ἐξαγοράζω

From the study of Ephesians 5:16

Range of meaning

Built from ex ('out') + agorazō ('to buy in the agora', the marketplace). In the biblical period it covers (1) buying up, purchasing a whole stock or as much as one can get; (2) buying out or ransoming, paying to release a person or thing from someone else's control; and, by extension, (3) gaining or securing something for oneself, as in the idiom 'buying time'. BDAG gives two main senses: 'to secure deliverance, redeem' (Gal 3:13; 4:5) and, for Eph 5:16 and Col 4:5, 'make the most of the time, take advantage of every opportunity'.

Against the English

'Redeem' (KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT) is etymologically fair, since Latin redimo also means 'buy back'. But in modern English 'redeem' has narrowed to religious salvation, cashing in a coupon, or 'redeeming yourself' by making up for a failure. None of these is the main picture here. Modern versions ('make the most of', 'make the best use of') give the sense but lose the marketplace image.

How it drifted

The English wording comes through the Latin Vulgate's redimentes tempus, which shaped English Bibles from Wycliffe to the KJV. Over the centuries, 'redeem' in church English came to mean mainly Christ's saving work, and in everyday English to mean making amends. So 'redeeming the time' started to sound like a spiritual rescue of time, or like making up for wasted years.

Used elsewhere in the period

• Daniel 2:8 (Greek versions): Nebuchadnezzar tells his stalling wise men, kairon hymeis exagorazete, 'you are buying time', i.e. trying to gain time. The Aramaic behind it says literally 'you are buying the time' (ʿiddānāʾ ʾantûn zābənîn). This is the closest verbal parallel. It shows exagorazō + kairos was an existing idiom for securing time or an opening for oneself.
• Galatians 3:13; 4:5: active voice, meaning to buy people out from under the law's curse. That is the ransom sense.
• Colossians 4:5: the identical phrase, ton kairon exagorazomenoi, joined to 'walk in wisdom toward outsiders'.
• In wider Greek the verb is used for buying up goods and for ransoming captives and slaves.

From the study of Galatians 3:13

Range of meaning

Built from ex ('out') + agorazō ('to buy in the market', from agora, the marketplace). Its meanings: (1) to buy up or buy out a stock of goods; (2) to buy someone or something back or free from another's control, to ransom; (3) used figuratively, to 'buy up' an opportunity, to make the most of time (Eph 5:16; Col 4:5). In Paul's two uses with people as the object (Gal 3:13; 4:5), it means release from bondage achieved at a cost.

Against the English

'Redeemed' (KJV, BSB, ESV, NIV, WEB) is accurate, but to modern ears it has become a vague religious word for 'saved', or else means trading in a coupon. 'Rescued' (NLT) keeps the idea of release but loses the cost and the purchase. 'Bought us out' or 'bought us free' brings back the marketplace picture.

How it drifted

In church English 'redeem' has worn down into a general word for salvation. Its sense of buying, and of a price paid, has faded.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hellenistic writers such as Polybius and Diodorus use it for buying up goods or buying people out. The Greek of Daniel 2:8 uses it for 'buying time' (stalling). Adolf Deissmann tied Paul's word to the ritual of freeing slaves at Delphi, where a slave was 'sold' to a god. Later scholars note that the Delphic inscriptions use a different verb (priasthai), so the link is at most a general resemblance. The deeper background is Israel's Exodus story, where God 'redeems' Israel from slavery in Egypt (LXX usually lytroō), together with Galatians 4:1–7, where people held 'under the law' are bought out so they can be adopted as sons.

From the study of Colossians 4:5

Range of meaning

Built from agora (marketplace) and agorazō (to buy). Range: (1) to buy up, buy out completely; (2) to buy back or buy free, used in Paul of release from the curse or slavery of the law (Gal 3:13; 4:5); (3) in the fixed phrase 'buying up the time/opportunity' (here and Eph 5:16), to seize and make full use of an opening. In the middle voice, as here, the stress falls on getting it for oneself.

Against the English

KJV/BSB/WEB 'redeeming the time' is formally possible (the verb can mean 'redeem' in Galatians) but to modern ears 'redeem' means save, atone for, or make up for past failure. NIV/NASB/NLT 'make the most of (every) opportunity' and ESV 'making the best use of the time' give the sense but lose the vivid market picture. YLT's 'forestalling' is a deliberate older English word for buying up goods before they reach the market, which is close to the Greek image.

How it drifted

English 'redeem' came through the Latin Vulgate's 'tempus redimentes' into Tyndale and the KJV. In 1611 'redeem' could still mean 'buy back, purchase, get by paying'. Since then it has narrowed toward religious salvation ('redeemed by the blood') and toward compensation ('redeem himself after a bad game'), so the phrase is now often heard as 'saving time' or 'making up for wasted time'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The closest outside parallel is Daniel 2:8 in the Greek version attributed to Theodotion: Nebuchadnezzar tells his astrologers 'you are buying time' (kairon hymeis exagorazete), meaning they are stalling to gain time. That shows the phrase 'buy time/opportunity' existed in Jewish Greek. Elsewhere in the NT the compound appears only in Gal 3:13; 4:5 (redemption from the law) and Eph 5:16, the near-identical twin of this verse ('buying up the time, because the days are evil').