Why Is Atonement Is Wrong

First, I affirm and concur that Jesus was sent to show us a better way. Especially, one of love and, I might add, mercy. That said, a common pitfall that we—myself included—seemingly rush into when it comes to theology is we quickly choose our side, assume we are right, and begin declaring others as wrong. The atonement is one of those areas that has been hotly debated throughout the history of the Church. Origen, essentially, declared that the atonement was like a ransom. Satan had kidnapped humanity and taken ownership of them. As such, Jesus had to pay a ransom to the kidnapper get them back. Similarly, the view espoused by Martin Luther, ostensibly held by many pre-Enlightenment, and presently held by many Protestants is the view of Christus

We will address the nation of divine child abuse in a moment. Lastly, more in alignment with your thoughts, the French philosopher, Peter Abelard argued that humanity did not know how to live, and so Christ came down as the perfect human to be an example reflecting the depth and breadth God’s love and in essence providing humanity with a new model—an example—of how to live. These are a few of the more prominent views of the atonement, but which one is

Logically, we cannot say we want love without justice, nor do we want justice without love. Similarly, without justice there is no mercy, for what would we be forgiven? As such, although some views might seem “harsh,” they—I would argue—bring to light the glorious multi-faceted reality of the atonement. God was not merely accomplishing one thing but many. Together they bring the fullness and fruitfulness of the atonement to light. For example, God in Christ satisfies himself through substitution and propitiation of Christ (Gal. 3:13; II Cor. 5:14-15, 21; Rom. 5:17-19; Heb. 7:26-28; 9:11-14,25-10:10,12-14), provides us an example to imitate (Phil. 2:1-5; I Pet. 2:21), and frees us from bondage of the kingdom of darkness—Satan and sin (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13), triumphing over evil (Col. 2:15). These passages of Holy Scripture affirm that an adequate understanding of the atonement requires all the facets for the beauty and richness of its reality to shine. May we not box in God where he does not explicitly box in himself. Rather, being pressured to limit ourselves to a single facet, why not live in the realm of the multi-faceted mystery of the atonement enacted by the love of