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gospel no reader can be in doubt that “the Son of Man” is Jesus, but the title
still carries the aura of the supreme authority granted to the “one like a son
of man” in Dan 7:13–14. That authority is expressed in terms of the
“service”¹ which all peoples, nations and languages will offer him, yet he
whose destiny it is to be served will be found in fact to take the place of a
servant. Compare Phil 2:6–8 for the same paradoxical role, which there as
here culminates in the death of the servant; there too the function in context
is to provide a model for Christian living. The death of the Son of Man is
therefore portrayed here as the supreme example of unselfish service; he
will give himself for others. His specific role as a “ransom in place of many”
is of course unique; what is to be imitated is the spirit of self-giving which
inspires it.²
The nature of the benefit others will derive from Jesus’ death is spelled out as a
“ransom in place of,” lytron anti. Lytron occurs nowhere else in the NT except in
the parallel in Mark 10:45. It is, however, a cognate of apolytrōsis,
“redemption,” which plays a significant part in Paul’s theology of salvation
through the forgiveness of sins as a result of the death of Christ (Rom 3:24; Eph
1:7; Col 1:14 etc.). The same word-group occurs in a more literal sense in the
LXX to denote the “redemption” by a monetary payment of things or persons
dedicated to God (see especially Lev 27), but is more frequently used
metaphorically to translate the recurrent OT idea of God’s deliverance of his
people from evil and oppression.²¹ In this latter biblical usage the emphasis falls
not so much on the “ransom” idea as such (a price paid to secure release,
normally of a captive or a slave) as on the freedom which results from it.²² So the
primary sense here is that Jesus’ death will bring deliverance to many, and the
reader is likely to remember the earlier explanation of the name Jesus as the one
who “will save his people from their sins.” (1:21)
How far the terminology gives any indication of the means by which that
deliverance is effected depends on whether a more specific OT allusion is
recognized. Many commentators find in v. 28 a deliberate echo of the language
of the portrait of the servant of Yahweh in Isa 53.²³ The verb “serve” in itself
does not require this, as the LXX of Isa 53 uses pais for “servant” and diakonos
(a very rare word in the LXX) does not occur in this chapter. But the idea of
service is of course present in the portrait of the pais. More directly relevant are
the three phrases, “give his life,” “ransom in place of” and “many.” “Many” is
prominent in Isa 53:11–12 to designate the beneficiaries of the servant’s work
(polloi occurs three times in the LXX of those verses), and the phrase “for
many” to explain the purpose of Jesus’ death in 26:28 is again widely recognized
as an echo of Isa 53.²⁴ “Give his life” sums up the theme of vicarious death
which runs through Isa 53 and climaxes in “he poured out his life to death” in v.
12.²⁵ Lytron does not occur in the LXX of Isa 53, but the idea of “ransom in
place of” appropriately represents the theme of vicarious punishment leading to
deliverance: “he was wounded for our transgressions … upon him was the
punishment that made us whole … the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us
all.” (Isa 53:5–6) Even though lytron never translates ʾāšām, “sin-offering,” in
the LXX, “a ransom in place of” describes well the nature of the ʾāš\ām (for
which see Lev 5:17–19) which the servant became (Isa 53:10). The influence of
Isa 53 is thus seen as much at the level of ideas as of specific verbal echoes in
Greek, but this has been enough to convince most interpreters that Jesus here
deliberately places himself in the role of the Isaianic servant, and thus explains
his death in terms of that model of vicarious suffering. We noted at 16:21 that
Jesus’ belief that he “must” suffer and die may be attributed most plausibly to
that OT background, and here the language brings us significantly closer to
Isaiah 53. It would be hard to compose a better brief summary of the central
thrust of Isa 53 than “to give his life as a ransom in place of many.”²
This vicarious servant role is stated to be the purpose of Jesus’ coming. Several
such “I came to” sayings have already appeared in this gospel (see 5:17; 9:13;
10:34–35) and they are found also in the other gospels, notably in John (9:39;
10:10; 12:46–47, etc.). The vicarious death of Jesus is thus firmly placed before
us not as a historical accident but as his deliberate goal. The one whose mission
it was to “save his people from their sins” (1:21) and to “call sinners” (9:13)
must tread the path of the servant whose suffering and death were to be for the
sins of his people (Isa 53:5, 6, 8, 10–12).
That Jesus’ death is “in place of many” should not be taken as a deliberate
contrast to “a ransom for all” in 1 Tim 2:6 (cf. e.g. 2 Cor 5:14–15). The use of
“many” derives from the Isa 53 background, and sets up a contrast between the
one who dies and the many who benefit.²⁷ A theology of “limited atonement” is
far from the intention of the passage and would be anachronistic in this context.
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