The Atonement

• Atonement

  • to be at one or in harmony with something
• Most Christians believe that Jesus’ death on the cross absolved human beings of their prior sins and enabled reconciliation with God

  • without this event, human beings would have remained separated from God and unable to achieve salvation
• John Hick - broad + narrow meaning

  • broad - ‘becoming one with God’
  • narrow - ‘a specific method of receiving salvation’
• Hick

  • the atonement is so important in Christian thought because it plays a pivotal role in what we call salvation history
  • moment at which human beings become truly open to entering a meaningful relationship with God
• Swedish theologian Aulén

  • argued that there had been 3 major interpretations of atonement throughout Christian history
  • suggests that each of these ideas is fundamentally incomplete

  1. Christus Victor model
  2. Subsitution/ Satisfaction model
  3. moral example model
• • ‘And through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things’ -Colossians
  • ‘and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world‘ -John
  • both passages show a relationship between atonement and the cleansing of human sin is developed BUT the nature of this pre-existent sin is not identified and nor is the method of its cleansing
• The Christus Victor Model

  • oldest and simplest model for atonement
  • closely related to the substitution model - ransom theory
  • holds that death and resurrection of Christ represented a victory over the forces of evil
  • evil let into the world where Adam and Eve disobeyed god in the garden of Eden
• Mythological view of the ancient world

  • Christian history thinkers believed evil forces acting in the world, the world of God and the world of the devil were locked in struggle
  • atonement wasn’t just symbolic but also a real world repercussion
  • death, sin and the devil himself were literally overcome by the death and resurrection of Jesus
• Before Auléns influential paper, often held that Christ was given as a ‘ransom’ to the devil in exchange for the souls or lives of humanity

  however the devil was tricked — he did not know Christ could not be killed — Christ’s resurrection effectively lost the rights to human lives while giving up Christ as well
• Aulén says that this ransom wasn’t really perceived as a transaction by early Christian thinkers

  • instead it was seen as a rescue
• Iraneous called the victory of ransom of Jesus’s death ‘Recapitulation’

  • means that Jesus‘ voluntarily actions of giving himself up was more emphasised in early atonement theories
• Aulén suggests that Christus Victor views of atonement are less about rational, systematic exploration of the death of Jesus

  • More about drama about power of God
  • channelled through the Son in defeating evil and liberating humankind accordingly
• The substitution model

  • Jesus died as substitution for the punishment due to humanity for their disobedience of God
• Anselms satisfaction theory of atonement

  • human beings obedience in the Garden of Eden meant that God had been fundamentally dishonoured by humanity as a whole
  • meant there was a debt Of honour to be paid to God
• What honour means to Anselm

  • the entire debt of worship that the created world owes to the creator, God
  • we wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for God
  • the fact we disobeyed him constitutes a grave sin
  • Human beings do not possess the means to satisfy such a grave debt through their own means
  • impossible to pay back the honour God is due as a divine being
  • God instead offers Jesus as a satisfaction for this debt - to avoid the punishment humanity is due
• Jesus as both fully divine and fully human

  • capable of restoring the honour that God is due and reconciling with him
• Anselm’s view

  • influenced by medieval beliefs about authority and honour
• Reformed theologians

  • had a pessimistic view of humanity is fallen nature
• Why would a forgiving God demand satisfaction for human sin?
• God simply demands the blood of an innocent human being, rather than finding a way to reconcile himself with humanities past misdeeds
• The moral example model

  • Jesus’ death was necessary in order to improve the moral sensibilities and perspective of mankind
• Peter Abelard - 12th century theologian

  • originally presented this model
  • counter theory to Anselms model
• Main thoughts of the moral example model

  • Jesus’ death is an example of sacrifice that can give moral guidance
  • example of a broad theory
• Hick

  • believes there is not much more that supports the doctrine of atonement
  • draws attention to how atonement has been developed in Eastern Orthodox tradition
• Protestant traditions

  • Less focus on giving the death of Jesus a special significance
• Western world views

  • atonement has been elevated to a singular event that satisfies all of human sin for God
• Orthodox tradition

  • emphasises the importance of theosis in light of atonement - the gradual spiritual development of the human being until they achieve unity with God
• Moral example is focused only on the subjective changed that occur due to atonement

  • Jesus’ death does not bring about any real change in the world, only in people’s attitudes
• Problems with the moral example model

  • fails to justify the necessity of Jesus’ death but it also does not specify important reasons why Christians should even turn towards God in the first place
• Religious pluralists

  • eg. Hick
  • deny Christians alone can achieve salvation
  • Jesus‘ death was just an event throughout history
• Is there a need for need for a Doctrine of Atonement?

  • Biblical scholars have discussed whether the Gospels support theories of atonement at all
  • Historical Jesus - claims that Jesus did not necessarily see his death as being martyr like
• • EP Sanders
  • examines Jesus in the context of first century Jewish traditions
  • argues that Jesus saw himself as the founder of a jewish renewal movement
  • he notes it is equally not necessary to believe that Jesus himself saw his death this way
  • disciples may have given greater meaning to the death
• Swinburnes contemporary theory of atonement - responsibility and atonement

  1. Human guilt/ sin is the primary obstruction to redemption and salvation in God
  2. reconciliation with God requires repentance
  3. how humans being morally engage with each other is like humans and god
  4. sinning against humans is also sinning against God
  5. only a perfect human life can atone to God
  6. jesus is the only person who could provide the perfect human life as atonement
  7. salvation can come only to those who worship Jesus and recognise his sacrifice
• Hick criticises Swinburne

  • subjecting God to the same moral requirements as humans
• Anselm justified his theory of atonement by appealing to medieval notion of honour