VII. THE USE OF έζαΥοράζω

VI. THE USE OF άΥοράζω

The word originally meant ‘to frequent the forum’ from which eventually the meaning ‘to acquire, to buy in the forum’ evolved, and this remains the standard meaning of the verb (though the connection with place, the forum, disappears). It is a usual word for ‘to buy’, and in this sense it is used in the New Testament twenty-four times with reference to such matters as a field (Mt. 13: 44) or ?>food (Lk. 9: 13). But on six occasions Christians are said to be ‘bought’ and our concern is with these passages.

The LXX does not appear to help us greatly, as all the references there seem to be to simple commercial purchase of such items as food (Gn. 41: 57; 42: 5, 7, etc.), a threshing floor (I Ch. 21 : 24), etc. It translates the Hebrew roots shbr and qnh mainly, with one or two sporadic appearances of other roots which shed no light on our inquiry.

In Hellenistic Greek the usage for purchasing in general is quite common and a particular application which calls for comment is that in which the word refers to the buying of slaves,¹⁰² a close parallel to the New Testament passages we are considering. The word does not occur as far as I know in connection with manumissions, but τ 006

μῆς (price) which is used with this verb (ICor. 6: 20; 7: 23), occurs so frequently in this connection that Deissmann can call it ‘quite a stereotyped expression’.¹⁰³

If the conception that Christians have been bought fits in with the customs of the Greek-speaking world, it is no less at home in a Jewish setting, as the following parable from the Midrash Sifre on Numbers shows: ‘It can be likened unto a king whose friend’s son was taken prisoner. The king redeemed him, but expressly upon the understanding that he should become his slave, so that at any time, if he should disobey the king, the latter could say: “Thou art my slave !” As soon as they came into a country, the king said to him: “Put my sandals on for me! Take my clothes to the bath-house!” That son (of the king’s friend) began to protest. And the king took out the bill of sale and said to him: “Thou art my slave!” ‘¹⁰⁴ The Midrash goes on to point out that in similar fashion Jehovah did not redeem the Israelites ‘with the view that they should be (His) sons, but (His) slaves’.

When Paul then says, ‘ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price’ (I Cor. 6: 19, 20), or again, ‘he that was called, being free, is Christ’s slave. Ye were bought with a price; become not slaves of men’ (I Cor. 7: 22, 23), he is not drawing our attention to quite the same aspect of the Christian life as when he uses the redemption words we have considered hitherto. With them the emphasis is on the final freedom of the redeemed; here it is rather on the truth that the redeemed are paradoxically slaves, the slaves of God, for they were bought with a price. This thought is a necessary supplement to the former one. Believers are not brought by Christ into a liberty of selfish ease. Rather, since they have been bought by God at terrible cost, they have become God’s slaves, to do His will.

This conception is used to bring out the heinousness of sin when the writer denounces false prophets ‘who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them’ (2 Pet. 2: ). Having been bought by the Master, they were His and their lives should have been lived to His glory. It is only against this background that their sin can be seen in all its vileness. There is also probably a contrast between their faithlessness and the love of Christ who paid such a price in love for them.

The divine ownership as a result of purchase comes out also in Revelation, ‘thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests’ (Rev. 5 : 9f.). Again, the one hundred and forty-four thousand are redeemed ‘from the earth’ and ‘from among men’, and are spoken of as ‘the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb’ (Rev. 14: 3, 4). In each case it is clear that those so purchased are in a special relationship to God, and it is this which determines their conduct.¹⁰⁵ In passing we might note that this thought is to be found in many passages which do not make explicit use of the redemption or purchase terminology, as for example when Christians are said to be ‘slaves’ of God or of Christ.

This way of regarding the atonement stresses the new life in Christ. It is because we are Christ’s slaves that we are introduced into this way of living, and we are His slaves because we were bought by Him. There is no stress on substitution in this conception except to the extent that a price paid is an equivalent for the thing purchased. The main emphasis is on the fact that the redeemed are God’s.

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