QUESTION: Just exactly how is Christ’s death a ransom price? From what does he set us free?

ANSWER: The terms found in the Bible for redemption were commonly used with reference to slavery. Someone could be redeemed from slavery through the payment of the proper price (see Exod. 21:8; Lev. 25:47-55). This would certainly apply to our redemption in Christ; we are redeemed from slavery to Satan and to sin (Rom. 6:16-18; 2 Tim. 2:26). This is the main point of Jesus’ words in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 – “give his life a ransom for many.” Through His death on the cross Jesus redeemed us from the penalty of sin. Because of our sin, we owe to God the debt of eternal punishment (Rom. 6:23). No greater debt could be imagined. However, through Christ’s death, we are freed from that penalty! In the New Testament times the debtor’s prison was a reality. In his parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18) Jesus pictures him as having his fellow servant cast into prison until he paid what was owed (Matt. 18:30). Because of his own debt, his lord “handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him” (Matt. 18:34). This well describes our own condition and our prospect for eternity, and it is exactly that from which Christ has redeemed us. He redeemed us from the debt of eternal punishment by paying the debt for us in his own infinite suffering on the cross. Redemption is the Gospel Message – Jesus Saves! Cf. Eph. 1:7; 1 Peter 2:21-25; Revelation 1:7.