Ransom or debt payment?

22-11-2025 - Posted by Geert-Jan

Originally posted on May 16, 2007 – by Andre Piet

Up to this day, it has always been taught in the church (broadly speaking) that Jesus had to die to pay the debt (of humanity) to God. This is apparently so self-evident that few have asked the question whether this is indeed “it is written.” In this article, that question is explicitly asked.

the ransom

“…according as the Son of Mankind (= the heir of Adam > ‘ben adam’ Psalm 8:5) came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life (lit. His soul > connected with blood; Lev. 17:11) as a RANSOM for many.”
Matthew 20:28

The word ransom (Gr. lutron; Strong 3083) means: a price that is paid, for example, to redeem slaves or prisoners. A ransom is paid to the one who holds captive, so that he is no longer the owner afterward.

For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus, Who is giving Himself a ransom for all, the testimony in its own eras (lit. the testimony in own times, i.e., all mankind will in due time testify to it).
1 Timothy 2:5,6

Jesus, who was sent only to the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24), spoke of a ransom “for many.” The apostle of the nations, however, speaks of a ransom “for all.” Had Paul not written just a few verses earlier (2:4) that God wills all mankind to be saved, here he writes that the Mediator of the one God gave Himself as a ransom for all. All people are imprisoned, but because the ransom has been paid for them, they will all be set free.

captive to what?

Humanity is in slavery to death.

Since, then, the children have partaken of blood and flesh, He also, in like manner, partook of the same, in order that THROUGH HIS DEATH He might dethrone him who had the power over death (should be: OF death — the devil is “a man-killer from the beginning”), that is, the devil, and might free all those who throughout their entire lives were subject to SLAVERY through fear OF DEATH.
Hebrews 2:14,15

Man is a slave to death. Nothing is as certain as the fact that every human is mortal. Death holds us captive. In this verse we read that Jesus took on “blood and flesh” in order to be able to die, so as to conquer death. In order to rise from among the dead, one must first die. Jesus’ death was the price to be able to give the whole of humanity “incorruptible life.”

redemption

The idea of redemption and ransom appears much more frequently in the New Testament than a superficial reading might suggest. The Greek word ‘apolutrosis’ (Strong 629) occurs 10 times in the NT and literally means: liberation by the payment of a ransom. It is translated in the Dutch NBG51 as “deliverance” and “liberation.”

For all have sinned and fall short (= come short of) the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption (apolutrosis > release by ransom) in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:24,25

All people are sinners. All people fall short of the glory of God. And they all are justified freely by God’s grace, through the liberation that Christ Jesus accomplished by the price He paid. That is “redemption”!

And in Him we have the redemption (apolutrosis > release by ransom) through His blood, the forgiveness of the transgressions (lit. missteps), according to the riches of His grace…
Ephesians 1:7

What we already established earlier, we see again here, namely that “the blood of the cross” (Col. 1:20) is the ransom. The term “blood” is of course a direct reference to the slaughter of sacrificial animals, as prescribed in the OT. Jesus did not die a natural death—no, He was “slaughtered.” It is undeniably true that killing and slaughtering a flawless, innocent animal is sheer injustice. Why was it prescribed then? Because it points forward! The secret of the slaughter lies in what happens afterward! The animal is then elevated on an altar and rises up “for a fragrant odor to God.” It cannot be otherwise than that the sacrifice after the slaughter speaks of the resurrection of Christ, after His death on the cross. In the resurrection, the new life breaks forth in which sin(s) belong to the past. That last point is also the essence of the expression “the forgiveness of offenses.” Forgiveness (Strong 859; aphesis) literally means: liberation, release (see: Luke 4:18). The liberation from our offenses means that we are no longer captive in offenses (sins, missteps). Whoever knows Christ, the Conqueror of death, knows a new life in which “the old (and all that belongs to it) has passed away.”

All occurrences of apolutrosis: Luke 21:28; Rom. 3:24; Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:7; Eph. 1:14; Eph. 4:30; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:15; Heb. 11:35

purchased for God

“And they are singing a new song, saying, ‘Worthy art Thou to be taking the scroll and to open its seals, for Thou wast slain and dost PURCHASE [us] FOR GOD by Thy blood out of every tribe and language and people and nation…'”
Rev. 5:9

The price was paid on Golgotha—but note: the price was not paid TO God. Jesus’ death was not a debt payment but a redemption, so that death would release its prey. So that it would become God’s possession.

debt paid or debt not reckoned?

Nowhere do we read in Scripture that on Golgotha God presented Jesus with the invoice for humanity’s debt. Time and again we see that the price was not paid to God but rather to the enemy (= death), who holds humanity captive.

Which leaves the question: what then happens to our debt?
Answer: God passes over it (cf. Prov. 19:11 “it is an honor for a man to be overlooking transgression”). On Golgotha we do not see a God demanding satisfaction but a God who does NOT reckon even the greatest injustice ever committed.

“…and gives to us the dispensation of the conciliation, how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, NOT RECKONING THEIR OFFENSES TO THEM, and placing in us the word of the conciliation.”
2 Cor. 5:19

If the classical doctrine of atonement were true, then concepts like remission and forgiveness would be meaningless. Because either our debt is paid—then there is nothing left to forgive—or the debt is forgiven—but then there cannot also be a payment. If Pete owes Carl 100 euros and Jack pays that debt for Pete, then the account is settled and Carl no longer has anything to forgive.

Golgotha is the ultimate proof of a God who does NOT reckon offenses, and with that, the classical doctrine of debt payment (“atonement by satisfaction,” “propitiation,” etc.) is nothing more than a caricature of the Biblical view. On Golgotha, God literally passed over (cf. Passover = passing over) the debt of humanity: He looked ahead to “the last Adam” who, three days later, as Firstfruit “illumines life and incorruption” (2 Tim. 1:10).

Delen: