Reflections on the Atonement

Yesterday, I was in conversation with a friend of mine concerning the Atonement. Now, you might be thinking, what kind of friends sit around talking about the atonement? To which I would say, mine. Each week I have a wonderful conversation about spiritual issues ad theological doctrines. I cherish these conversations. Let me fill you in on some of the eye-opening conclusions we drew:

Typically the doctrine of the Atonement is limited to the the death and crucifixion of Christ. However, this is in error, for if the doctrine is thus limited without reference to the sinless life of Christ, the Resurrection, Ascension and subsequent sending of the Spirit then something less than an efficacious atonement occurred. (This is one of those points where the discipline of systematic theology is lacking by its compartmentalizing of dogma.)

What I mean is this, without a sinless life, Christ was unable to atone for others, much less himself. He would not have been the spotless lamb of God, sent to take away the sins of the world. Nor would he have been a pleasing sacrifice to God, rather his death would have been a just punishment for his sin, a punishment everyone of us should have to undergo an infinite number of times over. But as a sinless man, God was able to accept his perfect life given as an atoning sacrifice for every sin ever committed by any person.

Furthermore, to remove from the doctrine of the Atonement any mention of the resurrection, ascension and subsequent sending of the Spirit would be to cast humanity into a place of powerlessness with no hope of living a victorious Christian life over sin. If these three events are not taken to be integral to the doctrine of the Atonement then what would humanity's resulting atonement look like? I believe that without these three events, humanity would be cast back into a position very much like that of Adam. Sure our sin would have been covered, assuming of course Christ was sinless and died for us, but we would not have any power internal to ourselves to defeat the next temptation to sin. Thus we would perpetually be living a defeated Christian life, intent on reliving the 3rd chapter of Genesis over and over and over again. However, with the resurrection, ascension and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Christians' atonement is truly efficacious. It is powerful and the power to defeat sin becomes a power internal to our new constitution as a new humanity. We no longer are subject to the temptations and sins of the fallen order, we are now redeemed and able to live the new life, a life able to choose not to sin.

The doctrine of the Atonement is so much larger than simply the death and burial of Christ, it encompasses his entire life, so that it can affect our entire life. Live on in the power of the Spirit. ...Read more