Ransom: the price or payment made for our redemption, as when it is said
that the Son of man "gave his life a ransom for many" (Matt.
20:28; compare Acts 20:28; Rom. 3:23, 24; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Gal.
3:13; 4:4, 5: Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:6; Titus 2:14; 1
Pet. 1:18, 19. In all these passages the same idea is
expressed). This word is derived from the Fr. rancon; Lat.
redemptio. The debt is represented not as cancelled but as fully
paid. The slave or captive is not liberated by a mere gratuitous
favour, but a ransom price has been paid, in consideration of
which he is set free. The original owner receives back his
alienated and lost possession because he has bought it back
"with a price." This price or ransom (Gr. lutron) is always said
to be Christ, his blood, his death. He secures our redemption by
the payment of a ransom. (See REDEMPTION T0003084.)