Building Blocks for the Christian Faith

If I were asked to choose some favourite words from scripture, I’m fairly sure that I’d have placed near the top of the list this statement by the apostle Paul, ‘the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me’, Gal. 2. 20. Paul marvelled at the love that the Lord Jesus had for him. Notice how personal this statement is, ‘Who loved me’ and the proof of that love ‘and gave himself for me’. The act of substitution and the concept of a substitute are fairly common to our English language. The meanings, though, are quite varied, including: ‘replacing something with something else,; ‘to use or serve in place of another’; as well as the association of the words within sport. The difficulty with this topic is that the actual word substitution is not found in scripture. However the lovely truth about the Lord Jesus ‘giving himself’ on the cross applies to each believer personally and it seems that over the years believers have adopted the word ‘substitute’ to define this great doctrine. As such, it is possible to confuse aspects of the broad meaning of the English word ‘substitute’, with the truth concerning the Lord Jesus and the believer. This could dilute our appreciation of the greatness of what Christ did for the believer. To illustrate let’s look at how the term substitute is used in sport. To substitute one player for another simply describes providing a replacement of equal value. But as a believer in the Lord Jesus, simply viewing the Lord Jesus as our ‘replacement’ severely limits the greatness of what was done at Calvary as the Lord Jesus does not substitute us as our equal but as the only one who could remove the legal claims of God against us and ensure thatour standing before God is acceptable. To appreciate this wonderful doctrine in more detail we need to look at a number of words found in scripture. E-sword is a great tool for this as it includes the smaller words, which are not covered in Strong’s Concordance. A short list of words is given in the table. The two Greek words anti and huper teach us about substitution. Both of these words are usually translated with the same English word, ‘for’. A study of the alternative meanings of this little word ‘for’ in scriptures in relation to the death of the Lord Jesus (e.g. ‘His life “for”. . .’) starts to reveal a great balance and scope of doctrine. We see both of these words used in 1. Timothy chapter 2 verse 6, ‘who gave Himself a ransom for all’. In this verse the word ‘ransom’ means to pay the price of redemption but also has a link to the word ‘anti,’ indicating that when a soul is saved the price was paid in their stead. But the little expression ‘for all’ is also in the verse showing us that the redemption was paid to potentially save all. This shows something of the scope of this ransom. To apply this point practically, when we speak about the gospel to those who are not saved, we need to be clear and tell them of the wonder of what the Lord Jesus has done in order that they could be saved. It was done for them; they are in reach of it and through faith can claim it. What a wonderful gospel message we have. It is available and relevant to all! Yet we must be careful not to make the application of the truth to individuals who are lost. They need to believe in order that they can say ‘for me’! So then, having examined the background to this great doctrine now let’s consider some of the scriptures already listed!

1. Mark 10. 45, the Son of Man came ‘to give his life a ransom for many’

2. 2 Corinthians 5. 21, ‘he was made sin for us’

3. Galatians. 2. 20, ‘himself for me’

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