I don’t know if any of you can relate to this but I was part of a congregation for many many years and every Sunday we would sing a whole bunch of songs for example we would sing “i’m redeemed by love divine….” And in the next breath we would sing “he paid a debt he did not owe…”
So did Jesus die to redeem us or to pay our debt?
Only in the last couple of years have I realised that it can’t be both. Redemption and the payment of a debt are two different concepts belonging to two opposing theologies. One is biblical and the other is totally unbiblical.
Let’s begin by looking at that word redeem.
There are numerous scriptures that include the word redeem and redemption such as…
Titus 2
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Why did Jesus give himself? Why did he die on the cross? To redeem us.
Colossians 1
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Notice how these verses link redemption to deliverance?
That’s because redemption means deliverance or more specifically liberation procured by the payment of a ransom
Christ’s paid our ransom.
But hang on, why do we need a ransom?
Because those who commit sin are slaves to sin.
In paying our ransom Christ purchases us from out of a slavery situation so we no longer serve sin, instead we serve God.
That’s being delivered from darkness and translated into the kingdom of his dear son.
Translated means to remove from one place to another.
But how does that happen? How does redemption work?
To understand how redemption works one must understand that Jesus did NOT die in our place or instead of us or so we don’t have to.
Rather he died as an example for us to follow.
1 Peter 2
21…Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
I love these verses because they show the participatory nature of the cross.
Jesus suffered…as an example that we should follow.
He bare our sins… that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness.
It’s in following Christ’s example and dying WITH him through repentance that redemption takes effect and one is set free from sin
Rom. 6:6&7
Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin
Therefore the ransom is essentially Christ’s example.
And what did he say in the garden of Gethsemane? Not as I will but as thou wilt
And remember Col. 1:13
Who hath delivered us from the POWER of darkness…
The POWER of darkness is our will. The fact we don’t want to stop sinning. Therefore it’s in submitting our will to God’s will through repentance that we are delivered and translated and transformed into a new creature by the Spirit.
So we’ve looked at the word redeem, now let’s look at the word debt.
There are five verses in the New Testament that include the word debt and not one of them say that Jesus paid our debt.
In fact three of those verses belong to the parable of the unmerciful servant which teaches directly against that notion.
In this parable we read about a servant who owed a large debt to the king.
Matthew 18
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Did anyone pay the debt? Was the king so angry about the debt that he beat up his son? Did the king kill his own son to satisfy his need for justice, enabling him to forgive the servant?
No! None of that happened! The servant demonstrated such remorse that the king was moved with compassion and freely forgave the debt.
Similarly God forgives our past sin, not because Jesus died in our place to pay our debt but because we died WITH him, we put to death our old man once and for all, we forsook our past life of sin through repentance.
God is absolutely just in forgiving a person on those grounds.
Like I said, there are two opposing theologies.
One is REDEMPTION- liberation procured by payment of a ransom, the ransom being Christ’s example, when we follow his example and die to self through repentance we are set free from sin and joined to Christ through the Spirit which is love. Love transforms us into a new creature.
The other is SUBSTITUTION- Jesus was punished in our place to pay our debt thus fulfil God’s wrath and satisfy his need for justice, enabling him to forgive us when we “trust” and “believe” in what Jesus did in our place, as our substitute.
Substitution theology is unbiblical and dangerous!
- It shifts ones focus away from repentance and towards “trusting” and “believing” in what Jesus did “in our place”
- Because paying a debt and a ransom are not the same thing, It shifts one’s focus away from actual deliverance from sin and towards some cosmic legal transaction.
Substitution theology is not from the bible! It was not believed by the early church. It came from the teachings of men like John Calvin.
John Calvin was a lawyer thus he viewed salvation as a legal transaction rather than a heart/life transformation.
Where things get confusing is that over hundreds of years the teachings of men like John Calvin have been mixed together with the language of the bible until we have the situation I mentioned at the start of this article, where people are in a church service singing “I’m redeemed by love divine…” and in the next breath “he paid a debt he did not owe…” thinking that those two different concepts are the same thing, when they’re not.
You may believe in redemption, you may preach redemption but if you’re holding on to any part of substitution you are in error because a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Let go of substitution theology!
The simple fact that NOT ONE scripture in the bible says that Jesus payed our debt should be enough for you to stop singing that song and stop preaching that lie to others.
Let us each work out our salvation with fear and trembling, God bless.
