Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/79

again, back, and emere, to buy; and means, therefore, according to Webster, "to purchase back"—"to ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer, by paying an equivalent;—as, to redeem a captive," etc. Persons captured in war and held in captivity, are said to be redeemed when the price demanded for their release is paid, and they are set at liberty. This is the common and literal meaning of the word.

And up to the time when Swedenborg wrote (and the creeds have not changed much since) the prevailing belief among Christians was, that Jesus Christ, by his sufferings and death, paid the penalty due to man's transgressions, and thus ransomed or released believers from their state of bondage to sin and Satan. This has been and is still the prevailing idea of the divine work wrought by Jesus Christ. An eminent authority says:

"Jesus Christ gave Himself a ransom for us, undergoing the penalty due to our sins, and thereby releasing us from that punishment which God might justly inflict upon us."—Buck's Theological Dictionary.

The "Presbyterian Confession of Faith" for the United States (1838) says:

"Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justifed, and did make a proper, real and full satisfaction to his Father's justice in their behalf."