RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-08-11	To Whom Did Jesus Pay Our Ransom? (1Tm.2:6)
		1Ti 2:6  who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time Some have surmised that Jesus paid a ransom to Satan. But there is nothing anywhere to indicate this. In fact, Satan is always subject to Christ. There is no comparing the greatness of Christ to the smallness of Satan (Cl.2:15)! Col 2:15  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. The death of Christ was a total defeat of Satan, and not a negotiation like a ransom paid. The Bible does not say specifically who the ransom was paid to, but there are implied hints. Plus the picture of the death of Christ as a sacrifice made to God is at least implicit that payment was made to God. It is important to remember salvation terms such as justification, redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation are analogies taken from human experience. Like all analogies some aspects apply, and some do not. We have to ask in each case which does and which does not. For example the word ransom, which Jesus used about His own death (Mt.20:28; Mk.10:45), does not mean there is going to be an exchange of money. In fact, Peter made sure we understood that we are not redeemed with silver and gold (1Pe.1:18). So the best way to think about the image of ransoming is to let the Biblical description of the death of Christ speak to us about what it means. Psa 49:7  None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him Psa 49:8  For the redemption of their souls is costly, And it shall cease forever Psa 49:15  But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me. Selah This is a picture of how difficult it is to get people out of Sheol (Hell). Hell is laying claim on all these people like a kidnapper. It suggests if a ransom (rescuing people from death) is involved, it is paid to God. Mar 10:45  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." 1Co 6:20  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So the ransom was paid by God and to God. Rom 3:24  being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Rom 3:25  whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed The sacrificial offering of Jesus is made to God to revert His wrath, and restore man. This is what a ransom does. So man has smeared the glory of God, thus committing treason (by exchanging the glory of God for images). God in His holiness and wrath upholds the glory of His name by sentencing us in condemnation to eternal suffering in Hell. But God is also a God of great mercy. So He prepared another way for His glory to be upheld in justice. He did this by sacrificing His Son for those who believe in Him so they would not end up in Hell. And that sacrifice ransomed or redeemed people from the wrath of God (Ro.5:9). Rom 5:9  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. The blood ransomed, and redeemed from the wrath of God. So the blood was the price. Being rescued from wrath is the result. So how did the payment actually work? What was paid was the restoration of God's dishonored glory (Ro.3:23). The death of Jesus, in giving up so much glory out of love to the Father, has restored all that has been dishonored by sinful man. So the ransom was paid BY God in Christ, and TO God in sending His Son to die. We owed a debt of glory to the Father that we could never pay. The payment was the blood of Christ exalting and restoring the glory of God. The Gospel makes more sense when we see the ransom paid by God (Christ) and to God (the Father). Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

An Evangelical Free Church of America

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