Episode 11 :: Question 7 on the New Creation’s Redemption

Question 7 – Givern (Zimbabwe): Dear Pastor Chris, I would like you to shed more light on the topic of redemption, because Paul once wrote that we have been redeemed, yet sir, you say that we have not been redeemed but are a product of redemption.

Answer 7: The trouble with this is that there’s so much for me to say for you to actually understand the communication that I gave to you regarding the redemption. When you study the Bible, particularly the New Testament, you’ve got several words: ‘redeem,’ ‘redeemed,’ and ‘redemption,’ okay? Or ‘redeeming.’ There are several words in the Greek from where you get all of this: ‘lutron,’ ‘lutrosis,’ ‘apollutrosis.’ You [also] have “agarazo” and ‘exagarazo.’ All of these words are used in different ways to communicate redemption in different lights. The point is, when you study the scriptures, you have to understand what is the doctrine of redemption and then where are the words ‘redemption’ or ‘redeemed’ (there are several synonyms that I’ve used) and how are they applied? How are they used? For example, when the bible says “redeeming the time” [Leviticus 25:29], what is it talking about? “The redemption of our bodies,” what is it talking about? So, these are a play of words, so you have to understand it in depth. The point is [that] I was dealing about the doctrine of redemption where it is said that we were bought back from sin; that’s redemption from sin, and that’s what I was dealing with.

There’s a doctrine about redemption from sin, and I am talking about how that you have to understand the general use of the word redemption as per salvation and then the redemption as used within the light of the Old Testament, where a slave was bought and freed. That’s what I am talking about. No, we were not bought like that and set free. You have to understand the several usage of the words ‘redeemed,’ ‘redemption’ and so on and what actually they apply to. You know, English is limited in several ways, and you can use one word to express so many different things. It depends on the thought that you are trying to express, and that’s what I was dealing with. So, you have to understand the Pauline revelation to get what I was talking about.