Ángel
Manuel Rodríguez
Could
you give me a couple passages from the New Testament from which the substitutionary
death of Christ is taught?
That
Christ died in our place belongs to the very heart of the biblical understanding
of the atonement. It is an attempt to unfold the meaning of Christ's death
rather than a rational description of the process.
Possibly
one of the most important passages on this subject is Jesus' words in
Mark 10:45: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (NIV). The term ransom
designates the means of release or redemption and is associated with
situations in which the life of the individual was in jeopardy (Ex. 30:12;
Num. 35:31).
The
idea of self-sacrifice in Mark 10:45 is defined as giving one's life for
others. Here the Greek preposition "for" (antí) should
retain its full substitutionary force: "in place of." The payment required
from the many was their own lives. Yet they could not have ransomed themselves.
They would have died. The only way out of their predicament was for someone
else to die in their place. Jesus paid the penalty for their sins by giving
His own life as their substitute.
The
idea of substitution is strengthened in Isaiah 53 in connection with the
words "give," "his life," and "many." If we consider the fact that Mark
10:45 contains a rather short saying, Isaiah 53 establishes the dependence
of the one on the other.
Besides,
conceptually the Servant dies in place of the many, bearing their sins.
And in Mark the Son of man gives His life "in place of the many." In both
cases God's instrument does something for the benefit of others, and the
language of substitution unpacks the meaning of that action.
Paul
also says that Christ "gave himself as a [substitutive] ransom [antílutron]
for [hyper] all men" (1 Tim. 2:6, NIV). In this context
Paul describes one of the ways in which Christ functioned as our mediator:
He gave His life as a substitute—ransom—for the benefit of all.
The mediator took the place of those who had been condemned.
Another
important passage is Galatians 3:13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law by becoming a curse for us" (NIV). First, the "curse" is the
one pronounced by the Mosaic law upon its violators, and Paul argues that
no one is capable of observing the Law completely (verse 10). Consequently
the whole world is under the law and liable to receive its curse (verse
22).
Second,
the law's curse was ordained by God Himself. It expresses a judicial action
of God, the validity of which is not questioned, much less rejected, by
Paul. Therefore, the curse of the law occupies a legal place in the human
predicament on account of the universality of sin.
Third,
the righteous claims of the law against sinners need to be fully satisfied.
The curse could not be canceled out as if it never existed or ignored
as irrelevant. This unavoidable phenomenon makes hopeless the plight of
humanity and threatens its very existence. Without the legal claim of
the law, the gospel becomes irrelevant and lacks purpose. This claim is
to be satisfied, and this God did through Christ.
Fourth,
Christ takes the curse upon Himself and dies in place of sinners on the
cross. In this particular case the preposition
"for" (hyper) contains the idea of substitution, because Christ
became the recipient of the curse in our place,
freeing us from its power. Although the word "satisfaction" is not used
by Paul, the concept of substitutionary satisfaction is employed here.
Love and justice are brought together in a mysterious way.
There
is no clear attempt in the New Testament to explain in detail how
this act of atonement took place in Christ. We are simply called
to proclaim it. There is indeed a profound element of mystery in what
took place on the cross and specifically in the transfer of sin and its
penalty to the Son of God.
Contemplating
this unfathomable act of divine love, Paul exclaimed, "The mystery of
godliness is great" (1 Tim. 3:16).
7/9/98
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