Ransomed by His Blood Pt. 2 (2 Tim 2:6)

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Last week we began to explore what is known as the ransom theory of atonement. There are several places in Scripture where we are told that Christ's death "ransomed us."

But at no point does Scripture declare who specifically this ransom was paid to.

Because Scripture is silent on this issue, does this mean we must also be? No, not necessarily, but it does mean we should proceed with caution. If it was vitally important for us to know the answer to this question, I believe it would have been made more clear.

Nonetheless, we can briefly examine the two most popular answers given to this question throughout history: God and the devil.

Ransom paid to God:

The theory goes like this: Humans broke God's law. God required payment to satisfy His demand for justice and holiness. Man never could pay the required debt, and so God Himself incarnated in Christ, lived a perfect life of obedience, and paid the debt to the Father on our behalf. Jesus acts as the high priestly representative of humanity, offering mankind back to the Father in purified form.

In this case, the Son presents His perfect life to the Father as a "ransom"; the Father accepts this offering; we are redeemed and set back into right relationship with God.

Ransom paid to the devil:

Through deception and disobedience, man fell under the domain of sin and death - the domain of the devil. In order to free us from this domain of darkness, God Himself becomes a human being and gives Himself over as a "ransom payment" to the devil. In this case, the ransom is like a Trojan Horse: the devil overplays his hand and gladly receives a sinless man into the bosom of death, only for that very ransom payment to destroy his power from the inside out.

Being human allows Jesus to die and enter the realm of the dead; being divine allows Him to rise and forever destroy its power over mankind. Death is destroyed by death. The deceiver is deceived by the Truth, because darkness cannot comprehend the light.

Which one of these pictures is correct?

I don't think that is quite the right question. We must remember that the ransom analogy is just that: an analogy. Both ways of answering the question give us deeply true insights into the nature of the atonement, but both contain limitations as well.

In the "ransom paid to God" model, we rightly see that Jesus fulfills man's destiny and lives a perfectly obedient life the way God intended for man. It is wholesome to consider that He presented Himself - blood, sweat, and tears - to the Father as a demonstration of His unconditional love. We rightly see the damage that human sin has caused, and the immense price it cost to restore us to God.

But if we are not careful in our wording, we can allow this picture to make it seem as though humans were being held captive by God, and that we needed to be saved from God. This way of answering the question essentially ignores the devil's role in the story as the one who holds the power death (Heb 2:14). It can also make salvation and the atonement seem very transactional.

On the other hand, in the "ransom paid to the devil" model we see practically the opposite. The devil plays a prominent role, and it is clear that we are being held in bondage by him. The Father sends the Son to defeat the devil and free humanity from the grip of death. This version does not come across as transactional, but resembles a sort of dramatic superhero story, with Jesus as the hero, the devil as the villain, and us as the innocent prisoners.

And while it is true that the devil is to blame for introducing sin and death into the world, we are perhaps not as innocent as this version of the story makes us out to be. Many people are also uncomfortable with the devil playing as prominent a role as he does in this version of the story - as if he and God were on an even playing field. Many people cannot stomach the thought of the precious blood of Christ being paid to the devil - though we must remember that the blood is paid to him not because he has any rightful claim on it, but because it is by this blood that he is ultimately deceived and defeated.

And while I admit I may be partial to this version of the story, we must also admit that neither version captures the totality of what Christ did on the Cross. The fullness of what could be said of Christ's Cross must ultimately be reverenced with silence - as such a profound reality could never be collapsed into human language or concepts.

We must eventually become content simply to gaze upon the Cross of Christ and allow our hearts to be moved by the ineffable mystery it silently declares. Only those who move past mere observation and venture into participation of the Cross will be granted to share in the revelation of its mysteries.

I want to know Christ.

Yes, to know the power of his resurrection

and participation in his sufferings,

becoming like him in his death,

and so, somehow, attaining

to the resurrection from the dead.

Phil 3:10,11