WORDS INTEREST ME. I guess it comes with the territory of being a “preacher.” I enjoy discovering the etymology of a word, and noting their evolution over time. Words can often lead to questions. Take for example the word redeemed.
Here’s the question. If something has been redeemed does that mean it must have first been deemed? To place a re in front of a word brings the word back to its original state as in words like reestablish and reinvent. So, it bears to reason that if something, or someone, has been redeemed that something or someone must have first been deemed. Right?
As Christian we say that we have been redeemed, so what is it that was deemed in us in the first place? I believe the answer to that question is found in the opening chapters of the Bible where we are told of man and woman being created in the image of God, only to disobey God and to fall into what we call sin.
At creation God deemed us to be conformed to His Image and to enjoy the joy that comes from the communion that Image implies. We were deemed to walk in fellowship with God. We were deemed to experience the full love and provision of God. We were deemed to be blessed. But our willful disobedience removed us from that blessed relationship.
Enter redemption, the work which Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross for us. It was in and through His sacrificial, atoning death, that we were redeemed, brought back to the very place that God had deemed us for from before the beginning.
Re-deemed, how I love to proclaim it! Such a glorious word it is.