When people send unto us questions we have the pure unvarnished Truth of the Holy Scriptures to use to answer them the plain truth. Proverbs 22:17-22.
The first question asked is about the death of Christ “for” humanity. Is there any Scripture that shows Jesus dying for (that is, “in place of”) man?
“The first apparent contradiction was in your sermon titled, “Publishing Justice or Forgiving Justice, which.” You mentioned that the word “anti” — Greek translation — was never used for the death of Christ in the Bible. I am sure you must have seen that Greek translation (anti)
referring to [the] death of Christ in (Matthew 20:28), could you assist me in making sense of that in light of your presentation. Also include in your explanation the use of ransom (antilutron) found in 1 Timothy 2:6.” Letter, p. 1.
First of all, three Greek prepositions are usually translated “for” as it relates to the sacrifice of Jesus concerning our sins. They are:
i. Peri
ii. Anti
iii. Huper
4. Concerning the general English meaning of the Greek word “peri”, we are told.
“peri; a prep. which in the NT, governs the gen. and acc. Around, about or of, in the sense of concerning or regarding.” Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, p. 1140.
a. Thus the word peri really means “concerning” or “regarding”, and in
this sense the “for” should be used.
5. The second largest amount the Scriptures used for the “death of Christ” in any sense, are those that uses the word peri. In fact there are about eight different Scriptures that uses the preposition “peri” with regards to the sacrifice of Christ for sin plus the symbolism of the animal sacrifices.
a. Christ sacrifice for sins. Matthew 27:28; Mark 14:24; Romans 8:3; 1 Peter 3:18;
1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10.
b. The symbolism of Christ’s sacrifice for sins referred to. Luke 5:14; Hebrews 5:3;
Hebrews 10:6,8; Hebrews 13:11.
Proof that the word should be translated “concerning”, “regarding”, or “about”, can be seen in how the word “peri” is used in the
following Scriptures. Luke 24:44; Luke 24:27; John 7:12,32,39.
7. The word used in the vast majority of times about the death of Christ for our sins is the Greek word “huper”, it means “over”.
“huper, prep. governing the gen. and acc. with the primary meaning of over … Meaning for, in behalf of, for the sake of, in the sense of
protection, care, favor, benefit.” Ibid, p. 1411.
a. Thus the word “huper” does not carry the meaning of “in place of”, but generally “over” and is used to convey a sense of protection. All the texts referring to the death of Christ for our sins (excepting where “peri” is used), holds the preposition “huper”. This shows that
huper was meticulously used as a doctrinal connotation for the death of Christ, that it was a provision protecting over sinners. Luke 22:19,20; John 6:51; John 10:11,15; John 11:50,51,52; John 17:19; John 18:14; Romans 5:6,8; Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 5:7;
1 Corinthians 11:24; 1 Corinthians 15:3;
2 Corinthians 5:14,15,21; Galatians 1:4;
Galatians 2:20; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 5:2,25; 1 Thessalonians 5:10; 1 Timothy 2:6;
1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 4:1; 1 John 3:16.
8. The final Greek word used with regards to the sacrifice of Christ for the sins of humanity is “anti”. This word means “in place of”, or “substitute”.
“Anti; prep. with the general meaning of over against, in the presence of, in lieu of. Spoken metaphysically either in a hostile sense, meaning against, or by way of comparison, where it
implies something of equivalent value, and
denotes substitution, in place of, instead of.” Ibid, p. 190.
a. Here is an example of the Greek word “anti” being used in the sense of “in place of”. Luke 11:11; 1 Corinthians 11:15.
9. Now the major texts in question are the only ones in which something of the sacrifice of Christ is used in the entire Bible. Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6.
10. The two texts in question (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45) are not saying Jesus died for “anti” “in place of” humanity. This is what I meant. They speak about the gift of His life. Remember, the death of Christ means two things:
a. The sufferage of Christ for sins. 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter 3:18.
b. The gift of His Life for sins. John 10:11; John 6:51.
So one must not try to make Jesus say that He died in place of, that is not in the Bible. So the word anti is not used to explain Jesus dying for our sins, that is, in place of us. It is used ONLY to show Jesus giving His Life in place of. And what does that mean?
a. We are told that we are first dead in trespasses and sins. This is spiritual death. Ephesians 2:2; Romans 8:6.
b. So this Life that Jesus gives, He gives in place of spiritual death in us. Ephesians 2:2,5; Romans 6:23.
c. This can be clearly seen, that Life substitutes death, for so Jesus meant it. 1 John 3:14;
Romans 5:17,18.
d. To say that Jesus giving His life a ransom for “anti” in place of, means that Jesus died “in place of” our death is erroneous; because the Life He gave is something that can be IN us. 1 John 3:15; John 6:53,54.
e. Thus even though the Life of Christ was given in His death, the “gave His Life a ransom for (anti, in place of ) many” is not to be seen as “Christ’s death in place of our death” for this is not what is meant. There is no text like that in the Bible, they are all “huper”, “over”, as a “protection from sin”, or as a “provision to deal with sin”, and a few of them is “peri” that is “concerning” or “about”. A good
example with “peri” and “huper” is seen in
1 Peter 3:18.
12. As for the next Scripture, 1 Timothy 2:6; we are told that Jesus gave Himself an “antilution”, that is, He gave Himself as an “in place Ransom”, or as a “Substitute Ransom”. But we are not told that this Substitute Ransom was given “in place of”, but “over” or as a “protection” or “provision” (huper) for all. 1 Timothy 2:6.
a. But what is the antilution or substitute
ransom? It is the blood of Christ that is the ransom money (lutron) that is used to
purchase or “redeem” (Greek ilutrothete” “freed by ransom” in this text). 1 Peter 1:18,19.
b. And the blood is the Life; so, once more; it is the Life that Christ gives as a ransom, is the antilutron / “in-place-of-ransom”/ “substitute-ransom” given for huper (1 Timothy 2:6) us. Leviticus 17:11,14; John 3:16.
13. Summary of all that was said:
a. No text shows Jesus dying anti / in place of us in the whole Bible.
b. There is no death of Christ “in place of” (anti) death for us in the Bible.
c. The vast amount of Scriptures show Jesus
dying huper / over / as a protection /
provision for us.
d. A few show Christ’s death peri / concerning us.
e. So what I meant is that we do not see the Greek word “anti” in the Bible alligned with phrases that state “Christ died” or “the death of Christ”.
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