The Bible speaks of redemption in many ways.
This short study looks at four greek words, revealing the redemption provided by the Lord Jesus Christ. A short story has been supplied, in order to help us picture the word studies of redemption.
The four greek words are
- Agorazo
- Exagorazo
- Lytroo
- Peripoiesis
Each of these words will be addressed in the following posts, along with a story of Amicus, a slave in the first century, with no hope of a future. We will follow Amicus through his experience of redemption and see in his life, the life we have experienced.
Amicus – Part 1
Amicus was a frail young man, born in a world of pain and suffering, under the brutal Roman Empire. He came into the world as his mother left it, never knowing her tender love. His father, Dalek struggled to care for the child, but eventually lost him to a Syrian trader by the time he was six.
The next twelve years, slavery and poverty became Amicus only reality, serving his master and spending long days of toil for no reward. A slaves life of obedience to his master meant a complete loss of his own will, living only to perform the dictates of another. His master, Mahlah, sought to dominate everything in his world. He was an evil man, full of deciet and threatenings.
Amicus spent every waking moment in subjection to Mahlah, knowing that a small meal and a corner in the back room waited for him every night. Continual servitude wore on Amicus, sapping all hope from his life. All expectations, other than another day and night of struggle, were slowly erased from his heart. Amicus resigned himself to a life of service, in service to Mahlah.
As Amicus became a young man, it was obvious to Mahlah of a financial opportunity. Amicus had become a strapping young man, complacent to his master and a prime purchase for a Roman senator. Mahlah sent out word that Amicus may be for sale and he realized multiple interests in his servant. This opportunity can not be wasted!
Mahlah woke Amicus up early one morning, instructed him to wash, supplied him oil and gave him a new tunic and pant. By the time the sun was breaking the horizon, Mahlah and Amicus were off to the city agora, the market place where everything from fruit to flesh was sold. This was going to be Amicus’s last day under the ownership of Mahlah. And it brought about a terror in Amicus’s heart he hadn’t experienced before.
Amicus realized he was going on the auction block. He was going to the agoraza, the market place. The one certainty that Amicus held onto, that of a small meal and rough bed, was lost to him
Agorazo
1 Corinthians 6:20
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 7:23You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.
The apostle Paul uses the generic term agorazo to describe the condition the Corinthians were in at thier salvation. They were in the marketplace, on the auction block and were purchased. Paul emphasizes the action of purchase, the purchase of the sinner in both of these verse, and the resultant actions that were to be the proper response.
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