A Ransom for Many - What can that mean?

Almost 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth -- Jesus Christ -- was crucified. He died. Painfully. And then, by the second morning after that, He was risen from the dead. His physical body was gone - or, rather, in light of subsequent events, it seems to have been transformed into a spiritual one. (That's an interesting thing to think through, in itself, but it's not the focus of this article.)

Instead, here we want to focus on some of the things that are said in the Bible about why Jesus died. There's an almost-2000-year-old confusion about it. Let's dig into it...

In Mark 10:42-45 (and in Matthew 20:25-28), we find this well-known lesson, which occurs late in Jesus's ministry. James and John - still not really understanding the depth of what was going on, are lobbying Jesus for promises of sitting at His left and right hand when he is "king". The other disciples are displeased, of course. Jesus knows what's going on, so He gathers them all, and tries to explain the real nature of His mission, and what their mission should be, too.

Here's the text:

"But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of 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."

A ransom. The Greek word used here is λύτρον, or lutron, which means the price for redeeming or ransoming, from λύω, luo, for loosening, untying, or setting free.

Some theologians have taken this text, and combined it with the text from the crucifixion story, when Jesus says three things that show his distress, and his feeling of separation from his Divine essence -- "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?", and "Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done", and "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

It can certainly be interpreted as a sort of sacrifice, in which Jesus acts as a sort of scapegoat, substituting his death for the human race that had disappointed His Father. Some theologians have done that. Anselm of Canterbury, in around 1000 AD, was one of the leaders of a faction that made that argument. But we don't think that's the right track; in fact, we think it was a wrong track that's been pretty damaging.

In New Christian theology, it doesn't make sense that God was angry. He's love itself. Is He disappointed when we don't reciprocate His love? Sure. But angry? No. There's certainly the appearance of it, especially in the Old Testament at times, but the core nature of God is love.

What's more, it should be even clearer that the death of Jesus's physical body wouldn't make God the Father feel better. Remember, they are really ONE person, of one mind - not two.

Instead, the whole cycle of God's incarnation, ministry, physical death, and resurrection was undertaken so that new truths could reach humankind.

Here's an interesting passage, from Arcana Coelestia 1419,

"The Lord, being love itself, or the essence and life of the love of all in the heavens, wills to give to the human race all things that are His; which is signified by His saying that the Son of man came to give His life a ransom for many."

Further, in Apocalypse Explained 328:15, we find this explanation:

“The phrase ‘to ransom’ means to free people from falsities and reform them by means of truths. This is signified by the words, ‘Ransom [redeem] me, O Jehovah, God of truth’” (Psalm 31:5)

One reason Jesus died was to overcome the power of hell. Jesus fought against evil spirits throughout His life. The clearest description of this is just after his baptism, when he spends 40 days in the wilderness. His suffering on the cross was the final struggle against evil, and His resurrection was his final victory over it.

For every person, overcoming evil involves temptation or a struggle against evil. As we struggle against evil individually, Christ struggled against evil on a cosmic scale. His death was the conclusion of that struggle, but it wasn't a loss; it was a win. The Bible says that God took on flesh and blood so that

“... through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14,15)

Another reason that Bible gives for Jesus’ death was that He might unite His human nature with His Divine nature, so that He could “make in Himself, of two, one new man,” (Ephesians 2:14-16, cf. John 17:11, 21; 10:30).

There are other reasons mentioned, too:

He could "go to the Father" (John 13:3; 14:2, 28; 16:10).

He could be "glorified" (John 17:1,5) or "enter into His glory" (Luke 24:26).

He could be "perfected" (Luke 13:32), or "sanctified" (John 17:19).

In Swedenborg's True Christianity 86, it says,

"Jehovah God came into the world as divine truth for the purpose of redeeming people. Redemption was a matter of gaining control of the hells, restructuring the heavens, and then establishing a church."

At the crucifixion, the forces of evil thought they had won. The religious and civic powers of the day led the way in condemning him. He was mocked. The crowd turned against him.

The death of Jesus' physical body was a "ransom" in this way: by undergoing that torture and death, He could then show that his spiritual power transcended natural death. He freed us, loosened us, from domination by the hells, and established a new church -- a new way that we can follow.

35. The Lord gradually put off the humanity taken on from the mother and put on a humanity from the Divine in Him, a humanity which is a Divine humanity and the Son of God. People know that the Lord had a Divine component and a human one — a Divine one from His Father Jehovah, and a human one from the virgin Mary. Consequently He was God and man, and so had a Divine essence and a human nature — a Divine essence from the Father, and a human nature from the mother. And because of that He was equal to the Father in respect to His Divinity, but less than the Father in respect to His humanity. People also know that He did not convert the human nature from the mother into Divine essence; neither did He commingle it with that essence, as the doctrine of faith named after Athanasius teaches. For human nature cannot be converted into Divine essence or be commingled with it.

[2] And yet, according to that same doctrine, the Divine took on a humanity, which is to say that He united Himself to it, like a soul to its body, even to the point that they were not two, but one person. It follows from this that He put off the humanity from the mother, which in itself was like the humanity of any other person, and thus material, and put on a humanity from the Father, which in itself is the same as the Divine itself, and thus essential, as a result of which the humanity, too, became Divine.

That is why the Prophets in the Word call the Lord Jehovah and God even in respect to His humanity, and that the Gospels in the Word call Him Lord, God, the Messiah or Christ, and the Son of God, in whom we are to believe, and by whom we can be saved.

[3] Now because the Lord initially had a humanity from the mother, which He gradually put off, therefore, when He was in the world, He had two states, one called His state of submission or kenosis, and one called His state of glorification or of union with the Divine called the Father. His state was one of submission whenever and as long as He was in a human state from the mother, and His state was one of glorification whenever and as long as He was in a human state from the Father.

In His state of submission He prayed to the Father as though praying to another than Himself, while in His state of glorification He spoke with the Father as though speaking with Himself. In the latter state He said that the Father was in Him and He in the Father, and that He and the Father were one. On the other hand, in His state of submission He underwent temptations or trials, suffered the cross, and prayed to the Father not to forsake Him. For the Divine cannot be tempted or tested, and still less suffer the cross.

It is now apparent from this that temptations or trials and continual victories in them — including the suffering of the cross, which was the last of the trials — were the means by which He completely overcame the hells and completely glorified His humanity, as we showed earlier.

[4] That the Lord put off His humanity from the mother and put on a humanity from the Divine in Him called the Father is apparent as well from the fact that whenever the Lord spoke with His own mouth to His mother, He did not call her mother, but woman. We find in the Gospels only three times that He spoke with His own mouth to His mother or about her, and we read then that twice He called her woman, and once that He did not acknowledge her as His mother.

Twice we read in John that He called her woman:

...the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “What is that to you and Me, woman? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:3-4)

Again in John:

Jesus, therefore, seeing (from the cross) His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27)

And once we read in Luke that He did not acknowledge her:

It was reported to Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside and wish to see You.” (Jesus) answering said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:20-21, cf. Matthew 12:46-49, Mark 3:31-35)

In other places Mary is called His mother, but not by His mouth.

[5] This, too, is confirmed by the fact that He did not acknowledge Himself to be the son of David. For we read in the Gospels:

...Jesus asked (the Pharisees), saying, “What do you think regarding the Christ? Whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How then does David in the spirit call Him Lord, saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?” ’ If David calls Him Lord, then how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word.... (Matthew 22:41-46, cf. Psalms 110:1, Mark 12:35-37, Luke 20:41-44)

It is apparent from this that in respect to His glorified humanity the Lord was neither the son of Mary nor the son of David.

[6] What His glorified humanity was like He showed to Peter, James and John when He was transfigured before them:

His face shone like the sun, and His garments were [as white] as the light.... And then a voice from out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:1-8, cf. Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36)

The Lord also appeared to John “as the sun shining in its power” (Revelation 1:16).

[7] That the Lord’s humanity was glorified is clear from what we are told in the Gospels about His glorification. For example, in the following:

In John:

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.... (He said,) “Father, glorify Your name.” A voice...came from heaven, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” (John 12:23, 28)

Because the Lord was glorified gradually, therefore the text says, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

Again in John:

...after (Judas) had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.... ...God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.” (John 13:31-32)

Again:

Jesus...said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You....” (John 17:1, 5)

And in Luke:

Ought not the Christ to have suffered this and to enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26)

This He said in regard to His humanity.

[8] The Lord said, “God is glorified in Him, ” “God will also glorify Him in Himself, ” and “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also glorify You.” The Lord said these things because the union was a reciprocal one of the Divine with the human and of the human with the Divine. That is why He also said, “I am in the Father and the Father in Me” (John 14:10-11), and “all mine are yours, and (all) yours are mine” (John 17:10). The result was a complete union.

The case is the same with every union. It is not complete unless it is a reciprocal one. Such is the nature also of the union of the Lord with a person and of a person with the Lord, as He teaches in John:

In that day you will know that...you are in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

And elsewhere:

Abide in Me, and I in you.... He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. (John 15:4-5)

[9] Since the Lord glorified His humanity, that is, made it Divine, therefore after death He rose on the third day with His whole body. This does not happen in the case of any other person; for a person rises only in respect to his spirit, and not in respect to his body.

That people might know and no one doubt that the Lord rose with His whole body, He not only said so through the angels who were at the sepulchre, but He also showed Himself in His human body to His disciples, saying to them, when they believed they were seeing a spirit,

See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. (Luke 24:39-40, cf. John 20:20).

And furthermore:

(Jesus) said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see My hands; and reach out your hand here and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Then Thomas...said..., “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28)

[10] To confirm yet again that He was not a spirit but a man, the Lord said to His disciples,

“Have you any food here?” So they gave Him part of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence. (Luke 24:41-43)

Since His body was now no longer a material one but an essential, Divine one, therefore He came to His disciples through closed doors (John 20:19, 26). And after they saw Him, He vanished out of their sight (Luke 24:31).

It was in such a state that the Lord was then taken up and sat at the right of God. For we are told in Luke:

It came to pass, as (Jesus) was blessing (His disciples), that He departed from them and was taken up into heaven. (Luke 24:51)

And in Mark:

...after (He) had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven, and sat at the right of God. (Mark 16:19)

Sitting at the right of God symbolizes Divine omnipotence.

[11] Since the Lord rose into heaven and sat at the right of God, symbolizing Divine omnipotence, with His Divinity and humanity united into one, it follows that His human substance or essence was like His Divine substance or essence.

If a person were to think otherwise, it would be as though he thought that the Lord’s Divinity was taken up into heaven and sat at the right of God, but not at the same time His humanity, which is contrary to Scripture. It is also contrary to Christian doctrine, which teaches that in Christ God and man are like soul and body, and to separate them would be contrary to sound reason.

This union of Father and Son, or of the Divine with the human, is what is meant also in the following:

I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. (John 16:28)

... I go away... and... go to Him who sent Me. (John 16:5, 7:33, cf. 16:16, 17:11, 13, 20:17)

If then you see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? (John 6:62)

No one has ascended into heaven but He who came down from heaven.... (John 3:13)

Everyone who is saved ascends into heaven, though not by his own power, but the Lord’s. The Lord alone ascended into heaven on His own.