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1 Corinthians 1:22–24
“Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
Christ’s passive obedience as our Great High Priest reaches its climax in His atoning death on the cross. Scripture makes clear that we cannot be saved apart from our Savior’s crucifixion and His work of atonement, which makes it vital for us to know exactly what took place in the death of Jesus. Over the centuries, Christian theologians have proposed several views of the atonement to explain the work of Christ.
As we begin our look at the major views of the atonement, we note first that no single view of what happened on the cross fully describes His atoning work. The Bible describes the atonement as a ransom (Mark 10:45), as the defeat of Satan (Col. 2:15), as a satisfaction of God’s wrath (Rom. 3:21–26), and more. To rightly understand the atonement, we must consider it in the various ways that Scripture describes it. In light of sin and God’s justice, the atonement as a penal satisfaction for sin to turn away the wrath of God should be primary in our understanding of the crucifixion. Nevertheless, the penal satisfaction view, also called penal substitutionary atonement, does not say everything there is to say about the cross.
Second, while there are many facets to the atonement, certain views have proved inadequate. We will briefly consider two of these: the moral-government and moral-influence views. The moral-government view holds that the atonement occurred not to punish sin and sinners but to demonstrate that God rules the world with justice and to deter people from sinning. In this view, Christ died to prove that God upholds His law. If no one were ever punished for wrongdoing, people would believe that God is not just, but Jesus’ death because of sin shows that our Maker governs the universe justly. Furthermore, the death of Christ as an example of God’s punishment of sin warns us to flee from sin lest we also suffer. This view fails because Christ is no mere example that God is just but the One in whom the Lord specifically executes His justice against the sin of His elect (Rom. 3:21–26).
The moral-influence theory teaches that Christ’s death functions as an example in such a way as to motivate us to love others similarly. A kernel of truth exists here, given passages such as John 13:34. That Christ’s death is an example, however, does not give it an atoning significance. We are not reconciled to God and to others simply because Jesus is a good example of how to love others.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
To have an adequate view of the atonement, we must have a proper view of sin and divine righteousness. While there are some exemplary facets to Christ’s crucifixion, it is not as an example that He saves us. Instead, it is as the perfect divine wrath-bearing sacrifice that Jesus redeems us. If we miss that, we miss the gospel.
For further study
- Leviticus 1
- 1 Corinthians 1:17–18
- Galatians 6:14
- 1 John 1:7
The bible in a year
- Psalms 110–111
- Romans 16