{"id":35705,"date":"2025-04-23T22:05:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T05:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&p=35705"},"modified":"2025-04-23T22:20:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T05:20:01","slug":"2025-ransom","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2025-ransom\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Ransom?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Nicholas Schaser<\/p>\n

What does a half-shekel in Exodus have to do with Jesus’ death on the cross?
\nWhat is the Hebrew meaning of “ransom”?
\nAnd how does Yeshua\u2019s sacrifice echo the Torah?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jesus as a Ransom for Many<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28, Jesus tells his disciples, \u201cFor even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.\u201d When Jesus calls himself a \u201cransom,\u201d he\u2019s referring to a powerful idea from the Torah\u2014the system of atonement. In these verses, Jesus is offering his own life as a payment in place of others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sin as Spiritual Debt<\/strong><\/p>\n

In first-century Jewish thinking, sin was seen as a kind of debt owed to God. That\u2019s why, in the Lord\u2019s Prayer, Jesus says, \u201cForgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors\u201d (Matthew 6:12). He\u2019s not talking about money, but about the moral and spiritual debt created by sin. When Jesus gives his life (Greek: psuch\u0113) as a ransom, he\u2019s paying off that debt on behalf of others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ransom in the Torah<\/strong><\/p>\n

The word \u201cransom\u201d (Greek: l\u016btron) has roots in the Torah. In Exodus 30, God commands that every Israelite counted in a census must pay a small amount of money \u201cto make atonement for their lives.\u201d In the Greek version of the Torah (the Septuagint), this payment is called a \u201cransom for his life\u201d (l\u016btron t\u0113s psuch\u0113s). It was meant to cover the cost of one\u2019s life symbolically before God.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jesus Fulfills the Ransom Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Exodus, this ransom was a half-shekel. But in the Gospels, Jesus offers his entire life as the ransom. The similar wording between Exodus and the Gospels suggests that Jesus is doing something much greater: he is giving his life to God as a final and complete atonement for sin\u2014not just for one person, but for many.<\/p>\n

This idea ties into what the angel said at Jesus\u2019 birth: \u201cHe will save his people from their sins\u201d (Matthew 1:21). By giving his life as a ransom, Jesus cancels the spiritual debt of his people, just like the atonement system in the Torah, but in a fuller, deeper way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":35706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-35705","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/35705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/35705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35711,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/35705\/revisions\/35711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35705"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=35705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}