Redeemer (Christianity)


In the New Testament, redemption is used to refer both to deliverance from sin and to freedom from captivity. In Christian theology, Jesus is sometimes referred to as a redeemer. This refers to the salvation he is believed to have accomplished, and is based on the metaphor of redemption, or "buying back".
Although the Gospels do not use the title "Redeemer", redemption is used in several of Paul's letters. Leon Morris says that "Paul uses the concept of redemption primarily to speak of the saving significance of the death of Christ."

Universality

The New Testament speaks of Christ as the one Saviour for all people. The First Epistle of John says that Jesus is "the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the world". Adherents of unlimited atonement interpret this to mean that Jesus' redemptive role is for all people without exception, while adherents of limited atonement interpret it as being for all people without distinction—for Gentiles as well as Jews.
The first Christians also recognized Jesus' redemptive role to be unique, complete, and definitive. In particular, his universal role means that through him the deadly forces of evil are overcome, sin is forgiven, their contamination purified, and the new existence as God's beloved, adopted children has been made available. This New Testament sense of Christ's indispensable and necessary role for human salvation could be summarized by a new axiom: extra Christum nulla salus. This sense of his all-determining role in the whole redemptive drama is suggested by a fact: unlike the Old Testament, where various human beings could be called "saviour" /Judges#3:9|Judges 3: 9, , and wikisource:Bible, the New Testament gives the title "Saviour" only to God and to Christ.