A Ransom For All

A ransom for all - was not testified until Paul proclaimed it, the revelation of the secret, which was kept secret since the world began. Some have called God’s justification, cheap justification; if it is that easy, if a person can obtain righteousness without doing something, or even trying to do something in order to gain it, that would be too easy, and that would make it cheap. 


That is difficult for people imbued with the pride of life to imagine; it is difficult to accept, because it does not seem fair to the human mind, especially to the religiously minded. It does not seem quite right that God could consider someone righteous, especially if that person is not expending the same amount of effort or attention that they are to become righteous by way of their practice. 


The fact is Christ became the redeemer of the entire world, when he satisfied the justice of God for the sins of the entire world. The sin issue was resolved for everyone, but understand, that having a redeemer and accepting the redeemer that we have, and what that redeemer accomplished, are two different things. 


God’s justification is absolutely free, but it was certainly not cheap, it came at tremendous cost. Apart from God’s grace, the justification Paul’s been telling us about would be totally impossible, but then, apart from the price the son of God paid to make it possible, God’s grace could not offer it.

a reply to: newnature1
The image is drawn from the Old Testament laws about "redeeming" a family member from a state of debt-slavery (Leviticus ch25).
I think that helps us to see how Paul understands the transaction.

a reply to: newnature1

It doesn't bear thinking about the amount of times the pulpit bashers have made a meal out of their interpretation of Why christ's death was so important, but the act of redeeming and where it was originally from - thanks DiSRAELI for the explanation isn't quite as the bashers would inform their congregations.

The religious love emotional blackmail and Christ's death 'so we all could live and go to heaven 'clean' almost like reformed drug addicts is typical.

However the Christian ideals of 'forgiveness' good for our mental states) and helping each other without wanting money or some form of bondage for ourselves, are, I suspect, natural virtues humans have had since they first walked the earth. Religious dogma complicates life and gives those men in frocks a qualification for their lacklustre and sometimes luxurious existence off the rest of us.

a reply to: newnature1

A ransom for all

For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many

As believers, we do not possess the life that Jesus got when God raised him from among the dead as an inherent quality any more than we possess God’s righteousness as a property in our own nature. Just as in the midst of our sinfulness, we are righteous, so in the midst of our self-evident mortality, we are going to get the life God gave to Jesus. Wholeness and meaning in life are not the products of what we have or do not have, what we have done or have not done, we are already a whole person and possess a life of infinite meaning and purpose because of who we are in Christ.

The goal of most believer’s life has been to become disgusted enough with ourselves to try hard enough, so that we can finally win God’s approval. The struggle for acceptance on the basis of works is epidemic, but the greatest travesty of all, is the lack of understanding about our new identity in Christ.