Do the Scriptures use monetary and debt imagery in these ways:
1) We owe God a debt and Jesus paid it for us or
2) We owe the devil a debt and Jesus paid it for us?
It really doesn't seem that way to me. 3) is possible, and much less clear-cut:
3) Jesus redeemed (monetarily) us slaves.
That we have obtained redemption through Jesus' work I do not question. But I do wonder if it's using the monetary sense of redemption. Consider: in the main Jewish story of redemption, of deliverance, of the freeing of the slaves, God does not give Pharaoh something of similar value to the Jews slaves in exchange for taking them out. No, when God redeems his people (Exodus 6:6) Pharoah and his are defeated, not given something in exchange.
Hence, when the NT writers speak of redemption (ἀπολύτρωσιν), are they using it in a monetary sense?
(NB: I am not arguing that monetary imagery is valid or accurate, but that it doesn't seem Scriptural. Constructive discussion only, with contextual use of the Scriptures, please.)
1) We owe God a debt and Jesus paid it for us or
2) We owe the devil a debt and Jesus paid it for us?
It really doesn't seem that way to me. 3) is possible, and much less clear-cut:
3) Jesus redeemed (monetarily) us slaves.
That we have obtained redemption through Jesus' work I do not question. But I do wonder if it's using the monetary sense of redemption. Consider: in the main Jewish story of redemption, of deliverance, of the freeing of the slaves, God does not give Pharaoh something of similar value to the Jews slaves in exchange for taking them out. No, when God redeems his people (Exodus 6:6) Pharoah and his are defeated, not given something in exchange.
Hence, when the NT writers speak of redemption (ἀπολύτρωσιν), are they using it in a monetary sense?
(NB: I am not arguing that monetary imagery is valid or accurate, but that it doesn't seem Scriptural. Constructive discussion only, with contextual use of the Scriptures, please.)
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