271 Luke's View of Salvation Part 1

We are back in the book of Luke in this episode looking at the way Luke emphasizes that Jesus is our Saviour instead of our helper. He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Forty nine times Luke mentions that Jesus is our Saviour. Eighteen of those references are only included in the gospel of Luke. Luke also sees this salvation occurring in the present not something we need to patiently look forward to. We will complete this in the next episode.

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SHOW NOTES

Matthew and Mark both use the word ransom.

Matthew 20:28 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others

and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and

to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The question that needs to be asked is ransomed from who or what? Some have answered we need to be ransomed from the holiness or wrath of God. Some have suggested we needed to be ransomed from the devil. However, ransom can mean to redeem men and women from their own shame, guilt and the fear of death.

Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT "Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and

blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, andonly by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. "

Hebrews thus defines the result of the ransom Jesus paid. He delivered us from our fear of dying. He did this by going into death and emerged victorious from its hold. This is why

Jesus’ resurrection is the event of all time and timelessness. It is the evidence that Jesus

delivered or ransomed us from our greatest fear.

Luke never has Jesus’ use ransom or any similar word when referring to his death.

Luke’s emphasis is on the immediate results of Jesus’ ministry which includes the

resurrection.

Luke reports Jesus’ words in the context of his death as follows.

9:22 “The Son of Man must suSer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the

elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the

third day he will be raised from the dead.”

17:25 But first the Son of Man must suffer (pathein) terribly and be rejected by this

generation.

18:31-33 Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to

Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true. 32 He will be handed over to the Romans, and he will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon. 33 They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.”

24:7 “that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified,

and that he would rise again on the third day.”

24:26 “Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suSer all these things

before entering his glory?”

24:44-46 Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suSer and die and rise from the dead on the third day.”

Luke thus has the warnings Jesus gives in Matthew and Mark but there is no hint of God

being involved in his death in any way. In Luke’s second book, Acts, he will attribute the

cause of the death of Jesus as follows.

Acts 2:23-24 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross andkilled him. 24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

2:36 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you

crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

3:14-15 You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a

murderer. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are

witnesses of this fact!

4:10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by

the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,[a] the man you crucified but whom God

raised from the dead.

5:30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging

him on a cross.

7:52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who

predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and

murdered.

10:38-39 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with

power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the

devil, for God was with him. 39 “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout

Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross,

13:27-28 The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. 28 They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.

In all these sermons by Peter, Stephen and Paul there is not a hint of God being responsible for the death of his Son. The cause of Jesus’ death is laid at the feet of human beings. Some argue they cannot be held responsible for a death that occurred 2000 years ago. However, Jesus was insistent that the way we treat the marginalized is the way we treat him (Matthew 25:40, 45). It is time to take responsibility for ourselves. It is blasphemy to blame God for our willful wickedness.

In Luke’s writings we find no hint that God was involved in the death of his Son. Why is God apparently indicted by Matthew and Mark. Perhaps it is because they were Jews caught up in the rites of the sanctuary system where sinners had to pay for transgression with an innocent animal’s blood.When Jesus is asked for a sign to authorize his forgiveness of sin, he never mentions the death of animals or himself. He gives the sign of Jonah who gave his life to the storm god and was resurrected from the belly of a fish after 3 days. Jesus gave himself to sin god, the devil working through humans, and was resurrected after 3 days.

Ian Hartley, October 2026