In the New Testament world of commerce, a ransomwas the price that had to be paid to buy back a pawned object or to liberatea slave. Thus, Christ is seen as the ransom given to liberate us all fromthe slavery of sin. But it has been an extraordinary misunderstanding toview this act of ransoming in more than metaphorical terms, as if it weresome necessary payment demanded by God. We haveno reason for supposing that the New Testament intended to press the metaphorany farther than did the Old Testament. The metaphor means that forgiveness of sin is not some casualor arbitrary act of God.
Sin is truly a bondage leading to death.
It costs God much to forgive and deliver us from bondage. In speaking of the bloodof Christ as a price he had to pay, the New Testament is trying to emphasizethat the Risen Lord s life and death somehow served God s salvific purposesin history. There is no exact commercial description of what actuallyoccurred in Jesus Passion and death. When they were employed as a means of atonement, the deathof the animal was entirely incidental. Send your question to MarkCroteau .