He Ransomed Us
We were in bondage, through Adam’s transgression. He and his posterity after him became subject to death. Death had dominion over us, and if that had continued, hell would have had dominion over us. What did Christ do? He ransomed us. He restored us. He brought us back through his atonement, through the shedding of his blood. He paid the price, as Paul says. He rescued us from captivity and bondage. That is what ransomed means. He liberated us from death. He paid the price that death required; and we, through his redemption, were recovered by the payment of the shedding of his blood. - Joseph Fielding Smith, “Doctrines of Salvation,” 3 vols., edited by Bruce R. McConkie, 1:124
