The Atonement God s Love or God s Wrath?
A Love Relationship Matthew 5:43-48 (NKJV), 43 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Light or Dark Early Christians understood the reality of the sun shining on all as a demonstration of the unconditional nature of God s love. The sun shines light and never darkness. The darkness we experience is not due to the sun withholding light; it is only due to our hiding from the light, our closing our eyes to the light. Our darkness is only due to our own blindness. St. Anthony the Great of Egypt (fourth century), said it this way: To say that God turns away from the wicked is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind.
Turning from the Light In the garden man turned from God, turned from light and embraced darkness, falling from a position of intimacy with God into a position of confusion and death. Was the death man experienced in the a punitive sentence from God, or a statement of fact. If death was God s punishment, then because of disobedience God first spiritually killed His children and later physically killed His children, hence, He must be appeased. The cure is punishment. If death was a result of disobedience then it is a condition needing healing and restoring. The cure is sozo.
As Far as the East is from the West Western Christianity sees death as God s direct retributive judgment on man for having broken His law. Eastern Christianity sees death as a self-imposed condition resulting from man s turning away from God, who alone is the source of life. If death is a punishment from God for sin, then the goal is the appeasement of an angry God. If death is a result, a self-imposed ontological (who we are) condition, then instead of punishment it requires healing and restoration. In the garden was the focus that God s honor was tarnished or that man s nature was tarnished? Sin can be viewed as a legal problem (behavioral) requiring punishment or a health problem requiring healing. Sozo How a problem is defined determines what type of solution is sought. If we have a legal/juridical problem, we go to a lawyer. If we have a medical problem, we go to a physician. Ezekiel 18:32 (NKJV), For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord GOD. Therefore turn and live!
Atonement: At-one-ment It s very important to distinguish between the doctrine of the Atonement and the various theories of the Atonement. The doctrine of the Atonement simply says that we are somehow put right with God through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The doctrine of the Atonement is explicitly taught in the New Testament and indeed it was preached before the New Testament was written. In contrast, a theory of the Atonement is an attempt to explain, in clarifying detail, how and why Christ s life, death, and resurrection put us right with God. No theory of the Atonement is set forth in the New Testament, nor is any theory of the Atonement endorsed in any of the great creeds, such as the Nicene Creed.
Two Models, Several Theories The chart below diagrams two models of atonement and how one can perceive the same information differently depending on which lens it is viewed through.