In Matthew 20:28, Jesus said, "Just as the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life as a ransom in exchange for many." He said this in response to a disagreement among his disciples as to who should be the most prominent among them. His answer was that they should focus on helping each other as he focused on helping them, but he also included the statement he was "to give his life as a ransom in exchange for many."

So, what is a ransom? Merriam-Webster defines the noun as, "a consideration paid or demanded for the release of someone or something from captivity", and the verb as "to deliver especially from sin or its penalty" and "to free from captivity or punishment by paying a price." Jesus was therefore telling us that he came among mankind in order to give up his life so that many of us could be freed from captivity to sin and its consequences.

But why was that necessary? Why was mankind in captivity to sin in the first place?

It goes back to the original decision by our oldest ancestor to disobey a plain instruction from Jehovah not to eat the fruit of a particular tree. That act of disobedience was a sin and it started a cascade of inherited sin which has passed down to all descendants of that original man.

However, it was Jehovah’s original intention to have the world filled by the descendants of this man living blameless lives in harmony with his wishes, and Jehovah is not one who would allow his plans to be disrupted and destroyed. So, a way to restore mankind to his favour was set in motion. That was a ransom, a life given in exchange for the life discarded.

But could Jehovah not have simply forgiven the disobedience? Yes, but that would have meant the statement he made about what would happen to the man if he disobeyed would be untrue. Remember, the penalty for disobedience was death, Genesis 2:16 says, "Jehovah God also gave this command to the man: ′From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will certainly die.′"

Due to this, we must ask ourselves whether Jehovah would make himself a liar and not impose the penalty he had said would be the result. I think not! The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans 3:4, "But let God be found true, even if every man be found a liar." No, some other way was to be found.

The Bible makes it clear that Jehovah is a consistent God and does not change the principles he follows (Malach 3:6, "For I am Jehovah; I do not change."). He is also a God of justice (Deuteronomy 32:4, "The Rock, perfect is his activity, For all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness who is never unjust; righteous and upright is he.") So what would be a just compensation for a life thrown away? Surely, it would be another life of the same quality, freely exchanged for it, that is, a ransom payment of an unsullied life.

This is, in fact, completely in harmony with Jehovah’s stated laws which he gave to the nation of Israel and, although those laws no longer bind us, the underlying principles of fairness and justice still apply. Exodus 21:23 shows an application of this principle, "But if a fatality does occur, then you must give life for life." The principle is that one object of a kind can replace another object of the same kind, so the unsullied life of Jesus, who was created a perfect man, can compensate for the life given up by Adam, who was also created a perfect man. Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthins 15:45, "The first man Adam became a living person. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit."

So, there it is, Jesus paid the ransom for Adam’s sin by giving his own life in compensation for the life Adam gave up.

We can be the beneficiaries of that ransom, that gift, if we are willing to exercise faith in Jesus. Remember John 3:16, "For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life." Will you be one of them?

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