The Berean Table

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The Redeemer

The Names of God and of Christ

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Snapshot

The Redeemer declares Christ as the one who buys his people back out of slavery to sin and death — at the cost of his own blood. The title reaches back to Job’s confident cry, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25), and to Isaiah’s repeated naming of the LORD as “your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” (Isa. 59:20; 41:14). In the Old Testament a redeemer was a near kinsman who paid the price to rescue a family member from debt, slavery, or death. Jesus is the divine kinsman-Redeemer who became our brother, paid our ransom, and set us free. “In him we have redemption through his blood” (Eph. 1:7).

The Original Language

Two Hebrew roots stand behind “redeem.” גָּאַל (ga’al), Strong’s H1350, yields go’el, “redeemer, kinsman-redeemer” — a near relative obligated to act on behalf of a family member: to buy back sold land (Lev. 25:25), to redeem a relative from slavery (Lev. 25:48–49), to avenge a wrongful death, or to raise up offspring for a dead kinsman (as Boaz does for Ruth). The other root, פָּדָה (padah), Strong’s H6299, means “to ransom, redeem (by paying a price).” Both carry the idea of liberation at a cost — release secured by the payment of a ransom. In Greek, the New Testament uses lytroō / apolytrōsis (“ransom, redemption”) and agorazō (“to buy, purchase,” as in the marketplace, sometimes “buy out of” slavery). The common thread: the Redeemer does not merely wish his people free; he pays the price to release them.

The Name in Its Context

The two great wellsprings of the title are Job and Isaiah. In the depths of his suffering, Job declares:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25–26)

Isaiah repeatedly names the LORD as Israel’s Redeemer, joining the title to his covenant love and holiness:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isa. 43:1)

“Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth he is called.” (Isa. 54:5)

“And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the LORD.” (Isa. 59:20)

The background act of redemption is the Exodus: God “redeemed” Israel from slavery in Egypt “with an outstretched arm” (Ex. 6:6; Deut. 7:8). The book of Ruth dramatizes the kinsman-redeemer in Boaz, who buys back Naomi’s land and takes Ruth as wife (Ruth 4) — a living parable fulfilled in Christ.

Where It Appears in Scripture

The LORD is called “Redeemer” especially in Isaiah (41:14; 43:14; 44:6, 24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7, 26; 54:5, 8; 59:20; 60:16; 63:16) and the Psalms (“the LORD, my rock and my redeemer,” Ps. 19:14; 78:35). The Exodus is the paradigm redemption (Ex. 6:6; 15:13; Deut. 15:15). Ruth showcases the kinsman-redeemer (Ruth 2–4). The New Testament applies redemption fully to Christ: he “gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:6); “the Son of Man came… to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45); “you were ransomed… not with perishable things… but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18–19); “in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14); “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13); he gave himself “to redeem us from all lawlessness” (Titus 2:14). The redeemed sing a new song to the Lamb: “by your blood you ransomed people for God” (Rev. 5:9).

What This Name Reveals

“The Redeemer” reveals the bondage from which we need rescue — slavery to sin, the curse of the law, and the power of death (John 8:34; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 2:14–15). It reveals that redemption is costly: not cheap forgiveness but a ransom paid “with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:19). It reveals Christ as the kinsman-Redeemer: he had to become our near relative — truly human, “made like his brothers in every respect” (Heb. 2:17) — in order to redeem us, for only a kinsman could pay the price. It reveals God’s initiative and love: the Redeemer comes to us; “fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isa. 43:1). It reveals the scope of redemption — not only forgiveness, but liberation, ownership (“you are mine”), and a future “redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23). And, as Job saw, it reveals a Redeemer who lives and will stand at the last upon the earth, securing not only our pardon but our resurrection. The title turns the cross into a great act of purchase: we were bought back, and we belong to the One who paid for us.

Seen and Fulfilled in Christ

As a title of Christ, “the Redeemer” fulfills both the divine and the kinsman dimensions of Old Testament redemption. Isaiah’s “Redeemer” is the LORD himself, “the Holy One of Israel… the God of the whole earth” (Isa. 54:5) — and that Redeemer comes in person in Jesus, who is God incarnate. Yet to redeem he became our kinsman: “since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). He is the true Boaz, who at his own cost takes a bride who had no claim and makes her his own (cf. Eph. 5:25–27). The Exodus, God’s mighty redemption of Israel from Egypt, finds its reality in the cross, the greater Exodus by which Christ leads his people out of slavery to sin (Luke 9:31, where his death is literally called his “exodus”). And Job’s confidence — “my Redeemer lives… in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25–26) — is vindicated in the risen Christ, the living Redeemer who guarantees the resurrection of his people. The price is fully paid (“it is finished,” John 19:30), the ransom accepted in his resurrection (Rom. 4:25), and the redeemed are now God’s own possession, “a people for his own possession” (Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:9), awaiting the final redemption of their bodies (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30).

A Reformed Reflection

“The Redeemer” is at the heart of the Reformed doctrine of the atonement as a real purchase (redemption accomplished). The Westminster Confession states that Christ “purchased… an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him” (WCF 8.5). Three things stand out in Reformed teaching. First, redemption is substitutionary and costly — a definite ransom paid by Christ’s blood, not a metaphor for general goodwill (1 Pet. 1:18–19; Gal. 3:13). Second, it is effectual and particular — Christ actually redeemed his people, securing (not merely making possible) their forgiveness, justification, and inheritance; the purchase truly accomplishes what it intends (WCF 8.8, “to all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, he doth certainly… apply and communicate the same”). Third, redemption is comprehensive in scope — it reaches from the forgiveness of sins now (Eph. 1:7) to the resurrection and renewal of all things, “the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23). The doctrine also grounds the believer’s identity and ethics: “you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19–20). The redeemed belong, body and soul, to their Redeemer — which is the deepest comfort and the strongest motive for a holy, grateful life.

Application

  • Know what your freedom cost. You were not redeemed “with perishable things… but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18–19). Let the price of your redemption deepen your gratitude and your hatred of sin.
  • Live as one who belongs to the Redeemer. “You were bought with a price” — you are not your own (1 Cor. 6:19–20). Glorify God in body and soul as the rightful possession of the One who purchased you.
  • Hope in your living Redeemer through suffering. Like Job, hold fast: “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25). He has secured not only your pardon but your resurrection. Your final redemption is coming.

Reflection questions:

  1. Do I treasure the costliness of my redemption, or take grace cheaply?
  2. Am I living as one who belongs, body and soul, to my Redeemer?
  3. In suffering, can I say with Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives”?

For Prayer and Worship

Lord Jesus, my Redeemer, you became my kinsman and paid my ransom with your own precious blood. You bought me out of slavery to sin and the curse of the law, and you called me by name: “You are mine.” I am not my own; I belong to you. Thank you that my Redeemer lives, and that in my flesh I shall see God. Help me to glorify you in body and soul, until the day you redeem me wholly. Amen.

Key Scripture References

  • Job 19:25–26; Isa. 43:1; Isa. 54:5; Isa. 59:20; Ex. 6:6; Ruth 4
  • Mark 10:45; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Titus 2:14
  • 1 Pet. 1:18–19; 1 Cor. 6:19–20; Rom. 8:23; Rev. 5:9

Further Study

  • Job 19; Isaiah 40–55; the book of Ruth.
  • Galatians 3–4; Ephesians 1; 1 Peter 1:13–21.
  • WCF ch. 8; Heidelberg Catechism Q. 34, 37–39.