What Is the Ransom Sacrifice

Why was such a learned Bible Scholar as Dr. Billy Graham unable to explain this basic doctrine?

I was recently asked by the pastor of a Lutheran Church, "How could one man giving up his life benefit all mankind?" I took this to mean that he, too, could not explain the ransom sacrifice.

The main reason the clergy of Christendom cannot explain the ransom sacrifice is because they refuse to let go of a pagan doctrine that was introduced into the church over 1600 years ago and has since become that principle belief with which all other church teachings must harmonize. What belief is that? The belief that God is a Trinity.

The Watch Tower of June 1882 had this to say about that: “Many pagan philosophers finding that it would be policy to join the ranks of the rising religion [an apostate form of Christianity endorsed by Roman emperors in the fourth century C.E.], set about paving an easy way to it by trying to discover correspondencies between Christianity and Paganism, and so to blend the two together. They succeeded only too well. . . . As the old theology had a number of chief gods, with many demi-gods of both sexes, the Pago-christians (if we may coin a word) set themselves to reconstruct the list for the new theology. At this time, therefore, the doctrine of three Gods was invented—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.”

Simply put, the Athanasian Creed, of about the eighth century of the Common Era, compounded the confusion by explaining the belief this way: The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (Spirit) are all three of the same substance, all three are eternal (and hence had no beginning), and all three are almighty. So the creed reads that in the “Trinity none is afore or after other; none is greater or less than another.” Is that reasonable? More importantly, is it in agreement with the Bible and why would this preclude one's ability to explain the ransom sacrifice?

The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967 edition, Vol. XIV, p. 306) admits that “the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught in the Old Testament.” It also admits that the doctrine must be dated as from about three hundred and fifty years after the death of Jesus Christ. So the early Christians who were taught directly by Jesus Christ did not believe that God is a “Trinity.”

With that as the starting point there is no way for Christendom's clergy to ever be able to explain the ransom sacrifice. Why? Because what the Bible says about the nature of Jesus when on earth does not harmonize with their precious Trinity doctrine.

(1 Timothy 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus,

Prior to Jesus' Death Mankind Was in a Hopeless State

The Psalmist lamented that condition this way:

(Psalm 49:6-9) Those who are trusting in their means of maintenance, And who keep boasting about the abundance of their riches, ⁷ Not one of them can by any means redeem even a brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him; ⁸ (And the redemption price of their soul is so precious That it has ceased to time indefinite) ⁹ That he should still live forever [and] not see the pit.

King David said this:

(Psalm 51:5) Look! With error I was brought forth with birth pains, And in sin my mother conceived me.

And the apostle Paul explained it this way:

(Romans 5:12) "...through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned."

(Romans 6:23) For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.

What was lost to us when our first parents sinned was perfect human life. Jehovah's perfect sense of justice would not allow for any way of resolving this issue other than to hold himself to the same standard he required of his people.

(Deuteronomy 32:4) The Rock, perfect is his activity, For all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; Righteous and upright is he.

He revealed this standard of perfect justice in the law code he gave the nation of Israel. Restitution must be in kind. The payment must equal what was lost.

(Deuteronomy 19:21) And your eye should not feel sorry: soul will be for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

The price of redemption had to be another perfect man; nothing more, nothing less. What was needed was a duplicate of Adam. Jesus fit that profile.

(1 Timothy 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus.

A man, yes, but not a descendant of Adam. By taking the life force of his firstborn angelic son and transferring it to the womb of a virgin; then by hedging it from her imperfection throughout the gestation period, what was born could truly be called holy, God's son:

(Luke 1:35) In answer the angel said to her: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.

Another perfect human; another Adam!

It is even so written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. —1^stCorinthians 15:45

Until Christendom's clergy discards its Trinity doctrine and acknowledges that Jesus was a fully human perfect man, with the ability to father a whole race of perfect offspring, they will never fully appreciate all that sacrifice comprised. Nor will they ever be able to intelligently explain just how Jesus' death could buy back all who would avail themselves of it.

[back to menu]