The Greek noun antilutron means ransom — specifically, a payment given in the place of another to secure release. Appearing only once in the New Testament (1 Timothy 2:6), this word is theologically concentrated: it combines anti (in place of, instead) with lutron (ransom price) to express substitutionary atonement.
Antilutron appears in one of the most theologically dense sentences in Paul's writings: 'For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people' (1 Timothy 2:5–6). The compound anti-lutron (unlike the simpler lutron of Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45) explicitly foregrounds the substitutionary character of Christ's death — He gave Himself instead of, in the place of, all humanity. The background is the practice of paying a ransom to free a prisoner of war or a slave. Jesus applies the language to His own death, and Paul here preserves and intensifies it. This single rare word encapsulates the heart of penal substitution: Christ paying the price that humanity owed, taking our place under divine judgment so that we might go free.