The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news [lit. “preach the Gospel”] to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…
Luke 4:18 NRSV, quoting Isaiah 61:1
We’ve established that sin is not only something that we do but also an external agent that can act upon us (Gen. 4:6-7). In the last post, we also saw that the supernatural forces of darkness are often lurking in the background when human sin or corruption is evident. So, just how dark is this picture of sin when it’s described as something external to ourselves? Is it only something that’s crouching (Gen. 4) and waiting to attack, or is its power already active?
And if sin can be both internal and external to a human, what does it mean to be forgiven of sins? How could I be forgiven for something that is outside of myself? And what is forgiveness? Is it just removal of sin or of sin not being counted against me, or is it something more?
In Luke 4:18, Jesus said that the reason the Spirit sent Him to earth was to “proclaim release” and to “let…go free.” Some translations use the word “liberty” in place of “release” or “go free.” What gets lost in translation is that these terms are the same Greek words translated elsewhere in the New Testament using the word “forgiveness.”
Plug “forgiveness” into Luke 4, and it sounds a little strange. “He has sent me to proclaim forgiveness to the captives…to forgive the oppressed.” Why do the oppressed need to be forgiven, and why do the captives need forgiveness? It sounds like they’re the victim, not the perpetrator.
In Luke 4:18, Jesus is quoting Isaiah 61:1. The same Greek word for “forgiveness” in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament in use when the New Testament was written) is used for setting slaves free. In particular, it shows up a disproportionately large number of times in Leviticus 25 regarding the release of slaves in the Year of Jubilee.
In the past, I have often thought of sin as something that I do, and Scripture certainly talks about it that way. However, it also talks about sin as if it were a creature that is after us (Gen. 4:7) and as a force that enslaves us (Rom. 6-7 and others). If we can be slaves to sin (e.g. “captives” in Luke 4:18), then by extension sin must be a slavemaster. And from slavemasters, people must be freed (see Heb. 2:14-15). Thus, Paul can say that the Roman believers were “slaves of sin” but were then “freed from sin” (Rom. 6:17-18).
So, why would a good God allow pain and suffering? We haven’t really discovered why yet. However, what is clear so far is that the problem of sin (through which came death—Rom. 5:12) is not just a human problem. It is a cosmic, collective problem perpetuated by two races—mankind and supernatural beings.
In fact, the entire Biblical storyline (and all of history) is cast as a struggle between members of these two races.
Epic Gospel 