Atonement
Someone asked me to blog about what it means that “Jesus died for our sins.” What did his death accomplish? That’s a bit of an overwhelming task since there are large books written by scholars addressing this issue. I assume the question relates to atonement and atonement theory. Atonement means “at one” and while the Hebrew word we translate “atonement” occurs frequently in the Old Testament, the only place in the New Testament where the Greek translation of the Hebrew word occurs it is used is in Romans 5:11, and both the NIV and the NRSV Bibles translate the word “reconciliation.
Over the course of time a number of atonement theories developed which include, penal substitution, ransom, satisfaction, Christus Victor, etc. Some people will go to the wall for their particular theory. But the truth of the matter is that atonement carries what you might call “an excess of meaning.” Trying to capture the specific meaning of the atonement is akin to trying to capture the meaning of the imago dei, the image of God: they don’t fit neatly into our cognitive boxes.
I think that Dallas Willard says something important about the atonement that doesn’t get us bogged down in reductionistic meanings. In The Divine Conspiracy he writes,
I am interested if you find this helpful or more confusing.
Over the course of time a number of atonement theories developed which include, penal substitution, ransom, satisfaction, Christus Victor, etc. Some people will go to the wall for their particular theory. But the truth of the matter is that atonement carries what you might call “an excess of meaning.” Trying to capture the specific meaning of the atonement is akin to trying to capture the meaning of the imago dei, the image of God: they don’t fit neatly into our cognitive boxes.
I think that Dallas Willard says something important about the atonement that doesn’t get us bogged down in reductionistic meanings. In The Divine Conspiracy he writes,
…[Jesus] went to execution as a common criminal among other criminals on
our behalf. We don’t have to understand exactly how it works. Anyone
who thinks he or she does fully understand what theology calls the atonement
undoubtedly has some surprises coming. Nowhere, I think, is theological
arrogance more commonly displayed than on this subject. But the fact is
something we must always have before our minds. That is the good reason we
wear or display a cross. For all the false and misleading associations
that may surround it, it still says—even without the knowledge of the one
displaying it—“I am bought by the sufferings and death of Jesus and I belong to
God. The divine conspiracy of which I am a part stands over human history
in the form of a cross”…No one can have an adequate view of the heart and
purposes of the God of the universe who does not understand that he permitted
his son to die on the cross to reach out to all people, even people who hated
him. That is who God is…It is God looking at me from the cross with
compassion and providing for me, with never-failing readiness to take my hand to
walk on through life from wherever I may find myself at the time (pp. 334-335).
I am interested if you find this helpful or more confusing.
posted by UCC Medfield at 1:53 PM
2 Comments:
Atonement is definitely hard to get your head around....
I think Dallas Willard is saying that we can't expect to understand it. We can answer lots of tough questions that way because our imaginations can't understand God's plan. But, can't we try to better understand what atonement means without pretending to understand how it works?
When Jesus hung on the cross he had the burden of all our sins on him. He felt forsaken by God - separated from God - by human sins that were not his own. We humans transferred our sin to the lamb before sacrificing him as in the Old Testament customs. I am always struck that John the Baptist, when he sees Jesus for the first time calls him the Lamb of God (Luke).
Our step of faith is to believe (without understanding how) God used Jesus to cleanse us from sin 2000 years later.
I am a new student of the bible and getting my arms around these issues is a real challenge. I feel a need to bring it back to a very simplistic view before I can go into a deeper understanding. Is it accurate to state it this way?...
Before Jesus, people were misinterpreting God's laws and not understanding how to live the way God wanted them to live. Even though they were attempting to be "Godly", they were sinning. Then Jesus came to correct these misunderstandings and to teach us the way to live so that we can enter God's kingdom. He did this by teaching the way God wants us to live and how God forgives us when we repent from our sins. But it wasn't until Jesus died and rose from the dead that many truly understood and believed all he taught. So, if the resurrection hadn't happened, many wouldn't have believed that Jesus was who he said he was and may have continued in their old sinful ways. Therefore, Jesus died to save us from our sins.
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