Modern theology frequently doubts whether Jesus ever indicated, or even foresaw, the significance of His death for salvation. On the contrary, He both expected and foretold that He must die for His people. He came “to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). The term “ransom” occurs elsewhere in the Bible. In Israel, it involved a debtor, a creditor, and punishment or equivalent compensation. A ransom could be paid for guilt associated with causing death (Exodus 21:30). When Jesus gives His life as a ransom for many, it is because their lives are at stake. The situation is so serious that nothing less will do. In line with the preposition “for” (anti), the entire tenor of Jesus’ statement points to the reality of substitution (cf. TDNT, 4:343). Jesus’ death means the salvation of many because, in His ministry of love, He places Himself in their stead and gives up His life to atone for their guilt (see further Wentsel, Dogm., 3b:452-56).
From: Concise Reformed Dogmatics by J. van Genderen and W. H. Velema; translated from the Dutch by Gerrit Bilkes and Ed M. van der Maas (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008), p. 517. Dutch original published in 1992.
