Justice, Mercy and Perfection:
A Refutation of Ransom Theory and ‘Works’ Based Salvation.
The "Ransom to Satan" idea was entertained by a couple of the early church
fathers. Namely, Origen and Irenaeus. This idea suggests that God owed Satan,
a created being 1, something since Satan at one time owned us. Is it reasonable
to believe this?
According to the Bible, Satan is just as subject to God’s judgement as we
are 2 . Satan is not a god 3, he has only the power that God, by His sovereign
choice, has given him.4 In addition, there are two philosophical problems
that immediately surface with such an idea as this: God’s requirement of
justice as being necessary (and corollary) to His goodness and the relativistic
effects of metaphysical Dualism.5
God is merciful 6 and God is just.7 Both demands must be satisfied
in such way as to avoid contradiction so that the salvation of fallen man
can become possible. All sin must be punished, God cannot let even one sin
go unpunished 8 because He is perfectly just. This absolute moral perfection
is one aspect of divine Holiness. He is the very Standard of immutable goodness.
This Holiness, quite frankly, is the most terrifying image a man could imagine.
9 (The justice of God is terrifying, that is why so many of us ignore the
fact the He exists 10 and invent all kinds of systems to avoid our accountability
to Him. 11 ) Yet, in love He wished to be merciful to rebellious creatures.
So what then gives? Allow me the opportunity to explain how the conditions
of perfect mercy and justice can be met without creating a metaphysical and
theological disaster. Following what is outlined in the Bible about how this
was done is the best way to do this but will include some philosophical reasoning
from a Christian perspective as well.
God is a triune being –three Persons, one Being. Jesus is God. 12 As odd
as it sounds, God offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sin to Himself.
13 (Why the Deity would do this, I have no idea. This is a mystery.) 14 This
satisfies the requirement for Justice and provides mercy to those who would
accept it. This is a free gift. Those who reject Christ reject God, 15 those
who reject God are doomed. 16 ‘Works’ cannot satisfy the requirements for
Divine Justice 17 –now a little about why and how the concept applies to
ransom theory…
All other religions other than true Christianity are works-based. 18
This idea of works-based ‘salvation,’ in actuality, brings God down to our
level, blaspheming the holiness of God 19 and makes Him out to be a fool.
20 It says, in short, that we can be as good as God since the analogy has
been made that God accepts relatively good men much the same way relatively
good men accept each other. Anthropomorphizing God, deifying man or promoting
Satan drags the whole cosmic struggle down to man’s level where merit is
earned in the typical human manners of effort, favors and flattery, 21
because this is what’s understood (by what a man would want) from man’s fallen
perspective – being a natural relativist. Scripture does not describe God
as being a relativist but as the Absolute.
Unending pecking orders are the inevitable result of silly men (with a god
being the silliest of them all) vying for each other’s attention and honor
in a relativistic system. Quite frankly, this seems very undignified, reducing
us to the ‘survival of the fittest’ paradigm; and since the idea of real
evil that deserves just punishment is unsupported, the concept of justice
would really be revenge. Is this really the way things are that objective
justice 22 does not exist or is this just an illusion we attempt to validate?
Or is evil really a departure from ‘the way things ought to be 23’ and the
concept of justice truly objective and rationally applicable? I think so
and the Bible 24 affirms this. Then, there must be an Absolute for there
to be true, objective and applicable justice –deny the Absolute and absolute
(perfect) justice would then also be denied –the two are inexorably tied
to one another.
(In addition, the very idea of ‘relativism’ is a direct assault upon knowledge
itself. The statement ‘all is relative’ is self-refuting. The concept conveyed
in the word ‘all’ implies an absolute, and how can that be if ‘all is relative?’
Where would it end? (Or begin?) Relativism 25 is silly, but it protects (for
a time) the human mind from the most terrifying concept of all, an absolutely
Holy God.)
The reason I brought the issue of ‘works’ up is because, although it suggests
self-knowledge of a lack of moral perfection in reference to some Standard,
it can only lead to moral relativism philosophically 26(which is implied
in dualistic systems 27) since imperfect beings could never become objectively
perfect. If this were to actually work or be valid, God would then have to
something less than perfect so it would become logically possible for us
to be acceptable to Him much the same as it is possible that we accept each
other. We would then be ascribing to Him relativistic properties so as to
take the teeth out of the threat of a perfect God’s justice.
Ransom theory implies that God is only merciful and that Satan is in charge
of punishment. This is a form of what is called Dualism where there are two
opposing powers; one good, one evil. Dualism has many problems inherent to
the concept. One problem in particular being, ‘from what does the standard
of goodness derive if it is to be absolute?’ 28 Unless you invoke an even
higher power than God and Satan (as noted in footnote #5) to avoid the implications
of metaphysical dualism, you are stuck in the fuzzy world of relativism.
Postulating the ‘higher power’ would alleviate the relativistic effects of
metaphysical dualism. But, in such a case, we would then invalidate our acceptance
the revelation found in Holy Scripture as to who God is, The Maker and The
Standard. And Jesus, being by default contingent, would be less than the
Standard as well. If this is accepted, Jesus would then be a ‘worker’ accountable
to some other ‘higher power’ working for our salvation. I’ll explain…
In ‘ransom theory,’ Jesus as the benevolent power would have ‘worked’ to
pay the price to an equal malevolent power as some kind of legal transaction
supposedly legislated by some other ‘higher power’ who acts as the Standard.
Since it is logically and reasonably untenable to have two (or more) Necessary
Beings 29 since such a Being would be simple, that is, not comprised of parts.
30 Jesus then, by the Negative Principle of Modality 31, would be contingent
in essential nature. 32 This leads to the problems of how our moral awareness
came to be in the first place since the ‘higher power’ has not been revealed
so creating a disconnect between the revelation of Scripture and moral consciousness;
and just how also the "higher power’s" requirement for justice was satisfied
since ‘it’ is the perfect Standard. Justice requires evil to be punished.
Jesus, being contingent and by default not eternal (nor perfect) could not
satisfy the requirement of perfect justice and have eternal results. Dr.
Geisler explains what kind of object is required to meet the conditions and
requirements of perfection quite well…
Is Damnation for Temporal Sins Overkill? To punish a person eternally
for what he did for a short time on earth seems at first like a gigantic
case of overkill. However, on closer examination it turns out to be not only
just but necessary. For one thing, only eternal punishment will suffice for
sins against the eternal God (see GOD, NATURE OF). The sins may have been
committed in time, but they were against the Eternal One. Further-more, no
sin can be tolerated as long as God exists, and he is eternal. Hence, punishment
for sin must also be eternal.
What is more, the only alternative to eternal punishment is worse, namely,
to rob human beings of freedom and dignity by forcing them into heaven against
their free choice. That would be "hell" since they do not fit in a place
where everyone is loving and praising the Person they want most to avoid.
Or, God’s other choice is to annihilate his own image within his creatures.
But this would be an attack of God on himself.
Further, without eternal separation, there could be no heaven. Evil is contagious
(1 Cor. 5:6) and must be quarantined. Like a deadly plague, if it is not
contained it will continue to contaminate and corrupt. If God did not eventually
separate the tares from the wheat, the tares would choke out the wheat. The
only way to preserve an eternal place of good is to eternally separate all
evil from it. The only way to have an eternal heaven is to have an eternal
hell.
Finally, if Christ’s temporal punishment is sufficient for our sins eternally,
then there is no reason why eternal suffering cannot be appropriate for our
temporal sins. It is not the duration of the action but the object that is
important. Christ satisfied the eternal God by his temporal suffering, and
unbelievers have offended the eternal God by their temporal sins. Hence,
Christ’s temporal suffering for sins satisfies God eternally (1 John 2:1),
and our temporal sins offend God eternally.
Norman Geisler, Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, pp.
313-314
This is how the Bible explains how this transaction was made… Our sins
legally are imputed by God to Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross 33 and also Jesus’
perfect holy life is legally imputed to us when accept Christ. This is the
divine transaction, we have no authority in this matter and neither does
Satan. Since Jesus (being God in nature) is perfect, He (being also a perfect
man) was an acceptable sacrifice to God as an atonement for sin. Because
He (Jesus) is eternal (and omnipresent) 34 in nature, all sins and
all lives (from all times and places) can be touched by Christ’s atoning
sacrifice on the cross 35 because of who He is as a Divine Person. Jesus
now intercedes on our behalf, to the Father. 36 All authority is His
37 and it is He who will judge all the people who ever have or will live.
According to the Bible, Satan is limited. Satan is nothing more than a created
being, although powerful, who has been given by God the power to tempt, deceive
and afflict. Satan must be given permission. 38 Satan rejects God’s authority
(as most men do) but he is used by God to help polarize the decision process
and test the saints. 39 He has no claim to our souls since he did not create
us. We are God’s creatures, and as such, we belong to God; and He has paid
the price for our freedom, by Christ Jesus, to either accept Him or reject
Him. The whole of the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, testify to
God’s plan of redemption through Christ, that we may be reconciled to God.
The "ransom to Satan" idea does not fit the Biblical model. The implied dualism
is inherently relativistic and as such is rationally irreconcilable since
two separate Necessary Beings cannot share existence while remaining in line
with the dictates of objective reason. Even if a ‘higher power’ is postulated
to avoid some of the problems of dualism by creating an absolute Standard,
the contingent object, Jesus, given as payment is insufficient which would
then fail to fulfill the eternal requirements of the Absolute’s perfect justice
to effect reconciliation between fallen man and that Absolute. Biblically,
philosophically and theologically, ransom theory is a mess.
I’ll close with some pretty clear Scriptures to show that Christ saves us
from the wrath of God not from the clutches of Satan…
Ephesians 5:2 and live a life of love, just as Christ
loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice
to God.
Hebrews 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and
calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood,
having obtained eternal redemption.
Romans 5:9-10 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how
much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we
were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son,
how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 All this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God
was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against
them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We
implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Mark Jennings (arminian2000@yahoo.com)
1. Ezekiel 28:12-19
2. Revelation 20:10
3. Isaiah 43:10
4. Job 1:12 and 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8
5. ‘…the moment you say that, you are putting into the universe a third thing
in addition to the two Powers: some law or standard or rule of good which
one of the powers conforms to and the other fails to conform to." However,
since "the two powers are judged by this standard, or the Being who made
this stan-dard, then this standard, or the Being who made this standard,
is farther back and higher up than either of them, and He will be the real
God"
C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity, 49
6. 1 John 1:9-10
7. Revelation 16:5-7
8. James 2:10
9. Nahum 1:2-6
10. Romans 1:18-20
11. Romans 1:21-25
12. John 8:58-59
13. Colossians 1:19-22
14. Psalms 8:3-4
15. John 5:22-23
16. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
17. Ephesians 2:8-9
18. Romans 10:3
19. Isaiah 37:23
20. Galatians 2:21
21 Job 4:17
22. or, conversely, evil perhaps?
23. Dr. Douglas Geivett, The Problems of Evil. (Audio Lecture)
hisdefense.org
24. Which is infinitely more authoritative than I am.
25. The world’s equivalent of grace.
26. Although those who practice ‘works’ based salvation may be comparatively
very moral people.
27. Unless the existence of evil is denied so then by implication ‘perfection’
is arbitrary or unknowable.
28. And what is the origin of contingent existence itself?
29. A Being that cannot not be.
30. Unity. Classical theists have offered three reasons for God’s unity (ibid.,
1a.1 1.3). The first ar-gument is from the simplicity of God. An absolutely
simple being cannot be more than one. since to be more than one there must
be parts, but simple beings have no parts. Absolutely sim-ple beings are
not divisible. God is an absolutely simple being. Therefore, God cannot be
more than one being.
God’s perfection argues for his unity. If two or more gods existed, they
would have to differ. In order to differ, one must have what the other lacks.
But an absolutely perfect being cannot lack anything. Therefore, there can
only be one ab-solutely perfect being. God’s unity also can be in-ferred
from the unity of the world. The world is composed of diverse things. Diverse
things do not come together unless they are ordered. But the world has an
ordered unity. Therefore, there must be one Orderer of the world.
Theists argue that essential unity is better ex-plained by one Orderer than
by many orderers. For one is the essential cause of oneness, but many is
only the accidental cause of oneness. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer
that there is only one cause of the world, not many. - Norman Geisler,
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, p. 285
31. Necessary Being cannot create other Necessary Being since a Necessary
Being cannot not be.
32. In such a case since the ‘higher power’ has been postulated to provide
the Standard, the system would no longer be dualistic, but nothing would
be known about the ‘higher power’ since nothing has been revealed in Holy
Scripture about ‘it.’
33. Romans 8:3-4
34. Psalms 139:7-10
35. 1 Corinthians 1:17-18
36. Hebrews 7:23-27
37. Matthew 28:18
38. Job 1:12
39. Revelation 2:9-10
The cage
>
>There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small
New
>England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying
a
rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were
>raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak...
"I
was
>walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming toward me
>swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little
>wild birds, shivering with cold and fright. I stopped the lad and
asked,
>"What you got there, son?"
>
>"Just some old birds," came the reply.
>
>"What are you gonna do with them?" I asked.
>
>"Take 'em home and have fun with 'em," he answered. "I'm gonna
tease
>'em and pull out their feathers to make 'em fight. I'm gonna have a
real
>good time."
>
>"But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What
will you
>do?"
>
>"Oh, I got some cats," said the little boy. "They like birds. I'll
take
>'em to them."
>
>The pastor was silent for a moment. "How much do you want for those
>birds, son?"
>
>"Huh?? !!! Why, you don't want them birds, mister. They're
just
plain
>old field birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!"
>
>"How much?" the pastor asked again.
>
>The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said,
"$10?"
>
>The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten-dollar
bill. He
>placed it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor
>picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where
>there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened
the
>door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting
>them free. Well, that explained the empty birdcage on the pulpit, and
>then the pastor began to tell this story: One day Satan and Jesus
were
>having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden
of Eden,
>and he was gloating and boasting.
>
>"Yes, sir, I just caught the world full of people down there. Set me
a
>trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!"
>
>"What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked.
>
>Satan replied, "Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna teach them how to
>marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to
>drink and smoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns and
>bombs and kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!"
>
>"And what will you do when you get done with them?" Jesus
asked.
>
>"Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly.
>
>"How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked.
>
>"Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll
take
>them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and
kill
>you. You don't want those people!!"
>
>"How much? He asked again.
>
>Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood, tears
and your
>life."
>
>Jesus said, "DONE!" Then He paid the price.
>
>The pastor picked up the cage he opened the door and he walked from
the
>pulpit.
>
>Notes: Isn't it funny how simple it is for people to trash
God and
>then wonder why the world's going to hell. Isn't it funny how someone
>can say, "I believe in God" but still follow Satan (who, by the way,
>also "believes" in God)? Isn't it funny how you can send a thousand
>jokes through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start
>sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about
sharing.
>Isn't it funny how when you go to forward this message, you
will not
>send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they
>believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.
Isn't
>it funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me
>than what God thinks of me. I pray, for everyone who sends this
to
>their entire address book, they will be blessed by God in a way
special
>for them in a way special for them. And send it back to the person
who
>sent it, to let them know that indeed it was sent out to many more.