Anyone who does any financial investing knows that in order for their investments to be profitable, it is necessary to be aware of the "market". Investors need to know and understand what is going on in order to buy at the right time and sell at the right time. But in order to make a profit, it is necessary to understand the terms used in the market. If one gives a wrong meaning to the "market language" then they will undoubtedly suffer loss.

Like a financial investor, the Christian has a lot invested in their salvation. While salvation is free, it nonetheless brings with it vast spiritual riches. And if the Christian is to utilize those riches to their fullest, it is necessary to know and understand the "language" of salvation. Beginning with this article, I want to examine those theological words that relate to our salvation and give a concise overview of what each word means and how to appreciate its value. The first word that I wish to examine is the word "redeem" or "redemption".

There are two primary Greek words from the New Testament, of which there are a few derivations, that are used to detail the idea of redemption. The first is the verb lutroo, which means to deliver or to set free. Its derivations, apolutrosis and lutrosis mean a release effected by the payment of a ransom and the state of being delivered from a penalty, respectively. The other major word is the verb agoradzo, which means to buy or to sell in the market place. A significant derivation of this is the word exagoradzo, which means to buy out of the market place, or better, to buy for one's self. Simply from the use of these different words, we can see that there is connected with the idea of biblical redemption a redeemer, a price of redemption, those who are redeemed, a place from which they were redeemed, and a purpose for which they were redeemed.

The Bible is unmistakably clear in declaring that the one and only redeemer is the person of Jesus Christ. According to Psalm 49:6-7 it is impossible for man to redeem himself or anyone else.

Man is not capable of redeeming himself or any other because he is spiritually bankrupt because of sin. However, Jesus is able to redeem us for He is the Son of God. Matthew 20:28, Romans 3:24 and 1 Corinthians 1:30 clearly indicate that He is the redeemer, and no other.

It was impossible for God simply to forget about sins committed and pardon and redeem us without paying a price. For God to do that, He, would of necessity, need to violate what He declared to Adam and Eve concerning the consequences of sin, namely, in the day they ate thereof, they would surely die. Unless something or someone died for those sins, God would become a liar. In that it is impossible for God to lie, then God could no longer be God. That is unthinkable! However, 1 Corinthians 6:20 makes it clear that our redemption came at a cost.

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

The price of redemption is the blood of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, animal sacrifices were brought on a regular basis to the Temple to be offered in order that a person"s sins could be atones for. But these sacrifices were only temporary in nature, looking forward to the time when the perfect sacrifice would come, which would once and for all deal with sin. It was necessary for these sacrifices to be killed for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6;23). It was also necessary for the blood of the animals to be shed because according to Leviticus 17:11, it is the blood that contains life.

The following verses clearly indicate that the redemption price that was paid was the blood of Jesus Christ:

In whom we have redemption through his blood...Eph. 1:7
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. Heb. 9:12
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your father; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Peter 1:18-19

The next question we need to examine is what did that price buy? Did the blood of Jesus redeem but a few, or did it make provision for all? I believe that the blood of Jesus Christ was a sufficient payment for all the sins of all the people of all time. Two specific verses of Scripture seem to indicate this conclusion. First, in John 1:29, John the Baptist, seeing the Lord approaching, declares, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." Had the blood of Christ only covered the sins of some, then the Baptist could not have made that statement. Secondly, Peter in his second epistle writes about false teachers, saying that they will even deny, "the Lord that bought them". The them of 2 Peter 2:21 are unsaved.

While provision of redemption was made for all the world, not all the world, not all the world becomes the redeemed. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:24-25 that we are redeemed by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. As someone has rightly said, "The blood of Christ is sufficient for all, but efficient only to those who believe." it is interesting to note that in the parable of Matthew 13:44, the man who found a treasure in a field did not sell all that he had to buy the treasure, but to buy the field. All sinners are like the field, and those who trust Christ become his treasures.

The redeemer is Jesus Christ. The price of redemption is His blood. The redeemed are those who trust in that blood. But as the word agoradzo suggest, there must be a market place of redemption. What is that market place? The market place is the fields of sin. Scripture is very y clear that all have sinned (Romans 3:23, 5:12). Even the Apostle Paul, as exemplary a Christian as he was, said, "I am carnal, sold under sin." (Romans 7:14) What indicates the seriousness of our sin is the Law of God. God did not give us His law in order that if we would do well enough, we might live. Rather, He gave us His law in order to show us how far we came in not pleasing Him , to convict us of our sinfulness and to cause us to cry out for a Savior. Paul conclusively states the matter in Galatians 3:13 when he writes that, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one who hangeth on a tree."

The verb exagoradzo suggest a removal from the market place and consequently, a change. when a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, they become a changes person. In other articles more detail will be given to this change, but for now, note how redemption changes a sinner. 2 Corinthians 5:21 clearly details the change.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

When the blood of Christ was shed on our behalf at Calvary's Cross, the price was paid in full for the debt of our sins and the redeemed were removed out of the market place of sin, and they became righteous in the sight of God.

Not only does the verb exagoradzo mean to buy out of the market place, but it also carries the idea of a change in ownership. In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah expressed this when he recorded what God had said to him.

Having been purchased out of sin's domain, sin can no longer have consequence to the believer. Three aspects of sin's domain were dealt with by our redemption. First is the aspect of the penalty of sin. As Paul wrote in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The penalty of sin was paid in full and there is now, no condemnation to those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). As Jesus said in John 5:24, we have passed from death unto life and shall not come into condemnation. Secondly, the power of sin was broken with our redemption. the Apostle Paul states in Titus 2;14 that Christ, "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." While the redeemed is still quite capable of sinning, there is no reason that he or she must. Finally, our redemption has purchased a future removal from the very presence of sin. Today we groan and ache with the consequences of sin in our bodies, and apart from the rapture, one day our bodies will fail and die. This is what Paul had reference to in romans 8:32. But because of our redemption, there is a promised resurrection to a place where sin can not molest.

Let us draw this study to a close by summarizing what we have examined. All the world is found in the market place of sin. No one in the world is capable of removing themself from this market place because the wages of sin is death. But Jesus Christ, with His blood, provided redemption for all the world. But that redemption is only effective for those who trust Jesus as their Savior. If you are trusting in anything other than the blood of Jesus Christ alone to save you from your sins, your faith is in vain. As the hymn writer rightly wrote, "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow."