How many times we hear the words “redeemed” and “redemption”! But what do these two words really mean? Let’s take a look at the Hebrew and Greek words that lie behind these terms, and we will discover that they are not ‘religious’ terms at all.
Pardon My Jargon – Correcting Our Religious Lingo
Episode 3 – “Redemption”
Job 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth.
גאל (ga’al) v. / (go’el) part.
Job 3:5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it.
Ruth 3:12-13. “And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as Adonai lives, I will redeem you…”
Leviticus 26:11. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not reject you.
געל vs. גאל
Exodus 21:30 If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.
פדיון (ped’yon) n.
פדה (padah) v.
Psalm 49:7-8 Yet no man can by any means ransom [פדה יפדה, pidoh yiphdah] another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom [פדיון, pidyon] of their life is too costly and can never suffice.
SUMMARY:
גאל (ga’al) = “to claim ownership”
פדה (padah) = “to pay the price”
λυτρόω (lutro’ow) = “to claim by paying a ransom”
REFERENCES:
Leviticus 25:25 If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman [גאל, goel] is to come and buy back what his relative has sold.
Numbers 35:12,19 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger [גאל, goel], that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment…The avenger [גאל, goel] of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ... You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 7:23 You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men.
Psalm 49:5-9 Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me, those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches? Yet no man can by any meansransom [פדה יפדה, pidoh yiphdah] another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom [פדיון, pidyon] of their life is too costly and can never suffice. Will he live on forever? Will he not see the pit?