What does RANSOM mean when Jesus says he is a “ransom for many” in Mark 10:45?
And how do we figure out that meaning in order to understand what Jesus’ life and death means?
Steps in interpreting a Bible passage
FIRST STEP: Look to the immediate context and see if the the Gospel of Mark fills out the meaning of the word.
- NOPE. The Greek work for ransom only occurs in this single verse in Mark.
SECOND STEP: Broaden the context and see if anywhere else in the New Testament uses this word.
- NOPE. The only other passage is in Matt. 20:28 which is a mirror of this passage (so no new information).
THIRD STEP: Check the Old Testament use of a similar words (but this gets tricky because we are moving languages from Greek to Hebrew). And the Old Testament is big, so where to begin?
THIRD STEP—Expanded: Does the Gospel of Mark allude to or quote parts of the OT, and if so, that would be a good place to start looking.
- BINGO!!! The beginning of Mark refers to the prophet Isaiah (Mark 1:2). So we should start there.
FOURTH STEP (which I’m going to summarize because this is getting long): Figure out characteristic ways that Isaiah uses “ransom” language, and see if that make sense in the Gospel of Mark.
FINDINGS: Ransom language is used in multiple ways “Ransom” as a payment. “Redeem” as the result of a payment. “Redemption” as what happens to those being “ransomed”. And “Redeemer” as the one making the “ransom”.
- Interestingly, we are never told in Isaiah what the “ransom payment” is. Is it a sacrifice, a gift, money, a life? We don’t know. Isaiah never says.
- And we are never told who the “ransom payment” is given to. Is it Babylon, Egypt, the devil, “Death” itself? We don’t know. Isaiah never says.
- What we are told is who the “Redeemer” is and who the “Redeemed” are (those who experience redemption). The Redeemer is God. And God acts on behalf of the Redeemed, who is Israel.
(See here for list of passages from Isaiah that us the Hebrew word g?’al [ransom/redeem/redeemer])
SUMMARY OF RESULTS FROM ISAIAH:
Isaiah uses “ransom” language as a broad concept to speak about how God is going to act on behalf of Israel in the social, political, and spiritual realms. But this ransom is generally without a specific payment or payee.
All we know is that God pays the price (perhaps the cost is born by God like parent who covers the cost of a child’s accident or poor choices) on behalf of Israel.
RESULTS APPLIED TO MARK:
Many look to “give his life as a ransom for many” as a statement about the atonement, about the “mechanisms” by which the life and death of Jesus effects salvation for us.
These theologians think that if a “ransom” is being paid, then a) a price is clearly set, b) the payee is clearly determined, and c) once the exchange is made then we are freed—from our sin, presumably.
But THAT IS NOT what Isaiah, and by extension Mark, means by ransom.
The use of the concept is broader, less specific.
Basically, ransom language in Isaiah—and now by Jesus—is declaring that the God of Israel is acting mightily to save Israel—and the whole world (socially, politically, spiritually, cosmically).
And not just that God redeems—abstractly.
But that the REDEEMER is here—concretely!
Ransom language in Isaiah and Mark has less to do with the mechanism of redemption.
It has EVERYTHING to do with who the REDEEMER is.
THE REDEEMER IS HERE
When Jesus says, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many,” this coming, this serving, this ransoming means THE REDEEMER IS HERE.
So, it is the wrong question to ask, how is Jesus a ransom for many?
Instead Jesus is trying to tell who the Redeemer is.
That the Redeemer has come.
For more on shifting from a plan to the person of salvation, see this.
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