Ransom (487)(antilutron from antà = in return, in lieu of, instead of [signifies substitution] + lútron = ransom) is literally something standing in lieu of a ransom. It describes "what is given in exchange for another as the price of his redemption." (Thayer) In classic Greek it also meant antidote or remedy (see Barclay's note below). Vine writes that "The prefix anti expresses that the ransom is equivalent in value to that which is procured by it. It indicates the vicarious nature of the expiatory sacrifice of Christ in His death." Wuest - Dana and Mantey, in their Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (p. 100), say that “there is conclusive proof that the dominant use for anti in the first century was instead of.” They quote Moulton and Milligan in Vocabulary of the Greek Testament as saying, “By far the commonest meaning of anti is the simple instead of.” Thus the antilutron is a payment given instead of the slave or prisoner, that is, in substitution for the slave or prisoner. The person holding the slave or prisoner is satisfied with the payment as a substitute for the slave he owns or the prisoner he holds. (Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament) Louw-Nida - "the means or instrument by which release or deliverance is made possible." Ralph Earle - There does not seem to be any basic difference between lutron and antilutron. The prefix anti, "instead of," follows lutron in the saying of Jesus (Ed: That is the Greek of Mt 20:28 and Mk 10:45 reads "lutron anti" where anti means "instead of" or "for"). Here (1Ti 2:6) it is incorporated with the simple noun to emphasize the fact that Christ died in our place to ransom us from the slavery of sin. White makes the helpful suggestion: "Lutron anti merely implies that the exchange is decidedly a benefit to those on whose behalf it is made" (EGT, 4:105). (Word Meanings in the New Testament) Only NT use of antilutron (none in Lxx) - 1Ti 2:6 (Christ) Who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony [borne] at the proper time. MacArthur - It is not the simple word for ransom, lutron, but antilutron, the added preposition intensifying the meaning. Christ did not merely pay a ransom to free us; He became the victim in our place. He died our death, and bore our sin. He gave Himself. (First Timothy MacArthur New Testament Commentary) Barclay - "Antilutron is a very rare word. It is worth noting in the passing that in the Orphic literature it is used to mean an 'antidote', and 'remedy'. Christ's death, we could understand it, is the 'antidote' for the poison, and the 'remedy' for the disease of sin."