Biblically, what does "redeem" mean?

[tonychanyt]

Gal 3:

13a Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

Strong's Greek: 1805. ἐξαγοράζω (exagorazó) — 4 Occurrences

BDAG ἐξαγοράζω:

The commercial associations of the vb. ‘buy, buy up’
① to secure deliverance of, deliver, liberate τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον those who are subject to the law Gal 4:5.
② to gain someth., esp. advantage or opportunity, make the most of.
③ The earliest occurrence of ἐ. suggests a further sense for the verb when used with the acc. buy off

Oxford dictionary:

1 redeem somebody/something, to make somebody/something seem less bad
2 redeem yourself to do something, to improve the opinion that people have of you
3 redeem somebody, (in Christianity) to save somebody from the power of evil
4 redeem something, to pay the full sum of money that you owe somebody; to pay a debt

Both the Greek G1805 and the English redeem are polysemantic. One of the meanings involved monetary transactions. Other meanings do not.

In Gal 3:12, Paul wrote about how Christ delivered us from the curse of the law by taking the curse for us. Christ redeemed us. It was not a monetary transaction. It was a life-for-life transaction.

Galatians 4:

3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

i.e., to deliver those …

Ephesians 5:

15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

In the sense of BDAG ②. English Standard Version:

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Berean Standard Bible, Colossians 4:

5 Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.

G1805 appears four times in the NT. Not once does it explicitly refer to a monetary or commercial transaction.