Calvary Wasn’t a Pagan Marketplace

by Mark Johnson  |  24 September 2024  |

Jesus was angry. In fact, He looked furious.

His fury had been simmering for some time. It had been 18 years since His first temple visit. At that time, He had begun to understand the mystery of His mission. Now, with indignation, authority, and power, He announced His public ministry. His Father’s house was being desecrated. He was here to set things right.

His announcement overwhelmed the assembly. Onlookers quaked as their guilt was exposed. Divine justice flashed through humanity. A heavenly light illuminated His countenance. His voice rang out with the same awe and majesty exhibited when the law was given at Mt. Sinai. Even His closest disciples trembled.

“Officers of the temple, speculating priests, brokers and cattle traders, with their sheep and oxen, rush[ed] from the place, with one thought of escaping from the condemnation of His presence” (The Desire of Ages, p. 158).

Everyone ran for cover.

Well, not all felt the need to run. Some drew closer. The poor, the sick, the oppressed, and the little ones remained. Children climbed onto His lap and gazed into His “pensive face, benignant with love” (Bible Training School, January 1, 1909). Some of the leaders of Israel, men like Nicodemus, stayed to watch. They were deeply moved.

Jesus never experienced self-centered rage. When Jesus chased the buyers, sellers, and moneychangers out of the Temple grounds, it was with a righteous fury. It was a day of judgment. They dropped everything and ran for their lives. 

Christ’s anger centered on the way the religious leaders of the nation were misrepresenting His Father. Especially to the poor, the sick, the oppressed, and the little ones. His children were being deceived. The truth about His Father was being perverted and His house was being defiled. The disciples were reminded of what the psalmist had written:

“My devotion to your Temple burns in me like a fire” (Psalms 69:9, GNT).

The salvation economy

The religious leaders of the Jewish nation had turned the temple into a marketplace. They taught that God would only forgive sins if He was paid. The blood of bulls, goats, and sheep was His preferred form of payment. Most of the people could not bring their own animals. The ones who did were required to have them inspected by the priests, who had a strong incentive to find them flawed. The people were then forced to buy temple animals at highly inflated prices. The leaders got their share from every sale. It was a very profitable racket. 

Additionally, in a pious show of hypocrisy, only the temple shekel could be used for this commerce. Local and foreign currencies had to be exchanged. One always loses when exchanging money. Fraud and extortion were rampant. Again, the leaders got their cut.

But there was something even more troubling about the practices and economy of the temple services. Over the years the meaning had been lost. The services were now formal and mechanical. While scrupulously attempting to appear as pious law keepers, even the religious leaders had forgotten why they were doing what they were doing. The sacred had been desecrated. It was now little more than a pagan marketplace supporting pagan rituals.

Paganism & Judaism

These were based on a simple pagan formula. You’ve sinned. God is very angry with you. Without blood He won’t—or can’t?—forgive you. We’ll sell you the blood. We’ll make sure the blood washes your guilt away. This will appease God’s anger. Then once again He can bless you.

What was intended to be a humble, thought-provoking, and unassuming process had become a transaction in which forgiveness was bought and sold at highly inflated prices. The services were supposed to remind the people that sin leads to death, but that they had a Savior. Instead, they made God a pagan tyrant and salesperson.

Throughout history, paganism has been associated with at least four major beliefs:

• nature is controlled by the gods;
• the gods are angry;
• they need to be appeased;
• they really like blood—especially human blood.

The Jewish people before their exile in Babylon had repeatedly gone after the pagan gods of nature. They are continually chastised in the First Testament for worshipping procreation in the sexually explicit idols and deadly rituals of Baal, the bull, and his numerous consorts. By the time of Christ, though, they had learned their lesson. They now rigidly rejected such literal idolatry. But their God was still angry, vengeful, and unforgiving. He still needed blood. Rivers of blood.

“Indeed, according to the Law almost everything is purified by blood, and sins are forgiven only if blood is poured out” (Hebrews 9:22, GNT).

God’s character

Christ came to correct the misunderstandings surrounding God’s character, His requirements, His motives, and His methods. He focused on the accusations that had been leveled against Him by Satan. The most serious claims had to do with His trustworthiness. God said sin led to death. Satan mocked Him and said He was a liar. If sinners did die, it was only because God destroyed them.

These charges were most directly addressed at Calvary.

There are dozens of theories that attempt to explain what happened at Calvary. Many of them reveal pieces, or fragments, of truth. But I would argue that the theories most widely accepted in Christianity today repeat the mistakes of the Temple services. They make Calvary a pagan marketplace.

Once again, the pagan formula is evident. We have sinned. God is either angry and very disappointed with us, or He loves us, but will not (cannot?) forgive us without blood. Thankfully, Jesus has paid for our forgiveness with the precious blood He shed at Calvary. His blood is far better than the blood of bulls and goats. It alone can assuage God’s wrath or fulfill the demands of the Law. It can wash away every sin ever committed. If we confess, repent, and give Him our sins, through faith in Christ’s sacrifice, God will—or must?—save us.

This formula both over-simplifies and over-complicates the problem of sin and the plan of salvation. It is a caricature of biblical reality. It drives a wedge between Christ and the Father. It makes God either a cruel tyrant or an impotent deity. It objectifies sin. It involves a transaction, either between Jesus and God, or between God and Satan. Someone gets paid with the blood of Jesus. It gives both the Law and the blood of Christ primacy over the sovereignty of God. It perpetuates Satan’s picture of God:

“a being whose chief attribute is stern justice, – one who is a severe judge, a harsh, exacting creditor…. A being who is watching with jealous eye to discern the errors and mistakes of men, that He may visit judgments upon them” (Steps to Christ, p.10).

It essentially has God saying, “Pay me, or I’ll kill you.”

What happened? 

At Calvary, a sinless Christ died as if He were a sinner. There had never been a death like this before. His death revealed the shocking spectacle of divine unity being split apart as the Trinity demonstrated the magnitude of sin and its devastating consequences. As their unity was torn apart, each member of the Godhead suffered unimaginable agony. The humanity of Christ could not endure the disintegration. He died the death that sinners will die—cut off from the fountain of life. God exhibited His wrath by letting Christ go, in loving disappointment. He was apparently forsaken by God.

As with all unrepentant, rebellious sinners, Jesus was treated as if He longed to be away from the Father. He reaped the inevitable and awful consequences of a sinner’s rebellion – the second, or eternal, death. The demonstration was so genuine that Christ was tempted to believe “that Their separation was to be eternal” (The Desire of Ages, p. 753).

Calvary answered the primary charges that had been brought against God by His great enemy. The claim that sin leads to death was confirmed. The accusation that this death was torture and execution at the hands of God was shown to be patently false. The Father suffered with Christ. He was in Christ, attempting to reconcile His sinful children back to Him (2 Corinthians 5:19). He was shown to be trustworthy. He is not severe, arbitrary, vengeful, exacting, or unforgiving. His character, as described in His Law, is righteous, merciful, and based on love.

Nothing was for sale at Calvary. Words such as paid, bought, payment, propitiation, and expiation should not be seen as transactional. Instead, they are explanatory, describing the infinite cost, the immeasurable pain, and the eternal limitations that the members of the Trinity suffered to ensure the safety and security of the universe. Jesus didn’t buy our forgiveness. He didn’t need to. Our salvation, and the forgiveness of sin, are free and providential byproducts of the actions taken at Calvary to secure the government of God forever. All we must do is accept them.

At least one other valuable lesson was taught at Calvary. Christ was, indeed, tortured and executed—not at the hands of His Father, but at the behest of His apparently pious and obedient chosen people. The lesson is clear: if we attempt to keep the Law from a sense of obligation, if we attempt to buy forgiveness, if we believe we must appease an angry God, we will become His “law abiding” enemies.

Making Calvary a pagan marketplace still leads pious, devoutly religious fanatics to want to kill the Son of God, and hurry home to keep the Sabbath.