– In the Christian faith, it designates the heroic gesture of Jesus who, by his death on the cross, freed us from sin:
Mt 20:28 : The Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mt 26:28 : This is my blood, the blood of the New Covenant, shed for many men in remission of sins.
Mk 10:45 : The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Luke 1:68 : Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.
Lk 2:38 : He praised God and spoke of Jesus to all those in Jerusalem who were waiting for his deliverance.
Acts 10:38 : You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
Acts 20:28 : To shepherd the Church of God, which he acquired with his own blood.
Rev 5:9 : You are worthy to receive the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and redeemed for God.
– Peter writes that we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ:
1Pt 1,18 : You know that it is not with perishable goods, such as silver and gold, that you have been redeemed.
2Pt 2,1 : By denying the Lord who redeemed them, they will bring sudden destruction upon themselves.
– John teaches that Christians should imitate Jesus’ example of self-giving:
1Jn 3:16 : (Jesus) gave his life for us. We too must lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
1Jn 5:19 : We know that we belong to God, and that the whole world lies under the evil one.
– Paul preaches the same doctrine, extending Christ’s ransom to nature:
Romans 1:18 : The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men.
Rom 2,5-6 : Because of your obstinacy and unrepentant heart, you are storing up anger against yourself for the day of cholera.
Rom 3:24 : And they are justified freely by his grace; such is the work of redemption, wrought in Jesus Christ.
Romans 4:25 : Who was delivered for our sins and was raised for our justification.
Rom 5 :6 : Indeed, when we were still weak, Christ died in due time for the ungodly.
Rom 8:19-23 : Therefore, creation eagerly awaits the manifestation of the sons of God.
1Cor 6,20 : Because you were bought with a great price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
1Cor 7,23 : You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men.
1Cor 11:25 : This cup is the New Covenant in my blood; as often as you drink it, do it in remembrance of me.
Gal 3:13 : Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law.
Gal 4,5 : In order to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive their adoption.
Eph 1:14 : Which is the pledge of our inheritance, while we await the full redemption of those whom God has purchased.
Col 1,14.20 : In whom we have redemption, the remission of sins.
1Th 1:10 : And wait for his Son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
1Tm 2,6 : Who gave himself as a ransom for all. Such is the fact, attested in its time.
– In the OT, the firstborn were presented to Yahweh and then rescued:
Ex 13:13 : However, you shall redeem every firstling of a donkey with a lamb.
Num 18:15 : Every firstborn of every creature, man or animal, shall be yours.
– Jesus was presented in the temple and rescued by his parents with the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves:
Lk 2,22-23 : When the days of his purification were over […] they took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
– In the covenant code between God and the Israelites there were norms for the ransom of slaves:
Ex 21,2-11 : When you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve six years; on the seventh he will go free, without paying anything.
Leviticus 25:10 : You shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants.
Deut 15:12-18 : When your Hebrew brother, male or female, has sold himself to you, he shall serve you six years.
Jer 34,8-22 : King Zedekiah made a pact with the people of Jerusalem in order to proclaim a decree of manumission.
– Reminded of that covenant with his people, freed them from bondage in Egypt:
Ex 21,2-11 : When you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve six years; on the seventh he will go free, without paying anything.
Leviticus 25:10 : You shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants.
Deut 15:12-18 : When your Hebrew brother, male or female, has sold himself to you, he shall serve you six years.
Deut 24:18 : Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that the Lord your God freed you.
Jer 34,8-22 : King Zedekiah made a pact with the people of Jerusalem in order to proclaim a decree of manumission.
Amos 3:1 : The oracle that the Lord pronounced against you, “against all the people”, he said, “that I brought out of Egypt”.
– Also thanks to the Lord the Israelites were brought back from exile in Babylon:
Is 45,1-17 : This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his anointed, whom he led by the hand to bring down the nations before him.
Is 46,13 : All those who opposed him will be ashamed and confused.
Is 51:11 : That way those whom the Lord has freed will return. They will come to Zion with songs of triumph.
Is 62:12 : The ransomed of the Lord will be called the “Holy People”.
