Christ our Redeemer. There is a third class of passages equally numerous and equally important. Christ is not only set forth as a Priest and as a sacri- fice, but also as a Redeemer, and his work as a Redemption. Re- demption is deliverance from evil by the payment of a ransom. This idea is expressed by the words dTroAvVpcucris, from Xirpov, and the verbs Xvrpow, dyopd^o) (to purchase^, and iiayopdlw (to buy from, or deliver out of the possession or power of any one by purchase). The price or ransom paid for our redemption is always said to be Christ himself, his blood, his death. As the evils consequent on our apostasy from God are manifold, Christ's work as a Redeemer is presented in manifold relations in the word of God.
Redemption from the Penalty of the Law.
1. The first and most obvious consequence of sin, is subjection to the penalty of the law. The wages of sin is death. Every sin of necessity subjects the sinner to the wrath and curse of God. The first step, therefore, in the salvation of sinners, is their re- demption from that curse. Until this is done they are of necessity separated from God. But alienation from Him of necessity in- volves both misery and subjection to the power of sin. So long as men are under the curse, they are cut off from the only source of holiness and life. Such is the doctrine taught throughout the Bible, and elaborately in Romans, chapters vi. and vii. In effecting the salvation of his people, Christ " redeemed them from the curse of the law," not by a mere act of sovereignty, or power ; not by moral influence restoring them to virtue, but by being " made a curse for them." No language can be plainer than this. The curse is the penalty of the law. We were subject to that penalty. Christ has redeemed us from that subjection by being made a curse for us. (Galatians iii. 13.) That the infinitely exalted and holy Son of God should be "accursed" (eTrtK-araparo?), is so awful an idea, that the Apostle justifies the use of such language by quoting the declaration of Scripture, " Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Suffering, and especially the suffering of death, judicially inflicted on account of sin, is penal. Those who thus suffer bear the curse or penalty of the law. The suflPerings of Christ, and especially his death upon the cross, were neither calamities, nor chastisements designed for his own good, nor symbolical or didactic exhibitions, designed to illustrate and enforce truth, and exert a moral influence on others; these are all subordinate and collateral