The Ransom Christ Paid (Protestant/Evangelical Caucus and Devotional)

Ligonier.Org ^ | 8/12/2016

[Gamecock]

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

- Mark 10:45

Christ holds Himself up as an example to be imitated when He explains that true greatness in His kingdom is found in serving others (Mark 10:35–45). Specifically, our Lord calls us to imitate Him in His willingness “to give his life as a ransom for many” (v. 45). We need to be careful, for ransom imagery is atonement language, and clearly Jesus cannot mean that imitating Him in serving others results in our saving ourselves or others from sin and death. As we saw in Mark 10:35–40, the question Jesus asked of James and John about drinking His cup requires a “no” answer. No, James and John could not drink the cup of God’s wrath that Jesus had to drink for our salvation. They would participate in His suffering in the sense that they would be unjustly punished for their fealty to the Lord, just as Jesus was unjustly killed by earthly authorities. Furthermore, that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man makes it impossible that we could give our lives as a ransom for others. If we could, we would be mediators as well as Christ (1 Tim. 2:5).

We can imitate Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, by seeking to meet the needs of others as is appropriate for sinful-but-redeemed human beings. Still, we are left with the intriguing comment that Jesus paid a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Since a ransom is a price paid to secure the release of captives from a captor, we know that Jesus was talking about a price He would pay to release certain prisoners. He would pay a ransom price—His life—to free others.

But to whom was the ransom paid? Some early church fathers, such as Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–254), argued that Jesus paid a ransom to Satan. Though we cannot accept this view, one can perhaps understand why some would endorse it. Scripture does talk in some places about sinners as captives of the devil (2 Tim. 2:26).

Jesus could not have paid a ransom to Satan because that would put Satan in a position whereby he, a creature, could demand something from the Creator, and Jesus is God incarnate (John 1:1–14). Additionally, when Scripture talks about the atonement, it emphasizes God’s demands: the Lord ordered the Suffering Servant to be crushed for our iniquities (Isa. 52:13–53:12). Moreover, Satan could not have taken us captive in the first place without God’s sovereign permission; therefore, if anyone could demand a ransom for our salvation, it would be God. In Christ, God paid to Himself the ransom He justly demanded so that we could have eternal life.

Coram Deo

Our sin violates God’s perfect justice, so He has every right to demand that a price be paid to satisfy this justice. Christ’s death was that price, and the price was also a ransom that secured our release from our bondage to sin. Because Christ died to sin, we can now obey our Creator. Let us seek to do so this day, repenting for our sin and praying for the Holy Spirit to empower us for His service.

Passages for Further Study

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, wand the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized pinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For zone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

[Gamecock]

Ping!

I will be traveling and will be back to post the next devotional on Tuesday, Lord willing.

And for the Friday Hymn: Beneath The Cross Of Jesus

1. Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
and the burden of the day.

2. Upon the cross of Jesus,
mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One
Who suffered there for me;
And from my stricken heart with tears
Two wonders I confess
The wonders of redeeming love
and my unworthiness.

3. I take, O cross, thy shadow
for my abiding place:
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by
To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
my glory, all the cross.

[avenir]

Excellent.