Atonement in Scripture
Photo: Baker Hall of Copley Public Library in Boston, Massachusetts.
These blog posts explore the biblical foundations of medical substitutionary atonement, with supports from church history. To understand the implications of your theology of the atonement, see Atonement & Ministry. For practical training on how to share Jesus, see Sharing Jesus.
Isaiah 53
The Song of the Suffering Servant supports the medical, not penal, substitutionary view of the atonement. Examine Isaiah as a whole; how Matthew and Paul quoted from Isaiah; how the Greek Septuagint translation of Isaiah 53 speaks of the Servant’s healing and recovery; and how medical substitutionary atonement serves as a foundation for Christian discipleship and social justice.
Temple Sacrifices and a Bloodthirsty God?
The Jewish sacrificial system is often taken as a lynchpin of the theory of penal substitutionary atonement. Yet God acts like a blood donor, not a bloodthirsty god. The sacrifices retell and reenact the ascent of Moses at Mount Sinai, when God purified Moses to some degree, and his face shone. God was acting like a dialysis machine.
Circumcision as Atonement
Circumcision was the outward expression of cutting a sinful attitude away, and the dominant symbol of the covenant. Circumcision “of the heart” became a way to express what salvation and restoration meant in fullness. Jesus cut away what is sinful and unclean in his own human nature, so he could do it in us.
Athanasius, the Trinity, and the Nicene Creed
Athanasius helped draw up the Nicene Creed, defended the divinity of the Son and the doctrine of the Trinity, and was the first to identify the New Testament as the 27 books we now have. Read about his atonement theology, defense of God’s love and goodness, teaching on the Father-Son relation and key biblical passages, and how early Christian theology would speak to modern day issues.
“My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”
King David had been forsaken to the Gentiles, but not forsaken by God in an absolute sense. David still knew he had the Spirit’s anointing to be king. Likewise, Jesus was forsaken to the Gentiles, but not forsaken by the Father in an absolute sense. Jesus still knew he had the Spirit’s anointing to be king. This means God does not use relational distancing as a threat.
God’s Refining Fire
In Scripture, divine fire begins as a positive symbol of God’s refinement and purification. God wants to fix and fulfill, correct and complete, human nature in Jesus. If we desire our addictions more than Jesus, we will experience Jesus as torment.
Human Being, Human Becoming
Explore what human nature and human personhood are from biblical and theological perspectives. We combine those insights cautiously with other disciplines, like neuroscience, psychology, etc. Throughout, we explore why the medical substitutionary atonement view of Jesus – forging in himself a new humanity – makes perfect sense with this exploration of Scripture. Meanwhile, penal substitution renders human beings into “human doings” and impoverishes a truly Christian view of human nature and personhood.
