Colossians 1:14

This verse is parallel to Ephesians 1:7. ἐν ᾧ : not by whom, but in whom; if we possess Christ, we possess in Him our deliverance. ἔχομεν : (present) we have as an abiding possession. ἀπολύτρωσιν : “deliverance”. The word is generally interpreted as ransom by payment of a price, for which Mark 10:45, δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν, may be compared. But it is not certain that the word ever has this meaning. It is very rare in Greek writers (see reff.). The passage from Plutarch refers to pirates holding cities to ransom. But obviously the word here does not mean that we procure release by paying a ransom. The word is often used simply in the sense of “deliverance,” the idea of ransom having disappeared. (So in Romans 8:23; Ephesians 4:30; Luke 21:28.) It is best therefore to translate “deliverance” here, especially as this suits better the definition in the following words. The remission of sins is itself our deliverance, whereas it stands to the payment of the ransom as effect to cause. The elaborate discussion in Oltramare may be referred to for fuller details, with the criticism in Sanday and Headlam's note on Romans 3:24; also Abbott on Ephesians 1:7; Westcott on Heb., pp. 295, 296; Ritschl, Rechtf. und Versöhn. ii., 222 sq. τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν. The similar definition of ἀπολ. in Ephesians 1:7 tells against Lightfoot's view that it is added here against erroneous definitions by the false teachers, who very probably did not employ the term. The precise phrase does not occur elsewhere in Paul. τ. ἁμ. depends simply on τ. ἀφ., not, as Hofmann thinks, on it and τ. ἀπολ., for the latter is not used with the object from which deliverance is effected.