Chapter XXVIII.
Of redemption by the death of Christ as it was a price or ransom.
Having given before the general notions of the death of Christ, as it is in Scripture proposed, all tending to manifest the way and manner of the expiation of our sins, and our delivery from the guilt and punishment due to them, it remains that an accommodation of those several notions of it be made particularly and respectively to the business in hand.
I. The first consideration proposed of the death of Christ was of it as a price; and the issue and effect thereof is redemption. Hence Christ is spoken of in the Old Testament as a Redeemer: Job xix. 25 “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” The word there used is גּוֹאֵל, whose rise and use is commonly known.
גָּאַל is “vindicare, redimere;” ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι, in Greek; which is commonly used for “suum vindicare:” Ὅτι ἄν τις ἐκτημένος ᾗ, … καὶ μηδεὶς ἐπιλάβηται ἐὰν οὕτω τις ἐνιαυτὸν ὁτιοῦν ἐκτημένος … μὴ ἐξέστω τοιούτου κτήματος ἐπιλαβέσθαι μηδὲν ἀπελθόντος ἐνιαυτοῦ. Plato de Legib. 12. And that may be the sense of the word ἐπιλαμβάνεται, if not in the effect, yet in the cause, Heb. ii. 16.
The rise and use of this word in this business of our deliverance by Christ we have Lev. xxv. 25, “If any of his kin come to redeem it.” גֹאֲלוֹ הַקָּרֹב, — “redimens illud propinquus.” The next who is גֹּאֵל [is to] redeem it, or vindicate the possession out of mortgage. On this account Boaz tells Ruth that, in respect of the possession of Elimelech, he was goël, Ruth iii. 13, a redeemer; which we have translated “a kinsman,” because he was to do that office by right of propinquity of blood or nearness of kin, as is evident from the law before mentioned. Christ, coming to vindicate us into liberty by his own blood, is called by Job his goël, chap. xix. 25; so also is he termed, Isa. xli. 14, גֹאֲלֵךְ, “thy redeemer,” or “thy next kinsman;” and chap. xliv. 6, in that excellent description of Christ, also verse 24, xlvii. 4, xlviii. 17, xlix. 26, liv. 5, lix. 20, lx. 16, lxiii. 16, and in sundry other places. Neither is the church of God at all beholding to some late expositors, who, to show their skill in the Hebrew doctors, would impose upon us their interpretations, and make those expressions to signify deliverance in general, and to be referred to God the Father, seeing that the rise of the use of the word plainly restrains the redemption intended to the paying of a price for it; which was done only by Jesus Christ. So Jer. xxxii. 7, 8. Hence they that looked for the Messiah, according to the promise, are said to look for, or to wait for, λύτρωσιν, “redemption in Israel,” Luke ii. 38: and, in the accomplishment of the promise, the apostle tells us that Christ by his blood obtained for us “eternal redemption,” Heb. ix. 12. And he having so obtained it, we are “justified freely by the grace of God, διὰ τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, — by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;” ἐν φορ διά, “in him,” for “by him,” or wrought by him, Rom. iii. 24. And this being brought home to us, “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,” Eph. i. 7, Col. i. 14; whence he is said to be “made unto us ἀπολύτρωσις,” or “redemption,” 1 Cor. i. 30.
How this is done will be made evident by applying of what is now spoken to what was spoken of the death of Christ as a price. Christ giving himself or his life λύτρον and ἀντίλυτρον, a price of redemption, as hath been showed, a ransom, those for whom he did it come to have λύτρωσιν, and ἀπολύτρωσιν, redemption thereby, or deliverance from the captivity wherein they were. And our Saviour expresses particularly how this was done as to both parts, Matt. xx. 28. He came δοῦναι τῆν ψυχὴν λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν, — that is, he came to be an ἀντίψυχος, one to stand in the room of others, and to give his life for them.
To make this the more evident and clear, I shall give a description of redemption properly so called, and make application of it in the several parts thereof unto that under consideration:— “Redemption is the deliverance of any one from bondage or captivity, and the misery attending that condition, by the intervention or interposition of a price or ransom, paid by the redeemer to him by whose authority he is detained, that, being delivered, he may be in a state of liberty, at the disposal of the redeemer.”
And this will comprise the laws of this redemption, which are usually given. They are, first, On the part of the redeemer:— 1. “Propinquus esto;” — “Let him be near of kin.” 2. “Consanguinitatis jure redimito;” — “Let him redeem by right of consanguinity.” 3. “Injusto possessori prædam eripito;” — “Let him deliver the prey from the unjust possessor.” 4. “Huic pretium nullum solvito;” — “To him let no price be paid.” 5. “Sanguinem pro redemptionis pretio vero Domino offerto;” — “Let him offer or give his blood to the true Lord for a ransom, or price of redemption.” Secondly, On the part of the redeemed:— 1. “Libertatis jure felix gaudeto;” — “Let him enjoy his liberty.” 2. “Servitutis jugum ne iterum sponte suscipito;” — “Let him not again willingly take on him the yoke of bondage.” 3. “Deinceps servum se exhibeto redemptori;” — “Let him in liberty be a servant to his redeemer.”