The Roman slave market analogy is significant because it pictures redemption as the price paid to purchase lost humanity out of Satan's slave market through Jesus Christ.
Les Feldick teaches that God must buy us back to Himself because He lost us in Adam. In Romans, the word redemption goes back to the Roman slave market, where Christ's blood pays the full price, brings believers out of the market, and sets them free.
Romans 3:24 — This is the verse Les begins with in the clips, where Paul states that believers are justified freely by grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:24 states: 'Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:' This verse explicitly connects justification by grace with redemption in Christ Jesus, showing that redemption is a work that God provides through His grace in Christ.
Les Feldick begins with Romans 3:24 and explains that redemption is God's way of purchasing back what He lost in the garden. He says the word redemption in Romans goes back to the Roman slave market for a beautiful illustration. At that market, a buyer could use agorazo to buy a slave and leave him in the market, use ex-agorazo to buy the slave and take him out as his own possession, and then set the slave free. To make the picture vivid, Les describes a young teenage lad captured and dragged to Rome by the Roman legions, standing decrepit in the slave market. A rich, benevolent Roman buys him, takes him home, cleans him up, dresses him, and gives him light duty, then later gives him his freedom. Les applies this to salvation: as sons of Adam, every human being is in Satan's slave market, and unless bought out, their end is like going to the Colosseum, only spiritual and eternal death. Les says the blood of Christ has paid the price of redemption in full. It not only brings us out of the slave market but sets us free. He also uses the picture of the freed servant choosing to stay with the master to show how salvation works: the believer is bought out and removed from the slave market, and the response is to want to remain with the Redeemer.
Les explains that at Paul's day the slave market was in Rome. Roman legions brought back victims from Europe, including a young teenage lad from Barbarian Gaul or northern Europe, and these captives ended up in the slave market. Three terms were used there: agorazo meant to buy a slave and leave him in the market, ex-agorazo meant to buy him and take him out as the buyer's possession, and the master could then set the slave free. If no one purchased a slave, the Colosseum was the end, for he would be fed to the animals.
Les says that as sons of Adam, every human being is in Satan's slave market, whether he knows it or not. Unless a person is purchased out, his end is spiritual and eternal death, just as an unbought slave faced the Colosseum. The blood of Christ paid the redemption price in full; it brought believers out of the slave market and set them free. Les also says a child of God is totally removed from anything tying him to the slave market, and like the slave who was given freedom, the believer's response is to want to stay with the Redeemer.
Romans 3:24 says, 'Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:' Les begins his discussion at this verse and says it means there is a way whereby God will purchase back that which He lost back there in the garden. He then connects the New Testament word redemption to the Roman slave market as the background for understanding it. Scripture states the fact of redemption in Christ; Les's teaching draws out the slave-market picture from that word.
Redemption Purchases What Was Lost
Les reads Romans 3:24 and explains that redemption is the way God will purchase back what He lost in the garden.
The Roman Slave Market as the Illustration
Les says redemption in Romans goes back to the Roman slave market and that God must buy us back because He lost us in Adam.
The Kind Roman Who Buys and Frees a Slave
Les pictures a wealthy Roman buying an abused young captive, cleaning him up, giving him light duty, and then granting him freedom to illustrate redemption.
Slavery Trade in Paul's Day
Les describes how Roman legions brought victims into the slave market and uses the Greek word agorazo, meaning to buy.
The Converted Slave Chooses to Stay
Les says the believer is bought out of the slave market and removed from it, and just as the freed servant chooses to stay with his master, this is how salvation works.
The Three Slave-Market Terms
Les explains agorazo, ex-agorazo, and the master's option to set the slave free as background for redemption.
Christ's Blood Pays the Price
Les teaches that the blood of Christ paid the price of redemption in full and that Christ not only brings us out of the slave market but sets us free.
Satan's Slave Market
Les teaches that every human being is in Satan's slave market as a son of Adam, and without being bought out the end is the spiritual equivalent of the Colosseum, eternal death.
Romans 3:24: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
This is the key verse Les uses to connect justification by grace with redemption, and it leads directly into the Roman slave market illustration.
Les teaches that redemption is God buying us back to Himself because He lost us in Adam. The word redemption in Romans goes back to the Roman slave market, where a master could purchase a slave and take him out of the market. Les says the blood of Christ paid the price of redemption in full, bringing believers out of the slave market and setting them free.
The slave market pictures where humanity was spiritually. Les says every human being is in Satan's slave market as a son of Adam, whether they know it or not. In Paul's day, if a slave wasn't bought out, the Colosseum was the end, and spiritually that corresponds to eternal death.
It represents what Christ does for the believer. Les describes a benevolent Roman who buys a young slave, takes him home, cleans him up, and later gives him freedom. He applies this to Christ: the blood of Christ not only brings us out of the slave market but sets us free.
Les says the Greek word used in redemption is agorazo, which means to buy. The related term ex-agorazo means to buy out of the market. In the Roman slave market, these terms described buying a slave and taking him out as the buyer's possession.
Watch the Teaching: Cain vs. Abel: Why God Accepted One Offering and Rejected the Other