λύτρον

From the study of Matthew 20:28

Range of meaning

In Greek of the period, lytron (often plural lytra) is the price of release (from lyō, 'loose, untie'). It was used for (1) money paid to free prisoners of war, (2) money paid to free a slave, and (3) in the Greek Old Testament, the payment that redeems a life or thing that would otherwise be forfeit or belong to God.

Against the English

Every major English version has 'ransom'. The word is right, but today it brings to mind a kidnapper's demand, a crime with a villain on the other end. In the first century the everyday picture was legal and familiar: buying back a war captive or paying for a slave's freedom. In the Torah it was God's own law providing a way to redeem a life.

How it drifted

Modern usage narrowed 'ransom' to criminal kidnapping. Separately, later theology asked 'to whom was it paid?' Some early Christian writers, such as Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, answered 'to the devil'; later writers answered 'to God's justice'. The verse itself never raises the question.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint, LXX), lytron/lytra translates Hebrew kofer (a payment for a forfeited life: Exod 21:30; 30:12, 'ransom for his life'; Num 35:31–32, where no ransom may be accepted for a murderer's life) and ge'ullah/pidyon (redemption of land, slaves and the firstborn: Lev 25:24–52; Num 3:46–51, 'the ransom of the firstborn'). In 4 Maccabees (6:29; 17:21) the related word antipsychon ('a life in exchange') describes Jewish martyrs whose deaths were offered for the nation. Josephus (Ant. 14.107) tells how the priest Eleazar gave Crassus a golden beam as a lytron for all the Temple's treasures, a close parallel to the wording here. Papyri use the word for slave and captive release.

From the study of Mark 10:45

Range of meaning

From lyō, "to loose, release". A lytron (often plural lytra) is the price paid to set someone or something free: the purchase price for freeing a slave, the ransom for a prisoner of war, the payment that redeemed a pledged object or a forfeited life. The word belongs to the marketplace and the law court. It is about release bought at a cost.

Against the English

Every major English version says "ransom". The word is accurate, but modern English mainly ties it to kidnapping and extortion: a criminal holds someone hostage and demands money. That picture leads readers to ask "Who was holding us, and who got paid?" The Greek word does not push that question. Its everyday setting was the slave market, the redemption of captives, and Israel's laws of redemption.

How it drifted

In modern English, "ransom" has narrowed toward hostage-taking. Separately, some early Christian writers (notably Origen and Gregory of Nyssa) built a "ransom paid to the devil" theory on this verse. Later theologians, starting with Anselm, rejected it. The verse itself names no one who receives the payment.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament): Exod 21:30, the owner of a goring ox whose life is forfeit may pay "the ransom of his life" (lytra tēs psychēs); Exod 30:12, a census payment as "ransom for their lives"; Num 3:46–51, the redemption price of Israel's firstborn; Num 35:31–32, no ransom may be taken for a murderer's life; Lev 25:24–26, 51–52, redeeming land and Israelites sold into slavery; Prov 13:8, "the ransom of a man's life is his wealth". The Hebrew words behind it are kōpher (ransom/life-price), ge'ullah and pidyon (redemption). Papyri and inscriptions: used for the price of a slave's manumission (formal release from slavery), as Deissmann documented. Josephus (Antiquities 14.107) uses nearly the same phrase, lytron anti pantōn, "a ransom for all", for a gold bar a priest handed over to spare the temple's treasures. Compare Psalm 49:7–8: no one can pay God a ransom for another's life.