The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-02-18
CHRIST AS A RANSOM.
BY REV. S. CRANE, ID. d.
tNorwalk, ,O)


as the Son of man came not to be min
istered unto, but to minister, and to
give his life ransom for IN any " Matt.
Xxx. 28). The parallel of this is Mark
x. 45. The other passage reads: " For
there is one God, and one mediator be-
tween Goa and men, the man Christ
Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for
all, to be testified in due time" " Il Tim.
ii. 5,6).
Now, what is the meaning of this
word when applied to Christ ? How
are we to understand that Christ was a
ransom There is, of course, no ques-
tiOn as to the meaning of the word. A
ransom is the price paid for the release
or liberty of a slave. 1t was customary
to ransom those captured in war and
reduced to slavery, by paying certain
price to their captors. The ransom
was the price paid.
Two questions therefore arise in ap-
plying this word to Christ: In what
sense is he a ransom ? How did he
ransom m9n? And from whom did he
ransom them? The first question is
answered very clearly in the New Testa-
ment. Christ "gave himself, - "g gave
his life," as a ransom. Indeed, all that
Christ was and did, his whole mission
and work, were in the nature of ran
som. His teachings, his obedience, his
sutferjngs, and death, and resurrection,
in fine all that he did was for the pur-
pose of redeeming or ransoming men.
1t was the price he paid for mans sal
walton. But unto whom did he pay
this price Whose slave was man, or
who had claims upon man, that made
it necessary for Christ to pay the rar-
som before man could be liberated?
To this question various answers
have been given. For long time the
answer in the Church was that this
price was paid to the devil. For some
thousand years in the Church the doc
trine was that Christ died to ransom
man from the power of the devil. The
devil had captured all mankind. All
men by SHINING had put themselves
fnto the hands of the devil, and became
his subjects or slaves. Hence, Christ
came and suffered and died that he
might break tfeA ssti let
his human captives go free.
In more recent times the answer has
been that Christ paid this price to di-
vine justice. By sin man threw him
self into the hands of justice, and be-
came his subject or slave. Justice
demanded that he be punished for that
sin, and punished through all eternity.
Hence Christ came and suffered and
died that he might ransom man from
the hands of divine justice This jus
tice is represented as willing to release
man if Christ would suffer in his stead.
Christ suffered, and SO man was liber-
ated, so far, at least, as to be allowed a
chance for his life an opportunity
to make "his calling and election
sure.o
Another theory is that by sin man
incurred debt to divine justice that
he could not pay. Justice demands
mans constant and absolute obedience
but man has sinned, and so taken from
justice that obedience which was his
due; and as mans constant obedience is
due to God, he can never pay the debt
which he has incurred by his disobedi-
ence. Justice, therefore, has claims
upon man that he can never pay; hence
Christ came and was obedient even
unto the death of the cross " that he
might pay these claims and release man.
Justice is represented as accepting the
obedience of Christ in lieu of mans
obedience, and 50 man goes free.
1t is a sufficient objection to both of
these theories that they violate the
fundamental principles of justice. To
punish the innocent in place of the
guilty is the rankest i5justice. Divine
justice never could accept the suffer
ings of Christ in place of the punish
ment due man, for that would utterly
violate his own nature.
Neither could he accept the obedience
of Christ in place of human obedience.
This would be to violate justice. JUS
tice demands the obedience of man, and
the obedience of no other being can be
substituted for mans obedience. None
of these answers, therefore, are satis-
factory. The idea that Christ was in
any sense a ransom paid to God is re-
volting. 1t violates all the principles
of honor and right, and traduces the
character of our Father in heaven. 1t
is hardly less revolving than the old
idea that Christ was a ransom paid to
the devil.
Indeed, abating the notion of per
sOnal devil, and underestimate Q the term
devil to be only a peTsonidc4tol Of
evil, and it comes very much nearer
the truth, 1t clearly indicates the di-
rsctiOn in which the trust is to be
found. Sin is represented IN the Scrip
lures as "a monster whom men serve.
John SAYS, WhOsOever cummitt-th
sin ia he want of sin % Tr.sa ,,r,r,yg