ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 7, 2024
The most common understanding of what occurred on the cross is what we call Penal Substitutionary Atonement Theory. It has been presented as the one true Biblical understanding of why Jesus needed to die on the cross. But like a lot of things, there is more to the story than what most folks know. First of all, this theory of atonement did not exist until more than a thousand years after Jesus, when a guy by the name of Anselm developed a theory that was only loosely based on scripture. Not to bore folks with too much detail, but Anselm was influenced by Germanic tribal law, specifically something called weregild. Each person in a tribe had a certain level of honor; the higher you were on the social ladder, the more honor you had. Your honor had a monetary value, and if your honor was injured, there was a payment to be made. For someone toward the top of the honor scale, the only payment worthy of restoring that honor was death.
Anselm imposed that law system upon the story of Jesus, specifically that each time we sinned, we were disrespecting God’s honor. And since God was infinite, then the damage was infinite. From the beginning, we owed a debt that could not be paid. But Anselm explained it as God sending the Son, who was also infinite, as the atoning sacrifice so that God’s honor could be restored. Calvin, during the Reformation, added his own thoughts to Anselm’s theory, with Calvin going heavy on the appeasing of God’s wrath.
In all these theories, God was owed a debt or payment that had to be paid in full, and the only one capable of making that payment was Jesus. Here is one of my concerns (and there are many): If God required payment for the debt or the appeasement of the wrath, and it had to be paid in full, where is the forgiveness? In my opinion, there is no forgiveness! The “theory” ignores a sheer plethora of passages that speak to the immeasurable and limitless mercy of God. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives a number of examples of what forgiveness and mercy look like. And not one time does Jesus suggest that a debt, a wrong, or a dishonoring required payment. Jesus said that we are to forgive as our Heavenly Father has forgiven us, yet if God (Heavenly Father) has not forgiven but required payment in full, then what does that teach us.
As you can see, what has been presented by the church as a simple teaching might not be as simple as some might suggest.
Continue to nudge me along, O God, in the search of great faith and wisdom, even in regard to what might appear to be holy mystery. Amen.
