Ep. 339 An Interdisciplinary Commentary on the Gospel Accounts of Jesus Christ: Installment 5, the Lamb of God
Bob covers John 1: 19-31 in his Bible commentary series. He states that a lamb was not a “scapegoat” in terms of Jewish animalistic sacrifice for the propitiation of sins (using an RC Sproul clip to explain). Then Bob gives various justifications for the use of a sacrificial lamb, since it seemingly violates our intuitive sense of justice.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- The previous episode in this series, i.e. BMS ep 334, Installment 4: the Word Became Flesh.
- The RC Sproul sermon on Jesus as the Lamb of God.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.
Regarding the admittedly, prima facie, odd claim that God killing someone else for our sin is just, I wrote the following explanation for the Basic Beliefs class I teach at church. As I say to my students, if it is helpful, keep it. If not, discard it.
Salvation is necessarily derived from the offended. In general, the offended absorbs the cost. This is just since it is a decision of the offended. For example, consider one person stealing from another. Even if the object is restored, the victim was bereft of the object for a time and that can never be undone. The past is immutable. In order for the relationship to be restored, the victim must act as though the theft did not occur. As a result, the cost of salvation for the thief is purchased by the victim. Now imagine a multitude of sins against a benevolent creator. What would the cost of salvation, incurred by God, for the offender look like? Apparently, it looks like Christ on the cross.