I was working through a Duolingo Spanish lesson when I came across a Spanish phrase that translated literally into English as “a good price”—as in “She paid a good price for those shoes.” I was supposed to fill in the blank as to whether the pair of shoes was expensive or cheap. I clicked the Spanish word for expensive, “caros”. I was wrong; it should have been “barato”, cheap. I was confused.

We had an expression where I grew up that you may know: “He paid a good price for that.” This meant that he had paid a lot of money for something. It was expensive. You can see how I messed up now, can’t you?

But we also had the expression, “He got it at a good price.” This meant that what he had purchased was cheap, considering its value. So, the words “good price” can be taken in two very different (indeed, opposite) ways. Depending on the context, the very same words can have diametrically opposed meanings.

Being something of a dabbler in languages, I immediately thought of the problem of translation. Being something of a biblical scholar, I thought in particular of the issue of “literal translations” of the Bible. Here is the problem with literal translations: There aren’t any! Someone has said that every translation is an interpretation. For better and worse, this is true. Hebrew and Greek words and phrases can sometimes be translated quite literally into other languages, but very often they can’t. And sometimes, Greek and Hebrew words can be translated in opposite ways. Context may help the translator to decide, but sometimes even context doesn’t help much. When that happens, I suspect that the human author and the Divine Author wanted us to slow down and savor the ambiguity. After all, there is a lot of ambiguity in our real world. Perhaps we should expect it in our Bibles as well.

But then, another thought came to me. I am not only a biblical scholar. I am also a Christ-follower—or, at least—a Christ-stumbler. So I thought about Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. There is a persistent rumor that he died for the sins of the whole world. I believe that this is more than a rumor, but I try not to oversell that as if it were indisputable. It is obviously often disputed.

As a Christ-stumbler, I asked myself a question: In what sense was Jesus’ death for us “a good price”? Does that mean that Jesus’ death was cheap, considering its value? Or does it mean that it was expensive, considering that our freedom cost him carrying all your wrongdoings to the cross and dying for them?

According to at least parts of the Old Testament, we can come to God with nothing at all and find that he will give us what we need. Isaiah makes this explicit.

“Is. 55:1          “Come, everyone who thirsts,

                        come to the waters;

             and he who has no money,

                        come, buy and eat!

             Come, buy wine and milk

                        without money and without price.

²           Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

                        and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

             Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

                        and delight yourselves in rich food.” (English Standard Version)

The New Testament agrees.

“Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (ESV)

So, in a very real sense, salvation is really cheap. Perhaps it would be better to say that it is radically affordable.

And yet, in another sense salvation is really expensive. It cost God everything. And this radical “cheapness” plus the costly sacrifice of God in God’s Son means that our salvation is absolutely priceless.