Sometimes people have thought about redemption as God paying off the devil, like a good man who, in mercy, pays off the evil gang of thugs who have taken over the neighborhood. “Here you take my son, and you give me back these folk. Do we have a deal?” But is that what the cross is about? Paying off the devil?
Around the year 1,100, others realized, “Hey, that can’t be right,” so they decided that redemption must be a blood payment made to the Father instead. So, wait, Jesus is saving us from the Father? Is that really the way the New Testament speaks? What in the world?
Then there’s the classical Christian gospel, which says that God the Father saved us from sin and death (and the devil along with them) by becoming weak, being rejected and crucified, but ultimately rising, victorious, over them: Christus Victor. It is the victory of self-giving love.
In this little chat, I talk about this, and a whole lot more…