TETELESTAI
Do you like to learn new words? I do. The biggest and best new word for me this year is “Tetelestai,” the Greek word Jesus Christ uttered on the Cross, meaning, “It is finished.” These were Jesus’ final words spoken (John 19:30). But “It is finished,” which we’ve all heard, means much more than I originally understood. In ancient times this word was used in the Mediterranean era in business to mean, “Paid in full,” meaning “A debt had been completely paid, totally covered, completely settled.” On the battlefield tetelestai meant, “The battle is won, a victory over an enemy was absolutely achieved.” Legally it meant, “Sentence served; a criminal had fully completed or served his sentence. His record was cleared.” In labor and art, tetelestai meant, “Task completed.” A servant would say tetelestai to a master when a job was finished, or an artist would say upon accomplishing a masterpiece.
In Christian theology, Jesus saying tetelestai confirmed “The ultimate sacrifice for human sin was paid once and for all, making salvation a complete and finished GIFT.”
What does this mean to us, sinful man? It means there are no more works to do to pay for our sin. Our salvation is a gift from God through Jesus. A gift means it is free. While we definitely want to be good and do good for others out of our love for God and our appreciation to Jesus for what He did, we cannot do any works to earn our salvation, and do not need to. We cannot be good enough because God’s standard for salvation is perfection, and only Jesus is perfect. When we believe we are a sinner, repent, and believe Christ is the Son of God and our Redeemer who died on the Cross for our sin and rose on the third day and sits at the right hand of God the Father, we are saved. There is no more for us to do. Christ did it all. He paid the debt we owed. When we believe and ask God to forgive us, He saves us and imputes his righteousness to us in exchange for our sin, thus making us righteous too. So thank You, Lord, for saying tetelestai—it is finished, the victory is won and complete. And thank You for turning no one away.
