What I Believe About the Atonement of Christ

What do you believe about the atonement of Christ?

and

What did Christ really die for then? It wasn't my sin, it certainly wasn't HIS :-), so why the need to die?

The atoning work of Jesus Christ began at his incarnation and ended with his death, it wasn’t simply an atonement limited to his death. Jesus led the perfect human life. He was one to whom God said, “This is my son of whom I am well pleased.” This satisfaction of God for Jesus never subsided or ended or even paused. What is the ultimate evidence of God’s satisfaction with Jesus? The resurrection.

The perfect human life is one marked by complete love and obedience to the will of God. This is an obedience which must be complete, even unto death. This is a self—denying obedience and love which means the real possibility of that death. The perfect man with perfect obedience to the will of God is willing to die, to lose his life.

Thus, we see much of Jesus’ teachings about denying one’s self, obedience unto death, leaving behind all other things (including family), the Greatest Commandment, “take up your cross and follow daily”, “he who desires to gain his life must lose it”, etc.

That last one is the key: salvation comes from denying one’s self to the will of God even when it means death. Jesus wasn’t receiving any punishment. At least not from God! Men were punishing Jesus. They punished him because he was obedient to God. Thus, God rewarded his obedience.


We already had good examples and the law to live by and be judged by. What DID happen on the cross?

Because we could never ever obey the law (and thus God) to the point that we could achieve our own salvation. There is no way that we can earn salvation by works – thus God said grace by faith in Him through Jesus Christ. By this we can very generally mean that we our identified with Christ in his life and death. Thus, Jesus’ perfect obedience and his due reward is given to us by grace.

What did happen on the cross? Jesus was put to death by men who rejected him and his obedience to God (thus they rejected God!). The death of Jesus in such a manner appeared to seal the idea to all men (both Jew and Greek) that this man was not the messiah, he was not right with God, he was not THE way.

Yet, God raised him up! God raised Jesus up into eternal glory with the Father. This resurrection proved God’s approval of Jesus, his mission and his message. He had been completely and utterly vindicated by God for eternity. And because God has thus vindicated Christ, God has made Jesus Christ the method by which grace is offered to all men who cannot achieve salvation themselves. Those who follow Christ are thus undeservingly saved. Their sins are forgotten. Their sins are not given the due punishment. They are not given their due punishment.


How does it help me if He's not taking my punishment.

It helps you because though he is not taking your punishment, you are receiving his reward. No man can earn a reward for eternal life with God because all men have sinned. Only complete obedience to God earns eternal life. We are hopeless and doomed. However, because God loved man and desired eternal fellowship with Him He offered His son as the means by which man could be saved. Not because he would take our punishment but because we could accept his reward.


How does that go along with verses like Rom. 6:23 etc.

“For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Just as it says: one who sins will die. The punishment for sin is eternal death. We have all sinned and we all deserve death. But we can receive eternal life through Jesus Christ because it is only he who death can not overcome. Why? Because he did not sin.

What is the appropriate penalty of a man’s sin? The answer is eternal damnation. But Jesus was only dead for 3 days. That’s not even a sliver of the eternal punishment of just one man. If Jesus was taking the penalty for our sins he should BE ALWAYS dead. But he’s not. He isn’t eternally damned because he wasn’t receiving an eternal punishment – he wasn’t receiving any punishment. At least not from God! Men were punishing Jesus. They punished him because he was obedient to God. But since he was perfectly obedient to God unto death – God rewarded his obedience with resurrection and a glorified body.


How does this view fit with the lamb being sacrificed to pay the penalty for the sins of a specific person all through the old Testament?

OT sacrifice is not about punishing the sacrifice but about man showing to God that the person is sorry for his or her sins and desires to make reparations. Thus the person takes something of value and offers it up to the Lord. The person takes a prized lamb and sacrifices it – burns it up – completely destroys it to show his sorrow.

Notice that it is not simply about killing the lamb but consuming it. If the idea was simply about death then there would be no need to burn it up.

Notice that not all sacrifices involve death of an animal. There are grain sacrifices and other vegetation sacrifices. Notice that Cain offered a sacrifice from the field to God. Notice, God did not reject his sacrifice because it wasn’t a lamb but because Cain’s heart was not in the right place.

Notice that Noah offered a sacrifice to God following the Flood. Why? He had not sinned. He was simply thanking God and showing his love for God. And to God it was a sweet aroma. Why would God consider punishment a sweet aroma? Really, God says that he takes no joy in the punishment of the wicked. Of course, the sacrifice of Jesus was also called a sweet aroma to God. Would God delight in the punishment of His beloved son? Of course not! God saw how much Jesus was willing to do to show his love for God and obey His will (and show his love for humans). Such a self-sacrifice was extremely pleasing to God.

Look throughout the OT. Sacrifices are often done by people who are not seeking God’s forgiveness of a particular sin but because they want to show their thanks and love to God. OT sacrifice is not about punishment but about showing love to God.

The attempted sacrifice of Isaac was not at all about appeasing the wrath of Yahweh by making Isaac be punished for the sins of Abraham. Rather, this was a test of God to see how much Abraham loved God.

Sacrifices are negated if the one making the sacrifice does not have his heart right. In fact, God hates such sacrifices because they are nothing to him because they mean nothing to us. If the point of such sacrifice was simply penalty then it would not matter if man did not care.


I am convinced that this is the correct interpretation of the atoning work of Christ. It solves so many problems and so perfectly conforms to the OT view, the teachings of Paul and Hebrews, and perfectly conforms to the teachings of Christ.

Remember also how we were crucified with Christ and will be raised with Christ. The corporate nature of Christ in which we are seen by God through his Son necessitates that in some spiritual manner we ourselves were present with Jesus on the cross. Paul is adamant about this point in Galatians, Romans, etc. If Christ was receiving a punishment, then so were we because we were there in a corporate sense. Also, the obedience to God unto death of Christ is also expected of us as believers. We are called to “take up our cross daily,” we are called to be obedient unto death as martyrs if necessary, and we are called to lose our life. Such expected obedience to take up our cross and follow Christ is not so that God can punish us but because it is that perfect obedience to God that is perfectly exemplified in the life and death of Christ.

Other posts on the subject:

The Problem With Penal Substitionary Atonement

A Discussion On The Atonement