What does redemption entail?

In order for the gospel to restore humanity, a redemption is required. In Romans 3:24 Paul uses a specific word which originally meant deliverance through redemption, through the payment of a ransom sum (apolutrosis). Some exegetes argue that this word later acquired the more general meaning of deliverance or "liberation.” However, in the context of Romans 3:24 the word can in no way be referring to a redemption of people who fell into distress through the fault of others, for Romans 3:25 also speaks about a propitiation. Hence the idea of redemption must be understood in the same context in which apolutrosis (ransom sum) appears. It therefore refers to a specific liberation of guilty parties. Their redemption or surety lies in Christ Jesus. He is the intermediary or mediator, who successfully restores our relationship with God and who snatches us away from God’s wrath (Romans 1:18). In light of what Paul writes elsewhere, we can be confident that what he has in mind here is the sacrificial death of Jesus in which we share through faith and by which we escape the legitimate condemnation of the law (for a more detailed description of this see Romans 5:1–7:6). The ransom or surety for the believers is found in his death.

God is wrathful over sinful human beings and in his wrath, he leaves them to their own devices. It is the same God, however, who prepares the way for reunification. He grants his acquittal through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Romans 3:22). And so they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).¹