λυτρόω

From the study of Titus 2:14

Range of meaning

To release someone by paying a ransom (λύτρον, lytron): buying back prisoners of war, freeing slaves, redeeming pledged property. In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint, the translation Greek-speaking Jews used) it became a standard word for God's rescue of Israel, above all out of slavery in Egypt (Exod 6:6; Deut 7:8; 9:26) and later from exile. In those passages God pays no literal price, so the word could lean toward 'liberate, rescue' while still keeping the picture of a captive being bought out. The middle voice used here (lytrōsētai) can mean 'ransom for oneself', and the parallel 'cleanse for himself' supports that sense.

Against the English

'Redeem' (BSB, KJV, WEB, NIV, ESV) is correct but has become a church word. In everyday English it more often means cashing in a voucher or recovering a reputation ('he redeemed himself'). YLT's 'ransom' keeps the picture of a captive being bought out. NLT's 'free us' keeps the liberation but drops the idea of a price.

How it drifted

English 'redeem' (Latin redimere, 'buy back') kept the commercial sense, but through religious use it became a vague word for 'save'. Its secular uses have moved toward vouchers and moral recovery. For the first hearers the picture was the slave market and the prisoner exchange.

Used elsewhere in the period

Common in papyri and inscriptions for freeing slaves and redeeming pledges. LXX Psalm 129:8 (Hebrew 130:8): 'he will ransom (lytrōsetai) Israel from all its lawless deeds (anomiōn)', which is almost word for word our clause. Jesus' saying about giving his life as 'a ransom (lytron) for many' (Mark 10:45) and 1 Timothy 2:6 ('gave himself as a ransom, antilytron, for all') are the closest Christian parallels.

From the study of 1 Peter 1:18

Range of meaning

To set free by paying a price (lytron, 'ransom price'); in the passive, 'to be ransomed, freed'. In ordinary Greek it was used for releasing prisoners of war, freeing slaves, and redeeming pledged property. In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint, or LXX) it translates the Hebrew verbs ga'al (to act as kinsman-redeemer) and padah (to ransom), and it became the key word for God freeing Israel from Egypt. There it can mean simply 'deliver', with the price fading into the background.

Against the English

'Redeemed' (KJV, BSB, NASB, WEB) is correct but has gone abstract in modern English, where people 'redeem' coupons or a player 'redeems himself'. 'Ransomed' (ESV) keeps the picture of a price paid for a captive's release. NLT spells out 'God paid a ransom to save you'.

How it drifted

Church use made 'redeemed' a general word for 'saved', so the concrete picture of a price paid for freedom faded. Here the verse makes the price explicit, which brings the original picture back.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Exod 6:6 ('I will ransom you with an outstretched arm'); Deut 7:8. Most strikingly LXX Isa 52:3: 'you were sold for nothing, and you will be ransomed not with silver (ou meta arguriou lutrōthēsesthe)', which is very close to Peter's wording. In the NT, compare Mark 10:45 (lytron, 'ransom for many'), Titus 2:14, Luke 24:21. Greek inscriptions from Delphi record slaves being freed through a price paid via a temple (Deissmann). Those inscriptions mostly use other verbs, but they show how vivid the ransom picture was.

From the study of 1 Maccabees 4:11

Range of meaning

In classical Greek it means to release someone by paying a ransom (lytron), for example a prisoner of war. In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) it mostly translates two Hebrew verbs. Ga'al is what a go'el, a close kinsman, does: he buys back family land, frees a relative sold into debt-slavery, or avenges a relative's blood. Padah means to ransom or release. Applied to God, the price drops out. God "redeems" Israel from Egypt or Babylon by power, as the kinsman who reclaims his own people.

Against the English

KJV and Brenton have "delivereth", which keeps the sense of rescue but loses the kinsman-ransom picture. WEB and most modern versions have "redeems", which keeps the biblical word, but modern readers mostly hear it in a church sense: paying for sins.

How it drifted

In Christian usage "redeem" came to mean mainly atonement, the price Christ paid for sin (drawing on Mark 10:45 and Paul). Commercial English (redeeming a coupon or a pledge) narrows it further to an exchange of value. Neither is the point here.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 6:6 LXX: "I will redeem (lytrōsomai) you with an outstretched arm". Exod 15:13: "this people whom you redeemed". Deut 7:8 and 9:26: redeemed from the house of slavery. Isaiah's "Redeemer of Israel" passages (e.g. Isa 41:14; 44:6; 49:26; 60:16 in the Hebrew). In Jesus' day the same hope appears in Luke 24:21 ("we had hoped he was the one about to redeem Israel", lytrousthai ton Israēl), Luke 1:68 and 2:38.