Part 2: Deliver us from Evil

Debt and Deliverance Part 2

Part 1 ended with the following questions;

Who is the enemy from whom we have been redeemed? Who had captured us in a death-like grip? What evil tyrant spread a death disease on us all, leaving us sick and impure? To whom were we enslaved?

Deliver us from evil

St Irenaeus (born in AD 130) offers his thoughts in his epic work Against Heresies; “they remain in mortal flesh, and are debtors to death, not obtaining the antidote of life.“[1] Jesus Himself declares “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34 ESV). John states “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Paul talks about Jesus as the One to “rescue us from this present evil age” (Gal 1:4). Paul also writes “For freedom Christ has set us free… do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1 ESV) and that we were “enslaved to sin” (Rom 6:6) and “you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness” (Rom 6:16 ESV). And Paul contrasts “the Lord’s slave” with those who need to “escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim 2:24,26 LSB). The apostle Peter talks about being “slaves of corruption; for by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved” (2 Pet 2:19). Revelation reveals how Jesus “has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev 1:5 RSV). And it’s not just humanity that needs to be released, for even “creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption” (Rom 8:21).

The NIV says “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them” (2 Pet 2:19). We are caught, detained by our own desires, our own addictions, guilt, anxiety. Strangled by the sins of others; trauma, abuse, oppression, poverty. Held tight by the power of sin itself, in sickness, disease. Death. And as the Psalmist says there is nothing we can do to free ourselves from this condition, “No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them… so that they should live on forever and not see decay” (Ps 49:7-9). Or as Athanasius attests in his short volume On the Incarnation, which is possibly my favourite book ever

“But men, having turned from the contemplation of God to evil of their own devising, had come inevitably under the law of death. Instead of remaining in the state in which God had created them, they were in process of becoming corrupted entirely, and death had them completely under its dominion.”

The only possible way for us to obtain freedom from the clutches of death was for someone on the outside, someone not caught in death’s dungeon, to break in and release us - for God Himself to take on humanity, enter into our condition, and break the bonds. In the central prayer of the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great (AD 370-379) we read 

“He gave Himself as a ransom to death by which we were held captive, having been sold into slavery by sin.”[2]

Popular Jewish and Greek imagery pictured death as a prison where people were locked up. This ancient imagery portrayed the place of the dead as being in the depths of the earth; an inescapable dungeon. And who was the ruler of this death domain? The devil. But not any more: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil ' (Heb 2:14 NIV). One of the most profound images within the Eastern Orthodox tradition is the Harrowing of Hades, which portrays Jesus’ descent into Hades before His resurrection. He is depicted as grasping the hands of Adam and Eve and lifting them out of Hades; under His feet, the gates of Hades are knocked down - instead, Satan is bound and surrounded by the broken locks he had used to bind humanity.

The Bible says death is in fact the last enemy to be destroyed (1 Cor 15:26), and in Jesus’ conquering of death, He now possesses the keys to freedom. Jesus said “I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” (Rev 1:17-18). I’m not sure about you, but I know who I would rather have looking after me in death. And the good news is, the Gospel is, death no longer reigns. Death is no longer the end. Death will never be victorious, for Christ has conquered. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55). When death eagerly reached out its hand to grasp Jesus, it grasped perfect righteousness, it clenched its grip around the source of Life Himself, and in an instant death was destroyed. St Gregory of Nazianzus declared of death “You are overthrown by the Cross; you are slain by Him who is the Giver of life; you are without breath, dead, without motion, even though you keep the form of a serpent…”[3]

This is totally what Paul is getting at when he says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23 ESV). I particularly like the way these translations hone in on where these toxic wages come from

The wages that sin pays are death (CEB)

The wages paid by sin, you see, are death (NTE)

Origen (AD 185) declared “death is the wage due to those who fight under King Sin. But God does not give his soldiers a wage, as if they have something owing to them. Rather, he gives them the gift of grace, which is eternal life in Christ.”[4] And more recently Fr. George Leo Haydock stated that “the wages, which the tyrant sin gives to his soldiers and slaves, is eternal death; but the wages, the pay, the reward, which God gives to those that fight under him, is everlasting life.”[5]

And this is where we have to decide who our master is. Because whoever we serve, they are our master (Rom 6:16, Mat 6:24). Do we, like the Israelites, desire to return to slavery, to run back to our old master? Are we to remain a slave to sin, expecting to be paid accordingly? Or do we run. Running as though we have just been released from a death camp. Running into the open arms of the One who has obtained freedom for us; our Ransom. From the safety of these arms of deliverance, we must make a firm decision - to serve our new Master. Because our new Master deals in a different economy. God is a different kind of Master who doesn’t deal in the wages of the world. 

Who rescued us from out of the authority of the darkness, and changed us over to the kingdom of the son of his love; in whom we have the release by ransom through his blood - the release of sins (Col 1:13-14 Apostolic Bible Polyglot)

We have been released from sin, and we now live in God’s kingdom where we experience healing and forgiveness. God’s economy doesn’t even deal in wages. God’s economy is a free gift, motivated by love. Jesus “gave” Himself as a ransom.[6] Instead of paying a wage, God cancels debt, nailing it to the Cross marked "forgiven"[7] 

And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Col 2:13-15)

In Christ, all our debt has been destroyed. All our burdens banished. All that enslaved us is expunged. Notice Paul’s use of military language surrounding this debt: it was “hostile to us,” “rulers and authorities” were “disarmed,” Jesus “triumphed over them.” This is language of enemies being defeated, not God being owed a debt.

All the things that trap us; fear, addiction, temptation, sickness, poverty, oppression, Jesus has overcome it all in His life, death and resurrection. The promise is “if we died with Him, we will also live with Him“ (2 Tim 2:11). And life in Christ is the ultimate release from death. Life in Christ is the ultimate expression of freedom, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed“ (John 8:36 NIV).

In this way Christ is our substitute; Christ did for us, what we could not do for ourselves. It is substitutionary atonement in that He reconciles us to God, in a way we never could by ourselves. When we become one with Christ - when we are in Christ - we share His righteousness and we share His Life. Paul sums it up this way; “you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30). Jesus shares His life with us, and unites us to Himself in His life, death, and resurrection as Paul says “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal 2:20). The Son of Man lived a flawless life on our behalf. He was tempted as we are tempted, but He resisted. He suffered on our behalf. He took everything the devil could throw at Him and He redeemed it. He defeated death on our behalf, something no human ever has, or ever could do. He is resurrected, and He shares his Life with us. And He shares His relationship with the Father with us, so that we can also call God our Father. He came down, united Himself to humanity, and in His ascension carried humanity with Him up into God’s kingdom “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). 

From the opening pages of the Bible, where humanity yearns for the day when the serpent’s head will be crushed, to the final pages of the Bible, where the serpent is thrown down and defeated,[8] the story of a rescue mission has been unfolding. Perhaps like me, ever since you were a small child you’ve been regularly requesting release without even realising. From our Lord’s own mouth, Jesus concludes His prayer with the words 

Deliver us from evil

Footnotes:

[1] The following thoughts are heavily influenced by Fr Thomas Hopko and his homily ‘Jesus - Our Redeemer’ found on Ancient Faith Podcasts.

[2] Prayer in context because it's beautiful: He lived in this world and gave us commandments for salvation. He released us from the delusions of idolatry and brought us to the knowledge of You, true God and Father. He procured us for Himself as a chosen people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation. Having purified us with water, He sanctified us with the Holy Spirit. He gave Himself as a ransom to death by which we were held captive, having been sold into slavery by sin. He descended into the realm of death through the Cross, that He might fill all things with Himself. He loosed the sorrow of death and rose again from the dead on the third day, for it was not possible that the Author of Life should be conquered by corruption. In this way He made a way to the resurrection of the dead for all flesh. Thus, He became the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first-born of the dead, that He might be first in all ways among all things. Ascending into heaven, He sat at the right hand of your Majesty on High, and He shall come again to reward each person according to his deeds.

The Anaphora Prayer: The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great  (AD 329-379)

[3]  St Gregory of Nazianzus’ homily 45 on Holy Pascha - NewAdvent.org

[4]  Origen of Alexandria (AD 185-253) source: Catena Bible (although I was unable to find this quote anywhere else).

[5]  George Leo Haydock (1774–1849) was a priest, pastor and Bible scholar and author of Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary

[6] Which sits harmoniously with how Paul speaks in Galatians “who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age (Gal 1:4)

[7]  Many thanks to my friend Spencer Owen for helping craft these thoughts

[8]  Rev 12:9; 20:10