Source: “Salvation Not Purchased: Overcoming the Ransom Idea to Rediscover the Original Gospel Teaching”, By Stephen Finlan, 2020.
Christian Theology Of Ransom Sacrifice.wav
This podcast critically examines the historical development of the Christian concept of ransom-sacrifice and atonement, arguing that it was not present in the earliest apostolic teachings of Jesus's immediate followers. Instead, the Apostle Paul introduced the idea of Jesus's death as a sacrifice, redemption payment, or means of justification, drawing upon familiar cultural concepts of his time. The text highlights how later theologians, such as Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, literalized and intensified these metaphors, leading to problematic doctrines like original sin, predestination, and the "penal substitutionary theory," which depicts God as a stern, wrathful figure requiring a violent payment for sin. Conversely, the source emphasizes that the early Greek Church Fathers, and Jesus himself, focused on spiritual transformation and divinization, offering a more positive vision of humanity's relationship with a loving God. The author ultimately advocates for Christians to re-evaluate these atonement metaphors, recognizing them as culturally specific teaching tools rather than literal mechanics of salvation, and to instead embrace Jesus's teachings on freedom, genuine moral change, and the pursuit of a Christ-like life.
Topic 1 The earliest apostolic teaching, as documented in the book of Acts, presented the crucifixion of Jesus primarily as an unjust killing, emphasizing God's vindication of Christ through resurrection and the coming of the Spirit, leading to the forgiveness of sins. This initial teaching did not interpret Jesus' death sacrificially or as a payment. Concepts like morality, spirituality, Christology (understanding who Jesus was), and the hope for the resurrection of believers were present from the outset, but the idea of atonement was not. The Apostle Paul, writing later in the 50s AD, is identified as the earliest source for a Christian concept of sacrificial atonement. The source indicates that Luke, the author of Acts, recognized that Paul's teaching on salvation differed significantly from that of the other apostles and Jesus himself.
Topic 2 Paul articulated a new teaching that Jesus died as a sacrifice or a redemption payment, although he claimed to have received these doctrines from other Christians. To make Jesus' death comprehensible and meaningful, Paul utilized four core metaphors: sacrifice, scapegoat, redemption payment, and justification. These images were effective because they drew upon familiar cultural practices and social institutions. Sacrifice was a deeply ingrained religious practice in both Jewish and Gentile cultures, and its elements of blood and purification lent themselves to interpreting Jesus' death. The scapegoat metaphor depicted sin being magically removed from the community. Redemption referred to a rescue through a purchase of freedom, while justification implied a court proceeding with a favorable outcome. These metaphors provided meaning to the otherwise scandalous and unjust crucifixion. The source emphasizes that Paul intended these as metaphors, not literal mechanics of salvation, and that interpreting them too literally can distort his original intent. He deliberately mixed his metaphors, showing that the saving result was paramount, rather than the precise details of "how" salvation was achieved.
Topic 3 A crucial point of discussion involves the translation of a specific passage in Romans 3:24-25, where Paul uses the Greek word hilasterion. This word is frequently mistranslated as "sacrifice of atonement" in many English versions, such as the NRSV and NIV. However, the source argues that hilasterion should be correctly translated as "mercy seat," referring to the lid of the ark of the covenant, a sacred place where ritual atonement was performed, particularly on the Day of Atonement. The distinction is vital because hilasterion signifies a place within the sacrificial system, not a sacrificial victim. This mistranslation, by forcing Jesus to be solely a sacrificial victim, narrows Paul's broader metaphorical range. Paul, in fact, uses Christ as the mercy seat, where atonement occurs, but also elsewhere as the sin offering or the scapegoat. The author stresses the importance of accurate translation to avoid misunderstanding Paul's sophisticated and varied use of imagery.
Topic 4 Despite the use of sacrificial and transactional metaphors, Paul's core emphasis lies in the saving effect of Jesus' death and resurrection, leading to profound spiritual transformation and new life for believers. He portrays God, Jesus, and the Spirit working together to bring about this new existence. Paul's teachings highlight spiritual freedom, a renewed heart, and ethical sensitivity. He describes salvation not merely as an escape from punishment, but as a real-life transformation—a liberation not only from sin but from the desire to sin. Believers are envisioned as being transformed into the likeness of Christ, a gradual, step-by-step metamorphosis guided by the Spirit, leading to increased Christlikeness, self-giving, and service to others. Paul also speaks of believers receiving a "spiritual body" in the afterlife, a concept that differs from the idea of a physical resurrection and was often misunderstood by later Christians. This transformative aspect, rather than literal interpretations of his metaphors, is presented as Paul's enduring and helpful contribution to spiritual life.
Topic 5 Two significant New Testament books, the Gospel of Luke (including Acts) and the Epistle of James, do not align with Paul's focus on the cross as the center of salvation. In Acts, Jesus' death is presented as that of a righteous martyr due to miscarried justice, not as an atoning sacrifice that makes forgiveness possible. Forgiveness, in Luke's view, is received through the person of Jesus or through faith in him, not as a direct result of the crucifixion. Luke's understanding of salvation stems from God's saving intention, Jesus' healing power, the gift of the Spirit, and human cooperation through repentance and belief. Similarly, the Epistle of James does not mention Jesus' death at all in connection with salvation. Instead, James links salvation to moral conduct, wisdom, peace-making, trusting in God, and practicing prayer and confession. Both Luke and James emphasize living a truthful and righteous life, highlighting Jesus' moral and spiritual teachings as central to salvation, rather than a cross-based soteriology.
Topic 6 Paul's theological successors, particularly in the Deutero-Pauline epistles and other New Testament writings like 1 Peter and Hebrews, tended to simplify and narrow down his diverse metaphors for Jesus' death. What was originally a varied set of images (sacrifice, redemption, justification) often became condensed into a singular "atonement-purchase" or "ransom payment" concept. This simplification emphasized the idea that Christ's suffering and death were a necessary payment to redeem humanity. For example, concepts like "redemption through his blood" and "giving himself a ransom for all" became prominent. This evolution in thought also led to a heightened focus on the necessity and value of suffering, as seen in the Epistle to the Hebrews, potentially fostering an unhealthy belief in suffering as inherently sanctifying. The richness of Paul's original thought, including themes like believer transformation by the Spirit and freedom joined with obedience, became secondary or were sometimes even dropped altogether in favor of more simplistic atonement slogans.
Topic 7 The Greek Patristic period (roughly 150-450 AD) presented a distinctly different theological focus compared to later Western emphasis on atonement. During this era, the primary concerns for Greek Fathers were Christology (the nature of Christ), ethics (Christian living), and spirituality (prayer and mystical experience). There was a notable absence of the cross in early Christian art; instead, symbols like the palm branch, Good Shepherd, and fish were prevalent. Leading theologians of this period, such as Origen of Alexandria and Athanasius, centered their teachings on the person and divinity of Christ and the concept of theosis (divinization). Theosis referred to the spiritual transformation of believers into the likeness of Christ, emphasizing the idea that humanity could become partakers of the divine nature through Christ's incarnation. Origen highlighted Christ's entire life and resurrection as defeating death and transforming human nature, portraying Jesus as an exemplar of virtue. Athanasius famously stated, "He became man that we might be made God," viewing Christ's union with human nature as clothing all humanity with incorruption. This period emphasized the revolutionary implications of the incarnation, seeing God living among humanity as opening new potentials for transformed living, a theme that remains central in Orthodox Churches today.
Topic 8 Augustine, a highly influential Latin church father, significantly shaped Western Christian theology with a strong emphasis on law, sin, penalty, punishment, and atonement, possibly influenced by Roman legal thinking. He introduced the doctrine of "original sin," interpreting it so literally that he taught infants were tainted from conception and deserved damnation, thereby emphasizing the necessity of infant baptism. The source suggests that much of Augustine's theology, particularly its harsh judgmentalism, stemmed from his own severe childhood experiences of abuse and punishment. He experienced cruel beatings from teachers and lack of sympathy from parents, leading to psychological wounding, excessive self-reproach, sorrow, and shame. This personal trauma is argued to have warped his thinking and imprinted itself on his theological doctrines, leading him to justify cruel treatment and believe in a punitive God who demands satisfaction for sin.
Topic 9 The acceptance of a violent God concept within Christian culture, particularly through certain atonement teachings, contributed to the rise of the "blood libel" and widespread anti-Semitism in Europe from the 11th to 15th centuries. Christians, having long blamed Jews for Christ's killing, developed conspiracy theories accusing Jewish communities of kidnapping and murdering Christian children to drain their blood for ritual use. This paranoia intensified after 1215 with the Catholic Church's promotion of transubstantiation, the doctrine that the eucharistic bread and wine literally become Christ's body and blood. This created subconscious distress and suppressed rage in Christians regarding their own act of "symbolic cannibalism." Unable to consciously process this discomfort, Christians projected their anxieties onto Jewish communities, accusing them of desecrating eucharistic hosts or performing ritual murders involving blood. These accusations often arose during the Easter season, a time of heightened guilt feelings, and led to widespread violence, torture, and killing of Jews. The source argues that these events reveal Christian horror about consuming Christ's body and the deep psychological roots of anti-Semitism in Christian shame and fear related to their own blood rituals and atonement teachings.
Topic 10 Martin Luther and John Calvin, key figures of the Reformation, intensified the pessimistic and punitive aspects of Christian theology, building on ideas found in Augustine. Luther championed the notion of total depravity, asserting that humans lack free will and are inherently captive to sin, yet are condemned for their inability to do good. He believed Christians should hate themselves, reflecting his own harsh upbringing and fears of punishment from his parents. Calvin, Luther's successor, was equally pessimistic, reiterating the concept of original sin and heightening the attack on free will with his doctrine of predestination, which posits that salvation or damnation is arbitrarily predetermined. Calvin was very literal in his understanding of Jesus dying as a substitute, taking on humanity's guilt and punishment. Both Luther and Calvin, therefore, depicted God the Father as a stern justice-demander and the Son as a tender mercy-giver, a separation Jesus himself never taught. Their theological formulations, culminating in Calvin's "penal substitutionary theory," are seen as literalizing Paul's metaphors to their worst possible conclusions, emphasizing a materialistic transactional view of salvation that contradicts Jesus' teachings of God's free and unconditional forgiveness. The source suggests that this "no free lunch" mentality projects human rules onto the spiritual realm and can be harmful to believers, contrasting it with Jesus' emphasis on an honest heart and direct relationship with a merciful God.