Verse 28
Jesus presented Himself, the Son of Man, as the supreme example of a slave of others. He would even lay down His life in the service of others, not just to help them but in their place (cf. Isaiah 53). As Messiah, Jesus had every right to expect service from others, but instead He served others.
"To be great is to be the servant (diakonos) of many; to be first is to be the bond-servant (doulos) of many; to be supreme is to give one’s life for many." [Note: Plummer, p. 280.]
The Greek word lytron ("ransom") was a term used frequently in non-biblical Greek to describe the purchase price for freeing a slave. [Note: Deissmann, pp. 331-32; A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, 1:163.] This word connotes a purchase price whenever it occurs in the New Testament. [Note: Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, pp. 29-38.] "For" (Gr. anti) indicates the substitute nature of Jesus’ death. [Note: Robertson, A Grammar . . ., p. 573.] The "many" for whom He would die could be the elect or all mankind (cf. Isa_52:13 to Isa_53:12).
"A theology of ’limited atonement’ is far from the intention of the passage and would be anachronistic in this context." [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 763.]
Other passages seem to favor the interpretation that by His death Jesus made all people savable. However only the elect experience salvation and enter the kingdom (e.g., John 3:16; Ephesians 1:4-7). Only one would die, but many would profit from His death. This is one of the great Christological and soteriological verses in the Bible. It is also the first time that Jesus explained the reason He would die to His disciples.
"The implication of the cumulative evidence is that Jesus explicitly referred to himself as Isaiah’s Suffering Servant . . . and interpreted his own death in that light . . ." [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 434.]
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