Atonement

Did Jesus have to die?

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 “Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I proclaimed to you, which you have also received, in which you also stand, by which you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the message I proclaimed to you, unless you believed to no purpose. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised up on the third day according to the scriptures,”

Romans 5:6–8 “For while we were still helpless, yet at the proper time Christ died for the ungodly. For only rarely will someone die on behalf of a righteous person (for on behalf of a good person possibly someone might even dare to die), but God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 John 2:1–2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you in order that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Hebrews 2:9 “but we see Jesus, for a short time made lower than the angels, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that apart from God he might taste death on behalf of everyone.”

Moral influence

This states that is a net positive. Popular around the 3rd century.

Lacks why his resurrection matters or explain the scripture that talks about him being or taking our sin.

Ransom (jesus owes Satan)

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

The problem is it adds theory not found in scripture. It gives an idea that Satan is more powerful than he is.

Satisfactory (we owe God)

God is justice and needs to be paid back for injustice.

No scripture to back this up.

It creates a dual nature of God.

Developed in the 12th century.

Penal substitution theory

Similar to satisfactory but states specifically that Jesus has to die instead of us for retributive justice. He took the punishment we deserved and paid God back for our sins.

16th century.

Genesis 22:13 “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.”

Romans 3:23–26 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God made publicly available as the mercy seat through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness, because of the passing over of previously committed sins, in the forbearance of God, for the demonstration of his righteousness in the present time, so that he should be just and the one who justifies the person by faith in Jesus.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin on our behalf, in order that we could become the righteousness of God in him.”

Hebrews 9:18–22 “Therefore not even the first covenant was ratified without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.” And likewise he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the utensils of service with the blood. Indeed, nearly everything is purified with blood according to the law, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, in order that he could bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,”

1 Peter 2:23–25 “who when he was reviled, did not revile in return; when suffering, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly, who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we may die to sins and live to righteousness, by whose wounds you were healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but you have turned back now to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” (Peter is quoting Isaiah 53:1-6)

Christus Victor- defeated evil powers

1 Corinthians 15:57 “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

It was a clear concept in scripture that there was a twinned rebellion. That the plight on earth was being played out in the heavenly realm. This theory states that by Jesus dying, it set the cosmos free from the “prince of this world”. It did it, not by power or force, but by sacrificial love.

This sacrificial love was God letting his only begotten Son to be a “substitution” in our place so that we could be reconciled to God and defeat the powers of this world. It is improved from the substitutional theory of atonement because it is clear that God is not the one holding a grudge and sending us to hell. The biggest problem with substitutional theory of atonement is that it puts too much weight in our own decision and not enough on the life changing power that comes from the revelation of Gods grace that he alone gives us.

It doesn’t do enough to tie to the traditional aspects of atonement and it still has an element of Jesus needing to die because of the powers even though it was the plan from the foundation of time.

Scapegoat

The Scapegoat theory of atonement rejects that God is a wrathful violent God. It states that the nature of humans is revealed as a violent angry mob incorrectly blames an innocent victim for their problems. By having this revelation, the cycle of violence can break and we can reconcile to God.

It is important to note that the Scapegoat is also a term that was learned from the bible, specifically in Leviticus. One goat is killed while the other bears or takes away the sins of the town. This would last for 1 year.

The problem with the Scapegoat theory of atonement is that it, ironically, distances itself from the Jewish understandings of atonement. It does not speak to the spiritual reality and the change that occurred through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

He did this as a plan from the beginning of time. Psalm 22 shows this.

No one took his life but he gave it. John 10:18

It makes sense given that Jesus and the apostles were all Jewish! And we are grafted in! To be our scapegoat, our passover lamb, high priest, God presence tabernacled amongst us, and to be the gift of love that God had always destined himself to be in order that we may rid ourselves of our self righteousness and law. So we can have a relationship with him and be completely reliant on him.

What is sin?

Romans 14:23 “But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.”

Jesus fulfills the law, so we don't need to make more. We need to worship him with are heart soul and mind. Matthew 22:37

Love fulfills the law Romans 13:10.

We were a slave to sin which is our flesh. (so the ransom paid was to free us from sin!)

Recapitulation

Ephesians 1:9-10 ESV [9] making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ [10] as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Hebrews 9:12–14 “and not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once for all into the most holy place, obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled sanctify them for the ritual purity of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?”

God forbids substitutions.

Deuteronomy 24:16 ““Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, and children shall not be put to death because of their fathers; each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”

Jeremiah 31:30 “But each will die because of his iniquity, everyone who eats the unripe fruit, their teeth will be set on edge.”

Ezekiel 18:20 “The person, the one sinning, will die. A son shall not bear the guilt of the father, and a father shall not bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him; the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.”