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Paid in Full

John 19:30 | "It is finished."

Rich Trotter

Have you ever owed somebody an amount of money for a bill? And then when you finish paying it off, they take a rubber stamp and mark it “Paid in Full”?

That’s exactly what Jesus did on the cross for all true believers. The debt we owed God for our unrighteous thoughts, words, and actions were paid in full by someone other than ourselves.

Sometimes we think we can pay God back for the wrong we have done by doing “good” things. We suppose these good works will somehow cancel out the bad we’ve done in our lives. But then we have to ask, “How do we know when we’ve done enough good deeds to outweigh the sin in our life? Who sets that standard?” Don’t we have to admit honestly that we can always do just a few more good works to add to our list of credits?

If the account of our spiritual lives was in the form of a bank statement, the numbers in our “Balance” column would all be in red ink—meaning, our account was overdrawn and in the negative. That’s because according to the Bible, just one sin, whether great or small, puts us out of favor with God. James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole Law (of God) yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of it all.”

If we think we can come to God based on our own character qualities or achievements, we fall short and deceive ourselves. In reality, no amount of good deeds, and no efforts on our part can pay off the infinite debt we owe to God due to our sin.

But thankfully God has offered us an alternate method of payment. When we accept God’s offer by faith, turn away from our sinful deeds, and trust in Christ as the One who paid the price for our wrongdoings, then God in His love and mercy chooses to clear our debt. He transfers what we owe for our sin, and placed it on Jesus when He suffered on the cross. Jesus paid off the infinite debt due to our sin with a check written in His blood. But not only is our debt completely paid off, God the Father then transfers Christ’s perfect, sinless righteousness to our account, thereby making us righteous in God’s sight. The debt that we owed and could never pay back becomes completely wiped out, and in exchange we are declared right before God (2 Corinthians 5:19).

When Jesus cried out “It is finished” from the cross, He was saying that His work to secure our salvation has been completed. Nothing more needs to be done. Our deliverance from sin does not come by way of Christ’s death plus some additional good deeds we do to “help” God decide that we are fit for heaven. Our entrance into God’s presence was accomplished solely by Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. What a marvelous gift to have someone else clear our bill and mark it “Paid in Full!”

Reflection:

  1. Is it possible that some of my ideas about coming to God and being reconciled with Him are not in line with what the Bible teaches?
  2. Have I given careful consideration of what Scripture teaches about salvation?
  3. If you are a believer, take time to rejoice and praise God for the beautiful reality that Jesus paid off your debt in full and completely secured your salvation on the cross.
  4. If you are not a believer, pray and ask God to open your eyes to see Jesus for who He is. Ask God for the faith to trust in Christ and believe in what He accomplished on the cross.