How Could An Innocent Man Die for the Sins of the World?

The Scandal of Particularity questions how one Man could be God and also be the Savior of the whole world. There are two pictures in the Bible that answer this:

1. Surety. Jesus Christ is made the surety of the New Covenant by which participants in the Covenant share in the blessings of the Covenant (Hebrews 7:22). Now, a surety is someone who provides a warrant or guarantee for an other. If I wish to borrow Rs.5000/- from a creditor, and he doesn't trust me, he would ask for a guarantor or surety, who answers to him and is willing to pay in case I am not able to pay the amount back. Similarly, when we were weak and without strength, and in a state when we could not repay our debts, Christ paid the penalty of our sins.

2. Priest. A Priest is a legally appointed Mediator who represents man before God; as such, Christ, appointed after the order of Melchizedek as a Priest forever, provides a better sacrifice than the blood of animals that the priests after the Aaronic order presented for centuries before Him. Their sacrifices couldn't have efficacy since they had to make atonement for their own sins first, then for the sins of the people. In addition, the blood of animals cannot adequately atone for the sins of mankind. Through the offering of His Body, the High Priest Jesus Christ, opens up a way for us before God. We now have access to the Father. His appointment was official and His sacrifice without blemish; therefore, it was fully acceptable and satisfactory in the sight of God, and we also in Him.

© Domenic Marbaniang, Lectures in Soteriology, February 2011.

For further reading:The Humanity and Divinity of Christ
C. S. Lewis on Theories of Atonement
Estrangement and Belongedness in the Ultimate Sacrifice of God

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Marbaniang, Domenic

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