“The Son of man [Jesus] came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.”​—Mark 10:45.

WHAT IS “THE RANSOM”?

⁸ Two of those texts mention a “ransom.” That, basically, is a price paid to set a captive free. (Isaiah 43:3) We often hear the word used with reference to money for releasing a kidnap victim. In our case, the captive is mankind. Adam sold us into bondage to sin, with resulting sickness and death. (Romans 7:14) What valuable thing could redeem mankind and open up for us the prospect of life free from the effects of sin?

⁹ Recall that the Bible says that Jesus ‘gave his life as a ransom.’ (Mark 10:45) We can see from this that a human life was needed. By sinning, Adam had forfeited perfect human life. To open the way for mankind to regain life in perfection another perfect human life was needed to balance or buy back what Adam had lost. This emphasizes why no imperfect descendant of Adam could provide the ransom. As Psalm 49:7, 8 says: “Man could never redeem himself or pay his ransom to God: it costs so much to redeem his life, it is beyond him.”​—Jerusalem Bible.

¹⁰ To provide the ransom price, God sent his perfect spirit Son from heaven to be born as a human. An angel explained to the chaste virgin Mary how God would make sure that Jesus would be perfect at birth: “Power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.” (Luke 1:35; Galatians 4:4) Jesus, not having an imperfect human father, was free of inherited sin.​—1 Peter 2:22; Hebrews 7:26.

¹¹ After living as a human in full accord with God’s will, Christ gave up his perfect human life. It was a life such as Adam had when created, so Jesus became a “corresponding ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:5, 6; 1 Corinthians 15:45) Yes, it was “for all” in that he paid the price to purchase the entire human family. Accordingly, the Bible says that we have been “bought with a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:20) God, through Jesus’ death, thus laid the basis for counteracting what Adam did in bringing sin, sickness and death on mankind. This truth can have real meaning in making our lives happy.