Atonement Theology

[lunamoth]

Hi All,

I've been musing about the mechanism of atonement brought by Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. I like the theology I've read (in EO I think, but I believe I've seen Victor uphold this as well) that it was not necessary for Christ to die by crucifixtion, that the actual spilling of His blood (as in blood sacrifice) was not a part of atonement. Indeed, it seems to me that the Incarnation, the act of sharing in our suffering (Matt 27:45-49, John 19:28-29) and manifesting a prefect love of self-sacrifice, and then his conquering of death through resurrection, describes the heart of our atonement: we die and are born again in His love.

But I recently had another thought, wondering what others think. In the NT the only one given the power to judge is Jesus (John 5:22; John 5:27); we are specifically told not to judge each other (Luke 6:37). It occurs to me that the result of judgement is that the judge takes on the responsibility from the person being judged; or in Biblical terms He took our sins upon Himself. (This made more sense to me when I thought about what happens when I judge my children...I've decided that what they've done is bad or good, and thus created a moral criticism where otherwise there would be none...by judging I create the sin and since I create it I am responsible for it). When a judge in our court of law passes sentence on a criminal, what has happened is the our society has said: you have not taken responsibility for your transgression so now we are going to take that responsibility from you and do something about it.

Judgement/law create sin (pretty much all of Romans, and "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.[1 Cor 15:56]). Our judgement by Christ came when He was on the cross, resulting in His taking responsibility for all of our sin. And our atonement happened simultaneously; as soon as our sin was taken on by Christ, it was immediately forgiven.

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:20-34)

Even moreso, by judging us on the cross Christ acknowledged that He was in us and we are one with him; whatever it was that we thought separated us from God was taken care of; the veil was torn from top to bottom. It is the perfect love of the father who forgives the prodigal son even before the son has taken his inheritance and squandered it.

"Today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:39-43)

Atonement was achieved by forgiveness.

Jesus knew that as communitites we need laws to keep us in good relationship with each other, and he exhorted us to uphold the ten commandments, which are all based themselves in the two greatest commandments (Mark 12:29-31). But Jesus only brought one command for us:

12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15)


When we love and forgive we participate in Christ's redemptive act in the world. It is the only way (John 14:6).



Apologies if this is incoherant...running a fever of 101 at the moment.

luna

 

[Katzpur]

I've been musing about the mechanism of atonement brought by Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. I like the theology I've read (in EO I think, but I believe I've seen Victor uphold this as well) that it was not necessary for Christ to die by crucifixion, that the actual spilling of His blood (as in blood sacrifice) was not a part of atonement. Indeed, it seems to me that the Incarnation, the act of sharing in our suffering (Matt 27:45-49, John 19:28-29) and manifesting a prefect love of self-sacrifice, and then his conquering of death through resurrection, describes the heart of our atonement: we die and are born again in His love.

That’s an interesting thought. Maybe I’m reading more into it than I should, but it sounds quite a bit like LDS doctrine if I’m understanding it correctly. We really don’t see Jesus’ actual crucifixion as the most critical part of His Atonement either. Christ’s crucifixion was not, of course, unique. Crucifixion was the means by which Rome executed most common criminals at that period of time. I don’t know that Christ suffered a great deal more physical pain than either of the two men who were crucified with Him. I believe that He had to die. Had He just been miraculously taken up into Heaven without having had to experience death, the miracle of the resurrection – victory over death – could never have taken place. According to LDS belief, His crucifixion was the culmination of His suffering, but was not the most significant part of His Atonement.

We believe that in Gethsemane, He did not only assume the punishment for our sins, He assumed the guilt as well. He became the guilty party in our place. 2 Corinthians 5:21 states that “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” As He assumed our guilt, we assume His innocence. In other words, we’re not just “guilty but forgiven,” we’re made innocent. We also believe that in Gethsemane, He experienced the sum of human suffering. LDS author and women’s leader, Chieko Okazaki, described it this way:

“We know that on some level Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence in Gethsemane. It’s our faith that he experienced everything – absolutely everything. Sometimes we don’t think through the implications of that belief. We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind, about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don’t experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means Jesus knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer – how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows that moment when the brakes locked, and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. He experienced napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism.”

I know that the crux of your post concerned judging and how it ties into the Atonement. I want to comment on that, too, but I’ve actually been in bed sick all day, too. I don’t want this thread to die, so I wanted to post something on it while I was thinking about it. I’ll come back later and add more.

 

[lunamoth]

That's interesting Kat, thank you for posting it. Outside LDS I don't I've heard of the garden of Gethsemane as being the place where Jesus took our sins upon himslef, but the idea that he suffered exactly as we suffer speaks very deeply to me.

Atonement, at-one-ment. I think this idea of Jesus identifying himself completely with us is the key to understanding grace, and it's not that we need to 'believe' some particular doctrine or say a certain prayer or even be baptized, but the heart of salvation is our reciprocal identification in Christ, He in us and we in Him, and extend that to us to one another. We participate in the love that flows between the Persons of the Trinity. We die and are born again.

Hehe, that probably does not make sense, but then again my fever has not yet gone down much.

Hope you feel better soon.

(Just started reading The Cloud of Unknowing...great little book on the contemplative life. It is not by knowing that we approach God, but by loving.

 

[earl]

As at-one-ment requires surrender of self, to me Jesus' life and death were the very essence of surrender and love/forgiveness unbounded. He merely asked us to walk through that door with him. take care, earl

 

[lunamoth]

As at-one-ment requires surrender of self, to me Jesus' life and death were the very essence of surrender and love/forgiveness unbounded. He merely asked us to walk through that door with him. take care, earl

Well said earl.

 

[Omnichaotic]

Well said! This is pretty much exactly what I believe. Also, Jesus led by example, and showed us how to follow our Heavenly Father. I think, in essence, following Christ is about looking at our life, and seeing how closely it matches Jesus and His life.