who buys back, who pays the price to release. In the OT, the goel (kinsman-redeemer) bought back family land, freed enslaved relatives, or married widows to preserve family lines. The LORD is Israel's redeemer (Isaiah 43:14). In the NT, Christ is the redeemer — paying the price of his own blood (1 Peter 1:18-19) to buy back his people from sin and the curse of the law.
Job 19:25-27 is one of the most famous confessions in the OT. In the depth of his suffering, Job declared his confidence that a Redeemer was alive who would 'stand at the latter day upon the earth.' Even after his body decayed — 'yet in my flesh shall I see God.' Christians have long read this as a confession of resurrection hope and a foreshadowing of Christ. Handel's Messiah immortalizes it.
By his own blood. 1 Peter 1:18-19 — 'ye were not redeemed with corruptible things... But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.' At the cross, Christ paid the price for sin in his own body, bought his people back from slavery to sin, and released them from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). Redemption is by the cross.
Romans 8:23 — Christians 'groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' Redemption is now (the soul) and not-yet (the body). At Christ's return, believers will be raised with glorified, incorruptible bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). The redemption begun at the cross is consummated at the resurrection. Then redemption is complete.