Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, (5) to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
The salvation of mankind cannot take place through the forgiveness of sins alone. Under the Old Covenant the sins of the saints could be forgiven. And so if it was possible for men to be saved through only the forgiveness of sins, then it would have been possible for the saints under the Old Covenant to be saved. But in order for men to be saved, the nature of their spirits has to be changed once again. For if our spiritual natures are not changed then once our sins are forgiven we will simply continue to commit sin, for that is the nature of the one who is spiritually dead. Don’t misunderstand me; part of salvation is that our sins must be forgiven (Ephesians 1:7), but in order for men to be saved, God had to deal with both the sin of man and also the sin nature of man. And so God dealt with the sin of man through Jesus Christ our Lord, for it is the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all our sins. But the second part of what Jesus did for us on the cross also had to take place, in that God was able to change the sin nature of man through Jesus Christ our Lord. So how did God accomplish that? We have seen in the previous section that mankind was legally held captive by Satan in spiritual death. And so in order for God to be able to legally free mankind from the kingdom of darkness, Jesus Christ had to become our substitute i.e. our ransom. The passage of scripture quoted above reveals to us that Jesus Christ was born under the law, and the reason He was born under law was so that He could redeem mankind who was also under law. We have already established that everyone born under the law dies in spirit the moment they commit sin. And so just like all men, because Jesus was born under the law, if ever He committed any sin He would also die spiritually.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Hebrews 2:9 “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”
Because Jesus was under the law when He became sin, His spirit died. And so it was actually the sin of the world that killed Jesus’ spirit, and because it was our sin that killed Jesus’ spirit, Jesus in fact died our death as our substitute. When Jesus took upon Himself the sin of the world, Satan and his angels were deceived into thinking that Jesus had in fact committed sin. And so when Jesus died in spirit, Satan thought that He now fell under his authority, and for a brief period of time that was true, for the above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that when Jesus suffered death for us that He was made lower than the angels. The angels referred to in this passage of scripture are in fact Satan and his angels, for before Jesus went to the cross, Satan held the keys to both Death and Hades because Death and Hades were part of his kingdom (Revelation 1:18). And so in death, Jesus was held under Satan’s authority, but not for the reason that Satan thought.
Michael E.B. Maher
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