304
REDEMPTION
REDEMPTION
release of prisoners, the manumission of slaves (see A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 32211'., with some of the necessary correctives in T. Zahn, Der Brief an die liiimer, 1910, p. 180, note 51 from the middle), or the purcliase of immunity for faults committed against Deity (see F. Steinleitner, Die Bcieht iin Zusammcn- hnnqe init der mdcralen Rr.chtspjlcge in der Antike, p. 37 f.)- He speaks of giving His life as a ransom ' for,' or rather ' in the place of,' ' instead of,' ' many,' the preposition (avri) employed emphasizing the idea of exchange, or, we may say shortly, of substitution. In this declaration, then, our Lord Himself sets forth in language as precise as possible His work of service for man as culminating in the vicarious payment by His voluntary death of a ransom price for them. This is what He came to do ; and in this, therefore, is summed up briefly the nature of His work for men.
It would be strange if so remarkable a declara- tion had produced no echoes in tlie teaching of our Lord's followers. A very distinct echo of it sounds in 1 Ti 2', where it is declared of the man Christ Jesus, the only Mediator between God and men, that 'he gave himself a ransom for all.' The term employed for ' ransom ' here is a strengthened form (avTl\vTpov), in which the idea of exchange, already intrinsic to the simple form (\vTpov), is made still more explicit. This idea having thus been thrown into prominence in the terra itself, the way was opened to add an intimation of those with whom the exchange is made by means of a pre- position which indicates them as beneticiaries of it (iivip). The voluntariness of the ransoming trans- action on our Lord's part is intimated when it is said that He 'gave himself a ransom for all, a phrase the full reference of which on Paul's lips may be gathered from Gal 1* : ' who gave himself for our sins ' (cf. Gal 2-", Eph 5^- ^). Every element of thought contained in Mk 10^', Mt 20=«, in a word, is repeated here ; and what is there repre- sented by our Lord as the substance of His mission, is here declared by Paul to be the sum of the gospel committed to him to preach. It is the ' testi- mony in its own times, whereunto I was appointed a preacher and an apostle ' (1 Ti 2').
It is only an elaboration of the central idea of this declaration when Paul (Tit 2"), stirred to the depths of his being by the remembrance of all that he owes to 'our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,' for ' the epiphany of whose glory ' he is looking forward as his most ' blessed hope,' cele- brates in burning words the great transaction to which he attributes it all : ' who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own posses- sion, zealous of good works.' The fundamental fact thrown up to observation here too is that Jesus Christ 'gave himself for us.' The assertion is the same as that of 1 Ti 2^, and the meaning is the same : our Lord voluntarily gave Himself as a ransom for our benefit. This statement dominates the whole passage, and doubtless has determined the choice of the verb ' ransom ' in the first clause of the telle sentence which follows. But it is the effects of this ransoming which are particularly developed. Paul's mind is intent in this context on conduct. He would have his converts live worthily of the grace of God which has come to them, their eyes set upon the recompense of the reward. If Christ gave Himself for our sins, it was that we might sin no more. That is expressed in Gal I'' thus : ' That he might deliver us out of this present evil world.' It is expressed here thus : ' That he might ransom us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.' The two statements have fundamentally the same content, expressed, how-
ever, in the one case negatively, and in the other positively. Christ ransomed us by the gift of Him- self, that we might no longer belong to the world but to Him. To belong to Christ is to be holy ; and therefore those who are His, while still in tlie world must live soberly, righteously, and godly, exi)ecting His coming, that their deliverance out of this evil world may be completed. The verbs used in the two statements are, however, diHerent. In the one case, the verb employed (liaipdcrBai., Gal I'') declares the efl'ect wrought exclusively, with no intimation of the mode of action by which it is attained : the purpose of Christ's giving Himself for our sins is our rescue, deliverance, out of the present evil world. In the other case, the verb employed {XvrpoOaBai, Tit 2") has a distinct modal connotation : Christ's purpose in giving Himself for us is to ransom us from every iniquity, and thus to purify for Himself a people of His own, zealous of good works. The concept of ransom intrinsic in Christ's giving Himself for us is here expressly carried over to the ultimate efl'ects, our deliver- ance from all iniquity, and our purification for Christ, 'so that,' as B. Weiss puts it, ' His giving Himself up for our liberation from guilt is conceived as the ransom-price, apart from which these things could not result' {Die Brief e Pauli an Timotheus imd Titus'', 1885, p. 884 n.). This is only to say, in our current modes of speech, that the ransom paid by Christ, when He gave Himself for us, purchases for us not only relief from the guilt but also release from the power of sin.