1 Peter 1:18
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Believers were not ransomed by perishable silver or gold from their empty inherited way of life.
What Does 1 Peter 1:18 Mean?
Peter draws on the language of the marketplace and the ransom. A price was paid to free his readers, but not in coin. Silver and gold, however precious, are perishable and could never purchase what was needed.
What they were freed from was a way of life handed down yet hollow, a tradition that promised much and delivered emptiness. Redemption here is not a fresh start by willpower but a rescue bought at cost. Peter is preparing to name that cost, and the worthlessness of gold by comparison only sharpens the wonder of what was actually paid.
In the Original Language
lytroo (λυτρόω), 'redeemed' -- to ransom or buy back by paying a price, as for a captive or slave.