Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Tuesday March 22, 20111 Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:6-Christ Jesus Gave Himself As A Ransom For The Entire Human Race As A Substitute, The Testimony At The Father’s Appointed TimeLesson #40

3. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:1.

4. The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 2:6 continues his thought from verse 5 by teaching that Christ Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for each and every member of the human race revealing the Father’s purpose to save the entire human race at the appointed time.

5. 1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

6. 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

7. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

8. 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

9. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

10. 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. (NASU)

11. “Who gave Himself as a ransom for all” is composed of the articular nominative masculine singular aorist active participle form of the verb didomi (δίδωμι) (thee-though-me), “given”

12. and the dative third person masculine singular form of the reflexive pronoun heautou (ἑαυτοῦ) (owf-too), “Himself” and the accusative neuter singular form of the noun antilutron (ἀντίλυτρον) (ahn-dee-lee-trone), “as a ransom”

13. and the preposition huper (ὑπέρ) (ee-perr), “on behalf of” and the genitive masculine plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “of all.”

14. The verb didomi means “to give” in the sense of dedicating oneself for a specific purpose of canceling a debt on someone’s behalf.

15. Here it is used of the Lord Jesus Christ dedicating Himself to the specific purpose of canceling the sin debt of the entire human race.

16. The reflexive personal pronoun heautou means “Himself” and emphasizes the action of Jesus Christ giving Himself in the sense of dedicating Himself for the specific purpose of solving the human race’s problem of the sin nature and personal sins.

17. The word emphasizes the voluntary nature of Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.

18. Our Lord’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross were “voluntary” in that He “chose” to suffer these deaths in order to solve the human race’s problem with sin.

19. He also chose to suffer in order to accomplish the Father’s will and provide salvation for the entire human race.

20. These deaths were also self-sacrificial in nature in that the Lord was willing to deny self in order to serve the Father and the human race and come to the aid of the human race to deal with their sin problem.

21. The word antilutron does not appear in classical Greek or the Septuagint and only once in the Greek New Testament, namely here in 1 Timothy 2:6.

22. However, the combination of the anti and lutron does appear in other literature (Josephus, Antiquities 14.7.1) and also occurs in Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28.

23. The combination of anti and lutron in Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28 describes Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths as a substitutionary ransom on behalf of the entire human race.

24. In 1 Timothy 2:6, the noun antilutron means “substitute-ransom” and like Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28, it describes Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross as a substitutionary ransom for the benefit of each and every member of the human race.

25. These unique substitutionary deaths redeemed the entire human race out from the slave market of sin in which they were born physically alive but spiritually dead.

26. “Redemption” refers to that aspect of Christ’s finished work on the Cross-that “purchased” all of humanity out of the slave market of sin and is appropriated by trusting in Jesus Christ as one’s Savior.

27. Redemption is one of the three major doctrines of Soteriology: (1) Redemption: inward (2) Reconciliation: manward (3) Propitiation: Godward.

28. Redemption results in the forgiveness of sins (Isa. 44:22; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:12-15), is the basis of justification (Rom. 3:24) and delivers from the curse of the Law (Gal. 3:13; 4:4-6) and is the basis for sanctification (Eph. 5:25-27).

29. It is the basis for the eternal inheritance of the believer (Heb. 9:15) and for the strategic victory of Christ in the angelic conflict (Col. 2:14-15; Heb. 2:14-15).

30. Redemption of the soul in salvation leads to redemption of the body in resurrection (Eph. 1:14) and is the ultimate status of regenerated human beings forever (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30).

31. In 1 Timothy 2:6, the noun antilutron denotes that Jesus Christ is mankind’s Kinsman-Redeemer.

32. The Lord is the Redeemer of Israel (Ps. 78:35; Isa. 43:14; 44:24; 49:7; 54:5, 8; 60:16) and He is redeemer of the Church (1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7, 14; Col. 1:14; Titus 2:14).

33. The adjective pas is used in a distributive sense indicating the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself as a ransom on behalf of “each and every member of the human race without exception.”

34. This word emphasizes that Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths were universal in that they were for the benefit of each and every member of the human race and not just the elect.

35. Of course, not every one will receive eternal salvation since many will reject Jesus Christ as their Savior.

36. The adjective pas is the object of the preposition huper, which syntactically functions not only as a marker of participants who are benefited by an event but also as a marker of substitution.

37. Therefore, huper with the genitive masculine plural form of the adjective pas not only marks each and every member of the human race-past, present and future, as “benefited” by the spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the Cross but also it denotes the Lord died as their “substitute” as well.

38. Paul employs huper since it denotes not only that Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths were “in place of” the entire human race but also it indicates that they were “for the benefit” of the entire human race.

39. Thus, huper denotes that Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross were not only “for” the entire human race but also He died “in the place” of each and every member of the human race.

40. So in 1 Timothy 2:6, the prepositional phrase ὑπὲρ πάντων teaches the “unlimited” or “universal” atonement and refutes those who adhere to a “limited” atonement.

41. The latter is a false doctrine that is actually an attack instigated by Satan upon the integrity of God.

42. The “limited” atonement doctrine contends that Christ died for only the elect or in other words, believers whereas the “unlimited” or “universal” atonement contends that Christ died for “all” men, all-inclusive, without exception and thus “without racial, sexual or social distinction.”

43. This doctrine states that Jesus Christ died for every sin committed by every single member of the human race-past, present and future (John 1:29; Rom. 5:6-8; 1 Tim. 4:10; Titus 2:11; 1 John 2:2).

44. “The testimony given at the proper time” is composed of the articular nominative singular form of the noun marturion (μαρτύριον) (mahtear-dee-own), “the testimony” and the dative masculine plural form of the noun kairos (καιρός) (keer-doce) and the dative masculine plural form of the adjective idios (ἴδιος) (ee-thee-oce).

45. The noun marturion means “testimony” referring to the voluntary, substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the cross, which redeemed the entire human race out of the slave market of sin in which all were born physically alive yet spiritually dead.

46. Supporting this interpretation is the dative expression καιροῖς ἰδίοις that follows the word, which denotes a point of time.

47. Thus, the plural form of this dative expression is idiomatic in that it is equivalent to the singular denoting a particular point of time.

48. The plural form of kairos means “appointed time” and refers to the moment in history at Calvary two thousand years ago when Jesus Christ suffered a voluntary, substitutionary spiritual and physical death on the cross for the entire human race.

49. This interpretation is indicated by the fact that the word functions as a dative of time denoting a particular point of time.

50. The adjective idios functions as a possessive personal pronoun and means, “His” referring to God the Father.