1. Acts 7:35 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What will it mean for Moses to be redeemer?

Acts 7:35 (ESV)

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

As redeemer, Moses is the one whom God used to bring his people out of slavery in Egypt. Surprising, only Moses is actually given the title of redeemer (otherwise translated deliverer) in the New Testament. The Greek word used here by Stephen is never given to Jesus as a title. Since, however, the task of delivering is elsewhere assigned to Jesus (Luke 2:38; Luke 24:21), there is a definite typological allusion.1 Deliverance through Moses serves to prefigure the greater and final deliverance through Jesus Christ.2