Theology 18 — Atonement Theories

Last time we looked at the major categories the scriptures use to answer the question, “Why did Jesus die?”  This time, we’ll take a journey through church history, making stops along the way to see how our forebearers have made sense of the crucifixion of our Lord. You’ll learn about these seven theories:

1. Ransom
2. Christus Victor
3. Moral Exemplar
4. Satisfaction
5. Penal Substitution
6. Governmental
7. Communal Substitution

For each I quote someone from Church History who advocated for that position and offer some criticisms.  Note: This episode is from a talk I gave at Restoration Fellowship’s 2016 Theological Conference and you can get the full paper here.

—— Notes ——

Here is part two of my “Why Did Jesus Die?” paper.  You can find the whole essay here.

Introduction

Are we satisfied to leave matters where the biblical data lies or should we press on to, as James Orr put it, “seek the inmost secret of atonement?”[19] Alas, for centuries, Christians have meditated on Christ’s redemptive work in an effort to better understand what happened behind the scenes. In this part I will cover seven theories in roughly chronological order. Before we begin, I should note that these various ways of looking at atonement are not mutually exclusive. I will begin with the two theories that emphasize spiritual warfare.

 

1. Ransom Theory

Satan once showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and then said, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will” (Luke 4.6). On the basis of this text, some have concluded that when the first humans rebelled against God, they transferred the dominion and authority over this world to Satan. This is why Jesus called him, “the ruler of this world” (John 14.30), Paul said he was “the god of this age” (2 Cor 4.4), and John termed him “the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev 12.9). In Christ’s atoning work, he delivered humanity “from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption” (Col 1.13-14). In fact, when he ascended, “he led a host of captives” with him, liberating them from Satan’s custody. Augustine of Hippo (ad 354-430) writes:

For men were held captive under the devil, and served devils; but they were redeemed from captivity. They could sell, but they could not redeem themselves. The redeemer came, and gave a price; he poured forth his blood, and bought the whole world…The blood of Christ was the price. What is equal to this? What, but the whole world?[20]

Thus, through Christ’s valuable sacrifice, God paid the devil the required ransom to release us from his custody. But, would Satan just release his captives merely because God offered to purchase them? He probably would refuse. Thus, the ransom theory often includes the element of deception. Somehow God would have to trick the devil into overreaching. The devil only had legal right over those who commit sin. However, when he murdered Jesus of Nazareth, he overstepped his authority. Augustine explains it this way:

But the redeemer came, and the seducer was overcome. And what did our redeemer to him who held us captive? For our ransom he held out his cross as a trap;