An equally important principle in debt-relief (see previous footnote) is that the payment of the debt must be acceptable to the creditor (the one to whom the debt is owed). If the payment is not acceptable to the creditor, the debtor is not released from the debt. God (the One to whom our debt is owed) declared His acceptance of the death of Jesus Christ as full payment of our debt when He raised Him from the dead.
The Bible says, “The sting of death is sin.”
Sin is to death what a stinger is to a bee. Just as the stinger gives the bee its power, so the penalty of sin gives death its power. It is the unpaid debt of sin that results in the penalty of eternal separation from God. The penalty for nonpayment only exists if the debt is unpaid. Satisfactory payment of the debt removes the penalty of separation. Just as the bee has lost its power when the stinger is removed, so death has lost its power to separate when the penalty of sin is removed. The penalty of sin is removed when the debt is paid in full.Death had no power over Jesus because He had no sin of His own and His blood (His death) paid in full the debt of sin He took from us. Someone has noted that if the debt of one sin had gone unpaid, death would have retained its power and Jesus would still be in the grave, forever separated from God the Father as He endured the penalty…but no debt went unpaid. Every sin was covered. God the Father looked upon His Son’s death on our behalf and declared our debt paid in full. “Having cancelled out the certificate of debt…He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
Cancelled out can also be translated “to wipe away, to obliterate, to remove”.
The voluntary sacrifice of Jesus’ sinless life so satisfied the demands of God’s justice against us, He was able to declare our debt paid in full and wipe away/obliterate/remove the record of sins against us. Its stinger (penalty of sin) removed, death was disemboweled—gutted of its power to separate. The resurrection from the grave simply declared the victory that had already been won on the cross. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”At one time England had debtors’ prisons to which men would be sentenced if they owed more than they could pay. English law provided that if the debtor could not be found when the debt was due, the third party who guaranteed payment could be imprisoned in the debtor’s place. After serving the required sentence, the third party guarantor would be released. The release from prison was only possible when the debt was deemed settled. The release was proof that the debt had been retired. If the debtor later reappeared and saw the guarantor on the streets as a free man, he would know his own debt had been retired because the one imprisoned for his debt was now free.
It was the freedom of the guarantor that quieted the debtor’s fears and assured him that he (the debtor) was free as well.Jesus Christ is our third party Guarantor. He took our debt of sin upon Himself and performed on our debt (i.e., He died) as if it were His own. He was imprisoned in our place when He went to the cross and then to the grave as He suffered the penalty of separation from God enforced for the debt of our sin. After serving our sentence (death), He was released from prison (grave) through His resurrection. The Resurrection was proof His payment was acceptable because the Resurrection was proof that death had lost its power to separate and death could only lose its power if the debt was paid in full. (Only full payment of the debt removes the penalty of separation.)
We are free from the penalty of sin (spiritual death—spiritual separation from God) because Jesus, our imprisoned Guarantor, is alive from the grave. We can know our own debt is retired/settled/forgiven because the One imprisoned for our debt is now free.
But He whom God raised did not undergo decay (of the grave). Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things.