Jesus said , "Tetelistai" which translates to "it is finished" or the work is finished or the mission is finished. The work os the completed work of salvation, to as Jesus said that He came, "to seek and save the lost".
That is the common answer that most people give, but it is not correct. The apostle Paul states that for the work of our salvation to be complete, Christ had to first rise from the dead:
“… for if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain; and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost" (1 Corinthians 15:12-18) – also see Romans 4:25
Now obviously, when Christ was on the cross, and He said "
It is finished", He had not yet risen from the dead. So, if we are still in our sins, how could the work of our salvation be complete?
Secondly, the timing is wrong. Starting at the point when Christ said "
It is finished", this incorrect position implies a future event, but the "It" refers to something in the past; something that had already happened; something that had already been completed while Christ was alive. We know this because Christ was still living when he made that statement.
Also, their position can't be true because it requires that Christ had to first die for those actions to take place. He had to die for "
the debt to be paid in full"; ???; "
He had to die for all our sins to be wiped away"???. But, as I just said, "
It is finished" refers to a past event which took place before Christ died, not a future event after He died.
One last point, and this is why I put the question marks after the above quotes. The expectations that many people have for Christ's completed work of salvation are incorrect or exaggerated. In whatever manner one wishes to interpret Christ's actions, we do know that Jesus did not mean that our sins had been paid for in a way that removes any obligation on our part to cooperate with God’s grace in order to enter heaven. John 3:36 puts it very well:
“
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.”
There are many more scriptures that refute the erroneous belief that Christ’s death "
did it all" and that we don’t need to do anything but accept the “
free gift of salvation”. Yes. The gift is free, but we must meet the scriptural qualifications in order to be eligible to receive that gift.