Covering and Releasing

The Bible shows that the process of redeeming mankind involved two steps: (1) buying back and (2) releasing. Regarding the Greek word (lyʹtron) translated “ransom,” Bible scholar Albert Barnes wrote: “The word ransom means literally a price paid for the redemption of captives. In war, when prisoners are taken by an enemy, the money demanded for their release is called a ransom; that is, it is the means by which they are set at liberty. So anything that releases anyone from a state of punishment, or suffering, or sin, is called a ransom.”

Yes, “anything that releases anyone” can be referred to as lyʹtron. So this Greek word highlights the act or process of releasing.a

The apostle Paul used the related word an·tiʹly·tron to emphasize the value of the price paid as the ransom. At 1 Timothy 2:6, he wrote that “[Jesus] gave himself” as “a corresponding ransom for all.” Commenting on this, Parkhurst’s Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament says: “It properly signifies a price by which captives are redeemed from the enemy; and that kind of exchange in which the life of one is redeemed by the life of another.” Stress here is on the corresponding nature or the efficacy of the ransom price paid in balancing the scales of justice.