Moral Influence Theory

Who taught Moral Influence?

Peter Abelard a French theologian who lived from 1079-1142.

He is considered a forerunner to the ideas of Rousseau, Kant and others.

Abelard argued that God and the universe can and should be know through logic and our emotions. He is credited with coining the term “theology” for the religious branch of philosophical tradition.”

He was also one of the developers of the idea that a person could use insanity for a defense. “ Of this” talking about sin, “small children and our course insane people are untouched lacking reason…nothing is count as sin for them.”

How many you think you can talk to God through your thoughts?

You can thank Peter Abelard for developing this concept that we can speak to God with our thoughts.

He developed the idea of The State of Limbo and of course the moral influence theory on atonement.

What is Moral Influence?

Now that we know a little about the man, let’s look at what he thought and taught.

the moral influence theory of the atonement holds that God did not require the payment of a penalty for sin, but that Christ’s death was simply a way in which God showed how much he loved human beings by identifying with their sufferings, even to the point of death. Christ’s death therefore becomes a great teaching example that show God’s love’s to us and draws from us a grateful response, so that in loving him we are forgiven.

Example- The priest from Les Mis.

Set in the Parisian underworld and plotted like a detective story, the work follows the fortunes of the convict Jean Valjean, a victim of society who has been imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. A hardened and streetwise criminal upon his release, he eventually softens and reforms, becoming a successful industrialist and mayor of a northern town. Despite this, he is haunted by an impulsive, regretted former crime and is pursued relentlessly by the police inspector Javert. Valjean eventually gives himself up for the sake of his adopted daughter, Cosette, and her husband, Marius.

But what causes Jean Valjean to soften and reform? The love of God that was exemplified to him through a priest

What can we glean from it?

While I don’t believe that moral influence is enough to explain all that Christ did for us on the Cross it does make a major contribution to how we should respond to Christ work in us.

It helps us to explain why Christians do what they do. When we come to Christ we are commanded to love God and love neighbor. We love God and and neighbor not to receive eternal salvation but because of God’s love for us which was demonstrated through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we show love to others. Jesus was the example of how to live life and we should do our best with the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

Jesus gave us an example on how to love God and neighbor. Our course, we would do well to follow Jesus