The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views (Spectrum Multiview Books)
Overview
A long history of biblical exegesis and theological reflection has shaped our understanding of the atonement today. The more prominent highlights of this history have acquired familiar names for the household of faith: Christus Victor, penal substitutionary, subjective, and governmental. Recently the penal substitutionary view, and particularly its misappropriations, has been critiqued, and a lively debate has taken hold within evangelicalism. This book offers a “panel” discussion of four views of atonement maintained by four evangelical scholars.
Following an introduction written by the editors, each participant first puts forth the case for their view. Each view is followed by responses from the other three participants, noting points of agreement as well as disagreement. This is a book that will help Christians understand the issues, grasp the differences and proceed toward a clearer articulation of their understanding of the atonement.
Top Highlights
“I am claiming that penal substitution functions as the anchor and foundation for all other dimensions of the atonement when the Scriptures are considered as a canonical whole.3 I define penal substitution as follows: The Father, because of his love for human beings, sent his Son (who offered himself willingly and gladly) to satisfy God’s justice, so that Christ took the place of sinners. The punishment and penalty we deserved was laid on Jesus Christ instead of us, so that in the cross both God’s holiness and love are manifested.” (Page 67)
“Salvation clearly involves forgiveness of sins, but this forgiveness is itself rooted in a person getting freed from Satan’s grip, and therefore freed from the controlling power of sin.” (Page 32)
“It is arguably for this reason that Paul does not see ‘sin’ first and foremost as a matter of individual behavior, as most modern Westerners do. He rather conceives of ‘sin’ (and related concepts such as the ‘law’ and the ‘flesh’) as a quasi-autonomous power that holds people groups as well as individuals in bondage (e.g., Rom 3:9; 6:6–12; 7:7–20, 23, 25). This is why people can never hope to break the power of sin and fulfill the law by their own effort.” (Page 29)
“I’m suggesting that a unifying framework may be found in the view of Christ’s work that dominated the thinking of the church for the first thousand years of its history: namely the Christus Victor model. This model centers on the truth that through the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Christ, God defeated the devil.” (Page 24)
- Title: The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views
- Authors: James K. Beilby, Paul Rhodes Eddy
- Series: Spectrum Multiview Books
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2006
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Atonement
- ISBNs: 9780830877287, 9780830825707, 0830825703, 0830877282
- Resource ID: LLS:NTRTNMNTFRVWS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:58:59Z
