There are many verses in the Old Testament that refer to God as the “redeemer” of Israel. The New Testament writers make it clear that Jesus is the One who redeems all those who turn to God.

But what does this word “redeem” mean. To redeem is to satisfy a debt; to pay back a debt that is owed. In ancient cultures it was common for those who were unable to pay back a debt to give themselves over to slavery (or to be forcibly taken into slavery) in order to payback the debt. When the debt had been satisfied, either by years of service, or a sum of money (ransom) had been raised and paid on behalf of the individual, the person was set free. So, to redeem is to pay a ransom in order to satisfy a debt.

Additionally, the Hebrew culture had the concept of the “kinsman redeemer,” a person who would step up and help a relative out of danger or financial crisis. If he had lost his land (important in Jewish culture as the land allotted by your tribe was directly connected to the covenant with God), the kinsman redeemer would buy back the land, keeping it in the family and allowing the person to work the land for continued survival (if you didn’t farm, you didn’t eat!). Another function of the kinsman redeemer was revenging (“buying back”) the life of a murdered relative.

So, when the Bible tells us that Jesus redeemed us, it tells us that Jesus paid a debt that we owed. Romans 6.23 tells us that we owe a debt to God because of our sin. Jesus paid the debt on our behalf. He became our Kinsman Redeemer, paying our debt and setting us free from the slavery of sin.

But heres what’s really interesting, Jesus not only paid the debt, he became the ransom paid on our behalf! He didn’t just plop a bag of money down to pay the debt, he willingly sacrificed His own life to become our ransom! Jesus proclaimed about Himself, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.45). So Jesus is both our Redeemer and our Ransom! Praise God!