Ephesians 1:7-1:10 | While the cultural and biblical understandings of redemption are similar, they have very different emphases. Biblically, to redeem means to release or set free, with the implied analogy to the process of freeing a slave - in particular, buying back a slave or captive and making ?"him" free by payment of a ransom. In Christ, this is what God did for us. Ephesians 1:7-10 explains how and why - with the correct emphases.