Fully Paid

Fully Paid

In the greek-speaking world of the first century, the word, tetelestai,  had three already common uses. We know that word as the phrase Jesus cried out as he died on the Cross.

He declared, “It is finished!”  Some have mistakenly heard that to mean that he was saying the he was finished, since he died immediately after that. But no, Testelestai, means, IT is finished.

It never ceases to amaze how the New Testament writers, I’m sure inspired by Jesus’ own example, explicitly used common, everyday, accessible language to explain themselves. A common word for sin, for example, is harmatía.  This word is either translated, sin, or more literally, missing the mark. It was a common archery term. It was how they indicated that you had missed the target you were aiming for. Sin is like that. We have a target of how we want to live, but when we sin, we miss the mark. 

Tetelestai is another such word. Not a hyper-religious word. Not insider language that only the faithful would know, but it was a common word that had three everyday uses.

1. Business usage: it meant that the debt was fully paid or (tetelestai).
2. Legal system: The sentence (of the guilty) is fully paid (tetelestai).
3. Military context: The battle is fully won or (tetelestai).

Image how powerful our testimony about Jesus would be if we felt free to just use ordinary language to describe how our lives are different/better because of Jesus rather than remaining silent because we are convinced we don’t have fancy enough, theological enough words to use in sharing the hope we have within us?

So, when Jesus, on the cross, proclaims, “tetelestai,” he is saying that:

1. The debt that all sinners have has been fully paid.
2. The sentence of the guilty has been fully paid.
3. The battle over sin, death, and the devil, is fully won.

All this, he did for us. All anyone has to do to access this tetelestai reality is to receive that good news as true for you. In other words, we, the:

1. Indebted 
2. Guilty
3. Under siege by the enemy of death,

Are made right with God, by faith alone in Christ alone.

Saved, by grace, through faith.

Amen!