Redemption and Propitiation

After stating in Romans 3:21–22 that the gospel reveals a righteousness from God available to all who believe, Paul goes on in verse 24 to say that we “are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” That word — redemption — deserves careful attention.

The same term (ἀπολύτρωσις) appears in a wide range of biblical contexts. In Daniel 4:32 (Septuagint), it refers to Nebuchadnezzar’s restoration. Elsewhere it is used in Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7, 14, and 4:30; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:15 and 11:35; and Luke 21:28. A related verb appears in the Septuagint — for example, in Exodus 21:8, “he shall let her go free for a ransom,” and in Zephaniah 3:1 — but not in the New Testament. A simpler related noun appears in passages such as Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45, where Christ says that He came “to give His life as a ransom for many.” It also appears in Proverbs 13:8 (“a man’s wealth is the ransom of his life,” meaning money can sometimes save someone from death) and Proverbs 6:35 (“he will not accept any ransom,” meaning no amount of money will pacify an offended husband).

In the Septuagint, the related verb (λυτρόω) is common in cases where the Mosaic Law laid a claim on something that could be released through payment or a substitute. For example, Exodus 13:13 says, “...and every firstborn of my sons I will ransom.” This usage appears repeatedly in Leviticus and Numbers. In classical Greek, the word commonly refers to freeing captives by paying a price.

Sometimes, especially in Deuteronomy and the historical books, the emphasis shifts from price to rescue. God “ransomed” Israel from slavery in Egypt (Deut. 7:8), and David could say that “the Lord has ransomed my soul from all affliction” (2 Sam. 4:9). In such passages, the focus is clearly on deliverance rather than payment. Still, in many cases, the idea of a price remains central. Generally speaking, to ransom means to set someone free by paying a cost.

Paul draws on this entire family of ideas when he speaks about salvation. He uses these terms to describe how sinners are delivered both from the penalty their sins deserve and from the enslaving power of sin itself. In addition to the passages already mentioned, we can include 1 Timothy 2:6 (“who gave Himself as a ransom for all”), Titus 2:14 (“who gave Himself for us, that He might ransom us from all lawlessness”), and 1 Peter 1:18–19 (“you were ransomed not with silver or gold… but with the precious blood of Christ”).

A different word (ἀγοράζω)  communicates the same basic idea of purchase. Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 6:20 — “you were bought with a price” — and again in 7:23. He also uses it in Galatians 3:13 and 4:5, where Christ is said to have bought us out from the curse of the Law.

So what does Paul mean when he says in Romans 3:24 that there is “redemption in Christ Jesus”? Wherever the word appears, it always carries the idea of liberation. In this context, that meaning is already suggested by the word justified. Justification for sinful people necessarily means release from the punishment their sins deserve.

This liberation, Paul tells us, was accomplished through Christ’s violent death on the cross — a fact highlighted by the phrase “in His blood” in verse 25. He reinforces this in verse 26 by explaining that God set forth Christ in this way in order to remain just while justifying those who believe. If that is true, then Christ’s death was absolutely necessary. God cannot act unjustly. And if Christ’s death was necessary, then it truly was the ransom‑price of our salvation in the fullest sense of the word.

This understanding clears up a common difficulty: to whom was the ransom paid? The answer is —  no one. The language is metaphorical. It powerfully expresses both how costly our liberation was and how essential Christ’s death is to salvation. We regularly speak this way in everyday life. When something requires great effort, pain, or sacrifice, we say it “cost” us —even when no one receives a literal payment. In that same sense, the New Testament writers speak of Christ’s death as a ransom.

This metaphor also carries an important implication: Christ died in our place. The ransom stands where the captives once stood.

We can summarize the New Testament’s teaching by saying that evangelical redemption is the deliverance of sinners from both the penalty and the power of sin through the costly means of Christ’s death. Additional references include Luke 1:68, 2:38, Acts 7:35, and Hebrews 9:12. Any account of Christ’s death that fails to explain this aspect of redemption falls short of the New Testament’s teaching.

Paul then moves from redemption to another closely related idea. In Romans 3:25 he says that God presented Christ as a “propitiation through faith, in His blood.” Here a new concept is introduced — propitiation (ἱλαστήριον) — and it is directly tied to Christ’s death.

Related terms appear in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10, as well as Hebrews 2:17, where Christ is said to make propitiation for sins. A similar expression appears in Luke 18:13, where the tax collector prays, “be merciful to me, the sinner.”

In Hebrews 2:17, the verb “to make propitiation” is the same one that appears again and again in the Septuagint, especially in Leviticus. There it is a technical sacrificial term. After a sacrifice, the priest “makes propitiation,” and the sin is forgiven. The added phrase “in His blood” in Romans 3:25 recalls the central role of blood in these Old Testament sacrifices.

This family of words — often translated “atonement” in the Revised Version — usually refers to escape from punishment rather than a change in God’s attitude. That distinction is significant. In pagan Greek thought, sacrifices were often meant to calm an angry god. The god himself was the object of propitiation. In Scripture, however, God’s anger is not a passing irritation; it is His settled opposition to sin. The problem is not that God must change, but that sinners must be sheltered from the consequences of their sin.

For that reason, the Bible never speaks of sacrifices offered to propitiate God. Instead, sacrifices make propitiation for sin. They provide protection from the punishment sin deserves.

In Romans 3:25, then, Paul is saying that God publicly displayed Christ — covered in His own blood — as the means by which sinners can be shielded from judgment. God gave Christ to remove the barrier sin had erected between Himself and humanity. This protection becomes effective through faith. When a person trusts the good news about Christ, the shelter of propitiation becomes theirs, and they experience the restoring favor of God.

The Old Testament sacrifices help explain this logic. Those animal sacrifices were real, but clearly inadequate. Their insufficiency pointed forward to the need for something greater. When Paul teaches that Christ’s death was absolutely necessary, it helps us understand why God required sacrifices under the Old Covenant. They prepared the way for a better, final sacrifice — the precious blood of Christ.

This post has not yet answered the question raised at the end of the previous one. It has, however, reinforced earlier conclusions by closely examining two central biblical terms — redemption and propitiation. 

The remaining question is why such a costly redemption and such a profound act of propitiation were necessary in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This post is based upon Lecture XVII from J. A. Beet's book Through Christ to God: A Study in Scientific Theology (1893), re-written with the assistance of Microslop CoPilot. The original text may be found at the Internet Archive here: Through Christ to God.