VICARIOUS ATONEMENT (10)
Other Blessings Associated with It (1)

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I. Ransom: a price paid to obtain the freedom of others, such as slaves and captured soldiers. For example, Jehovah says He ransomed Jacob from nations stronger than him (Jeremiah 31:11). Scriptures do not emphasize to whom Christ paid the ransom for His people, but it was not to Satan (as some early church fathers taught). Neither do Scriptures emphasize the price of the ransom, except that it is more than any mere mortal can pay (Psalm 49:4f), and it was found in Christ Himself (Job 33:24; Matthew 20:28 / Mark 10:45), which indicates an infinite value. Rather, Scriptures emphasize the power of Christ to ransom (as in 1 Corinthians 1:18; see Hosea 13:14 below).

-- Job 33:24: God says regarding the elect sinner under conviction for his sin, "Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom" - and it is Christ!

-- Hosea 13:14: Christ prophesied "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death."

-- Matthew 20:28 / Mark 10:45: "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

-- 1 Timothy 2:5f: "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

II. Redemption: the setting at liberty through the payment of a ransom.

1. Christ is the divine Redeemer (Luke 1:68): "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people."

2. Christ not only is the Redeemer, but also the Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30): "Christ Jesus ... became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption."

3. Christ redeemed His people from their sin and all its effects:

i. "from going down to the Pit" (Job 33:28): "He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit, and his life shall see the light."

ii. "from the power of the grave" (Psalm 49:15): "God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me."

iii. "from death" (Hosea 13:14): "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death."

iv. "from the curse of the law" (Galatians 3:13): "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us."

v. "from every lawless deed" (Titus 2:14): "our great God and Savior Jesus Christ ... gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed."

4. Christ's redemption is of infinite value (1 Peter 1:18f): "you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, ... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

5. Christ's redemption is of eternal duration (Hebrews 9:11f): "Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."

III. Forgiveness: the relinquishment of resentment toward the offender and thereby opening the way to a restoration of fellowship with him. For example, Christ has removed the enmity between Jews and Gentiles, and reconciled them into one body unto God (Ephesians 2:11-18).

-- Colossians 1:13f: "He [God the Father] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (cp. Ephesians 1:7).

-- Acts 13:38: "through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins."

IV. Remission: letting sins go as if they had never been committed, so that no reckoning of them is made to the offender. Jehovah prophesied that as the result of Christ's atoning sacrifice "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:34).

-- Matthew 26:28: "My blood of the new covenant ... is shed for many for the remission of sins."

1. All whose sins were remitted by Christ will receive the assurance of that remission through faith in Him (Acts 10:43): "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins."

2. All whose sins were actually remitted through the shed blood of Christ on Calvary are to symbolically remit their sins in the ordinance of Christian baptism, in obedience to the command "be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38).

3. Contrary to an opinion popular in some sects, no man has the power to remit or absolve sins, neither as a priest in a confessional booth nor as the administrator of baptism for the remission of sins.

-- This erroneous doctrine is founded upon a faulty understanding of John 20:23: "If you forgive ["remit" in KJV] the sins of any, they are forgiven ["remitted" in KJV] them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." The power of men to forgive or remit sins is declarative only, not actual.

V. Reconciliation: a change from enmity to friendship.

-- Romans 5:10: "when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son."

-- 2 Corinthians 5:18f: "God ... has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

1. All who were reconciled to God through the death of Christ will through faith in Christ obey the command to "be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20).

2. All who believe in Jesus Christ will be assured of their reconciliation to God through Him (Romans 5:11): "we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

VI. Propitiation: the turning away of wrath through an offering. This is what was desired by the tax collector who prayed, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" (Luke 18:13). We may literally interpret his prayer, "God, provide me propitiation on your mercy seat!"

-- Romans 3:25f: "God set forth [Christ] 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, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

-- Hebrews 2:17: "Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

-- 1 John 2:2: "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins" (not merely the one providing the propitiation).

-- 1 John 4:10: "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

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