Definition: redemption

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

redemption
     n 1: (Christianity) the act of delivering from sin or saving from
          evil [syn: salvation]
     2: purchasing back something previously sold [syn: repurchase,
         buyback]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Re-demption \Re-demp"tion\ (-sh?n), n. [F. r['e]demption, L.
   redemptio. See Redeem, and cf. Ransom.]
   The act of redeeming, or the state of being redeemed;
   repurchase; ransom; release; rescue; deliverance; as, the
   redemption of prisoners taken in war; the redemption of a
   ship and cargo. Specifically:
   (a) (Law) The liberation of an estate from a mortgage, or the
       taking back of property mortgaged, upon performance of
       the terms or conditions on which it was conveyed; also,
       the right of redeeming and re["e]ntering upon an estate
       mortgaged. See Equity of redemption, under Equity.
   (b) (Com.) Performance of the obligation stated in a note,
       bill, bond, or other evidence of debt, by making payment
       to the holder.
   (c) (Theol.) The procuring of God's favor by the sufferings
       and death of Christ; the ransom or deliverance of sinners
       from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's
       violated law.

             In whom we have redemption through his blood.
                                                  --Eph. i. 7.

REDEMPTION, n.  Deliverance of sinners from the penalty of their sin,
through their murder of the deity against whom they sinned.  The
doctrine of Redemption is the fundamental mystery of our holy
religion, and whoso believeth in it shall not perish, but have
everlasting life in which to try to understand it.

    We must awake Man's spirit from his sin,
        And take some special measure for redeeming it;
    Though hard indeed the task to get it in
        Among the angels any way but teaming it,
        Or purify it otherwise than steaming it.
    I'm awkward at Redemption -- a beginner:
    My method is to crucify the sinner.
                                                           Golgo Brone

Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

Redemption
   the purchase back of something that had been lost, by the
   payment of a ransom. The Greek word so rendered is
   _apolutrosis_, a word occurring nine times in Scripture, and
   always with the idea of a ransom or price paid, i.e., redemption
   by a lutron (see Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). There are instances
   in the LXX. Version of the Old Testament of the use of _lutron_
   in man's relation to man (Lev. 19:20; 25:51; Ex. 21:30; Num.
   35:31, 32; Isa. 45:13; Prov. 6:35), and in the same sense of
   man's relation to God (Num. 3:49; 18:15).
   
     There are many passages in the New Testament which represent
   Christ's sufferings under the idea of a ransom or price, and the
   result thereby secured is a purchase or redemption (comp. Acts
   20:28; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Gal. 3:13; 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14;
   1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Titus 2:14; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Rev.
   5:9). The idea running through all these texts, however various
   their reference, is that of payment made for our redemption. The
   debt against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully
   paid. Christ's blood or life, which he surrendered for them, is
   the "ransom" by which the deliverance of his people from the
   servitude of sin and from its penal consequences is secured. It
   is the plain doctrine of Scripture that "Christ saves us neither
   by the mere exercise of power, nor by his doctrine, nor by his
   example, nor by the moral influence which he exerted, nor by any
   subjective influence on his people, whether natural or mystical,
   but as a satisfaction to divine justice, as an expiation for
   sin, and as a ransom from the curse and authority of the law,
   thus reconciling us to God by making it consistent with his
   perfection to exercise mercy toward sinners" (Hodge's Systematic
   Theology).