How can the ransom which Christ gives for all and is good (Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:5-6), be the same as the ransom of the wicked (Proverbs 21:18)?
- (Mark 10:45) “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
- (1 Timothy 2:5–6) “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,”
- (Proverbs 21:18) “The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, And the unfaithful for the upright.”
This is actually the core of the Christian faith of Redemption, how the righteous carried our curse. We are sinners, and only Jesus can give us redemption and justification. In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). Hence, the Bible states that there should be a punishment for the wicked (us) while our loving God carried our punishment himself. Thus, we were ransomed.
In Mark 10:45, the Son of Man is Jesus Christ. He gave His life as payment for the sins of all His believers (1 Tim 2:5–6), who turned out to be billions of people, which could be considered many (Mark 10:45).
The verse in Proverbs, however, is not Christ-related by any means; it’s speaking about God, who is Just and knows that the righteous person who did not do evil, but the wicked who did evil, is punished by the Lord. By punishing the wicked, the righteous are saved from the evil of the wicked. Thus, the plan of the wicked turned against him. Rather, he who tried to harm the righteous was the one who was harmed and punished for his evil.
Understanding the Christian doctrines and the contexts of verses goes a long way towards clearing up misunderstandings. Before studying a religious text for errors, it would be responsible scholarly practice to learn more about that religion—as context is invaluable to understanding the text—before embarrassing oneself with evidence of poor research.
