Dr. Dan Ebert IV

Ransom

Adam Johnson asks, “What did the ever-wise God achieve in and through the death and resurrection of Christ?” He responds, “The answers are as rich, varied, and endless as the character of God himself, and will spend an eternity exploring and delighting in them.” This semester we examine a few of these wonders of the atonement.

We begin with atonement as ransom – a price to rescue one’s life (Ps. 49:7–8). In the OT, sacrifice, ransom, and redemption are used quite interchangeably. In the NT Christ’s sacrifice is the ransom price for sin. It redeems us (Rom. 3:24–25)!

This ransom rescues believers in at least four ways: we are rescued from sin’s defilement (expiation – holiness restored) we are rescued from God’s wrath against sin (propitiation – God’s justice satisfied), we are rescued from evil and death (God’s power manifested, Ps. 49:15; Job 33:24, 28), and finally, we will one day be rescued from our bodily condition with the glorious restoration of all creation (Rom 8:21-25 – God’s glory shared).

Jonathan Edwards said, “Each attribute of God is glorified in the work of redemption.” In the atonement as ransom, we see God’s holiness, justice, power, and glory. Our first response should be to bow in worship!

Our second response should be to live in sacrificial service. This is our ransoming Lord’s example: “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).