The question is "What did Jesus accomplish, how did He accomplish it, and why did He accomplish it?"

I. MAJOR THEORIES OF THE ATONEMENT

Atonement is used to describe the work of Christ in dealing with the problem posed by the sin of man, and in bringing sinners into right relation with God. 

The need for Atonement is brought about by 

1) the universality of sin; 
2) the seriousness of sin; 
3) man's inability to deal with sin. 

The Work of Atonement begins with God reaching out to man to reconcile man to Himself. This fact is evident in His Son Jesus Christ, not that we love God, but that God loves us! God created man to walk with Him exercising dominion over the earth. Since Adam's fall God has sought man to reveal Himself to them that we might walk with God again and that man would exercise God's judgment over the earth through Jesus Christ, the Righteous Judge.

A. Eastern Church Theories

1. RANSOM:

Mark 10:45; Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 1:3; I Peter 2:24; I John 2:2. The earliest and most significant statement is found in the Epistle to Diognetus which combines the ideas of man's sin as deserving punishment and of God giving His Son as a RANSOM for sin and the covering of our sin by the righteousness of Christ.

Clement of Alexandria saw the death of Christ as a payment of man's debt and as a ransom; but gives more prominence to the idea that Christ as Teacher saves men by endowing them with true knowledge and inspiring them to a life of love and righteousness.

Origen (185-254) saw the death of Jesus as a ransom paid to Satan to satisfy any claims Satan had against man. Origen introduces a new idea, that ultimately Satan was deceived since Jesus was a sinless sacrifice which could not be held by Satan. Origen also saw Christ saving by deifying human nature through the incarnation; by his example of self sacrifice which inspires others to a similar sacrifice; as a giving of His life as an expiation (atonement) of sin; by redeeming men from the power of Satan.

Irenaeus (130-202). "Christ recapitulates, repeats, in himself all the stages of human life, and all the experiences of these stages, including those which belong to our state as sinners". By His incarnation and human life he thus reverses the course on which Adam by his sin started (The History of Christian Doctrines, Berkhof, Page 165). His obedience substituted for Adam's disobedience, and this should effect a transformation in our lives. Irenaeus also held that man was enslaved by the power of darkness and sees redemption partly as deliverance from the power of Satan, though he does NOT look at it as a satisfaction due Satan. The death of Jesus instead satisfied the justice of God and thus liberates man.

Athanasius dismissed the idea of Jesus fulfilling the justice of God (Jesus is man's substitute who paid our debt by enduring the penalty of sin) and developed the idea that the Logos became flesh in order to deify it in order to immortalize it. Athanasius connects salvation more directly with the death and resurrection of Christ and emphasizes the ethical process more than the physical process.

Gregory of Nyssa develops Athanasius even farther proposing that even Satan benefits from this as it results in his own salvation.

The Eastern Church develops two main doctrines on salvation:

1) it is the direct result of the incarnation itself, as a new revelation given to man which communicates a new life to mankind.

2) It is the result of the fulfillment of certain objective conditions such as a sacrifice to God, or of a satisfaction to the divine justice or of a ransom paid to Satan.

The distinctively Western theology begins with Tertullian. He stressed far more than Irenaeus the significance of the death of Christ on the cross, regarding it as the culminating point and the real mission of Christ.

Ambrose interpreted Greek thought to the Western Church and repeats Origen that

1) Christ paid a RANSOM to Satan and practiced deceit on him. He also stresses that

2) the death of Christ was a sacrifice to God and that

3) his sacrifice was a satisfaction of the divine sentence of death pronounced on sinful humanity.

C. Scholastic Theories

1. THE HONOR OF GOD:

Anselm of Canterbury (1093-1109) rejected the Ransom and the Recapitulation theory and the idea that the death of Christ was merely a manifestation of the love of God to man. When Adam refused to submit his will absolutely to the divine will he dishonored God. God was robbed of His honor and this must be restored in some way. Since God cannot overlook sin, there were only two ways that God's honor could be restored: Punishment or Satisfaction. God chose satisfaction which included two things: 1) that man should now render to God the willing obedience which he owed to God; 2) that he should make amends for the insult to God's honor by paying something over and above the actual debt. Since only God could make this payment, His mercy promoted God to give His Son as a gift. Justice required that such a free gift should be rewarded, but the Son of God does not need anything, so the reward goes to the benefit of man in the form of forgiveness of sins and future blessings for those who live according to the commandments of the Gospel.

The defections are many. It does NOT speak of Christ in His sufferings having to endure the penalty of sin (This is where the Roman Catholic idea of penance applied to the word of Christ). It denies the significance of the Life of Christ. It represents the merits of Christ to the sinner as an external transaction with no hint of a real union of Christ and believers.

Abelard (1079-1142). The death of Christ was a suffering with His creatures to manifest God's love; not an expiation, outpouring, for sin. This suffering love should awaken a responsive love in the sinner and bring an ethical change in him. This then liberates us from the power of sin. The forgiveness of sin is the direct result of the love kindled in our hearts, and only indirectly the fruit of the death of Christ.

The Moral Influence theory proceeds on the false principle that love is the central and all-controlling attribute in God, and ignores the demands of His justice and holiness. Moreover it gives no adequate reason for the sufferings of Christ. Furthermore it reduces Christ to a mere moral teacher who influences men by His teachings and by His example.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) followed the ideas of Anselm and Abelard and is generally followed in the Roman Catholic Church. He holds that redemption is NOT absolutely necessary. The passion and death of Christ was not needed, but God chose it because it was in keeping with both His mercy and justice. Aquinas makes the death of Christ dependent simply on the will of God.

Like Anselm the Reformers rejected the Ransom and the Recapitulation Theory but sees the transgression of the Law of God as guilt rather than an insult. The God-man satisfied the demands of the divine justice, not merely by His sufferings and death, but also by obedience to the law in its federal aspect.

The Reformers placed great importance on the mystical union between man and God, but also directed attention to the conscious act of man by which he appropriates the righteousness of Christ - the act of faith.

1. PENAL SUBSTITUTION: Calvin (1509-1564). Christ the sinless One took on Himself the penalty that should have been borne by man and others. This is NOT seen as a debt which had to be paid, but as a substitution of Christ in our place.

EXAMPLE: Socinus (1539-1604). Christ's death did not atone for sin, but revealed faith and obedience as the way to eternal life and inspiring people to lead a similar life. This theory included several heresies already condemned by the Church: Pelagianism with it's belief in the inherent goodness of man; the Adoptionist theory that made Jesus a Son of God ONLY by adoption; the Moral Influence theory; and the doctrine of the arbitrary will of God. Socinus found little favor among the opponents of the Penal Theory.

3. SUBSTITUTIONARY: The Arminians maintained that the death of Christ was a sacrificial offering, but not as a payment for debt, nor as a complete satisfaction of justice. Jesus did not endure what man deserved to endure, but His sacrifice took the place of a penalty and had the effect of reconciling God to man and securing forgiveness of sins. They held that if Christ completely atoned for sin, there is nothing left for divine grace to accomplish; if Christ rendered full satisfaction, God has no right to demand faith and obedience, nor to punish the sinner if he fails to obey, for that would be a double punishment.

4. DRAMATIC: Aulen (1879-1978). Christ in his death gained victory over the powers of evil.

5. BARTHIAN: John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Hebrews 2:9. Barth (1886- 1968). Christ's death was principally a revelation of God's love and hatred of sin.

While there may be some truth in the theories that do not include some form of penal substitution, it is important to remember that such truth does not have the power to save eternally. Only the substitutionary death of Jesus can provide what God's justice demands and thus become the basis for the gift of eternal life to those who believe. Scriptures do not speak of Christ's death in one form only; but in a variety of ways - ransom, substitute, sacrifice, becoming a curse for us. For a complete and accurate picture to be formed we must recognize that Christ's death was sufficient in every area necessary. Christ did not die for God's "honor", but is the culmination of God's search for lost man to redeem mankind to himself. Jesus by His death and resurrection accomplished this end.

II. THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION

The Apostolic Fathers had no clear articulation of salvation except that in order to obtain the blessings of salvation required "repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." Faith was generally seen as the means for receiving the merits of Christ, and not as an abiding in Christ, and often was an intellectual assent to the correct doctrines. Repentance increasingly drifted toward ceremonialism attaching great importance to external manifestations of penitent deeds. The tendency was to stress the necessity of works, especially self-denial, baptism, martyrdom, coordinated with faith to secure divine favor.

The Alexandrian Fathers saw the Word, the Logos of God actively engaged in imparting salvation to men. The Gospel is seen as the New Law and instruction (page 155), to which is added the "mysteries." Water baptism "is a symbol of the purifying power of the Logos, but for the individual it is actual purification" (page 156). Through its administration sins are forgiven. But these Fathers also saw a second baptism, the fire-baptism of martyrdom.

The New Testament offers salvation which is accepted by man in faith. Thus man's free will remains an indisputable fact. God endowed man not with conquest, but with the power of conquest. God offers salvation, but free man apprehends it, and is always himself active in its appropriation.

Origen saw faith as:

1) an act of free will as well as an effect of divine grace;

2) faith is confidence, but it needs to be elevated to knowledge and understanding. Knowledge is the goal;

3) Faith is inconceivable without a corresponding moral conduct;

4) Faith without works is impossible;

5) Faith is sufficient for righteousness, but finds its consummation in works. Forgiveness and happiness depends not only upon faith, but MORE upon an individual's repentance and good works.

A. Predestination

1. Augustine believed in double predestination. Augustine believed that the capacity for fallen man to strive after salvation remained in the mercy and good will of God; this will of God is irresistible. In the decrees of Orange, 530, the Church dismissed both Pelagianism and Semi-pelagianism which espoused the view that salvation is a work of man's will independent of God's work in Christ or God's will (History of Doctrines II, page 382). Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism both rejected the "Doctrine of Original Sin."

The doctrine of the irresistible grace of predestination was gradually supplanted by that of the sacramental grace of baptism. The doctrine of a double predestination was abandoned in 529 by the Roman Catholic Church and not a major issue until brought back by the Reformers.

1) What is the difference between foreknowledge and predestination? (Foreknowledge relates to both the good and the evil, Predestination is the ordaining to salvation.)

The problem predestination raises is, "to what extent does the free will God endowed mankind with effect one's eternal salvation?"

If God created sin, why is He so angry about it?

2. Luther (1517 - Ninety-Five Theses) retraced his steps to Augustine, through to Paul, through to the Biblical tradition to discover faith, righteousness and justification. 

Luther saw salvation depending upon a new relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ rather than on any work which would merit God's favor. Faith is not to assent intellectually to propositions about God, the world, and man but to venture upon a radically new kind of trust-full life. However this salvation was a work accomplished after what we would refer to as being born again which is determined by the will of God and cannot be resisted. Faith is how one lives AFTER being born again, since one cannot through ones total depravity have a believing faith, which is given by God to enable us to live uprightly. This faith to live by is the proof of the believing faith that is granted by God and thus assures one's eternal salvation APART from the works of the flesh, i.e. baptism, communion, indulgences, ceremonial involvement. This belief struck at the very heart of the Roman Catholic penances and basis of the Church to teach correct doctrine whereby men are saved.

3. FORMULA OF CONCORD (Lutheranism) June 25,1580:

Although Luther (1483-1546) was a strict predestinarian, the Formula of Concord, 34 years after Luther, moved the Lutheran Church from predestination to foreknowledge.

As to Original Sin and free will they totally opposed any view which did not acknowledge that man is "utterly corrupted and dead toward good." Man "is worse than a block, because he is rebellious and hostile to the divine will. Thus the ONLY cause of conversion is the Holy Spirit, who through the Word lays upon the heart and works faith; but in such a way that, in the very moment of the beginning of the divine operation within us, the will, impelled by God, engages according TO ITS OWN NATURE in active synergy. "Hence it is said: The man who is of himself absolutely unfree for the doing of good is by the Spirit of God made free, and, in the moment of the effectual touch of the Spirit, the will is able to co-operate actively in the work of renewal" (History of Doctrines II, Seeburg, Page 383, 384).

As to the Descent into Hell, it is said "that the entire person and man descended after the burial into hell, vanquished the devil, and destroyed the power of hell" (History of Doctrines II, Seeburg, Page 388).

As to Predestination it was said that the promise of the Gospel is universal in that it pertains to ALL men; that the call is therefore always sincere; and that the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS operative in the Word as heard. "It is not the divine foreknowledge, but the human will, which is to blame if the word does not attain its end." There is therefore an "active predestination": the active will of God that ALL men who believe on Jesus Christ shall be saved. The certainty of our salvation comes because we know God's will to save ALL men.

4. COUNCIL OF DORT (Calvinism) 1618-1619:

? Calvinism faced a conflict with the Arminians. The Arminians held that "God determined, before the foundation of the world, to save through Christ those of the fallen human race who should believe on him. Man does not by the power of his free will attain saving faith, but he is born and renewed to such faith by Christ through his Holy Spirit. As the beginning, so also the progress and completion of good in man, is dependent upon grace, but grace does not work irresistibly. Those who have received the Spirit and faith are able, through the assistance of grace, to struggle against all temptations and come off victorious" (The History of Doctrines, Seeburg; page 422).

The Arminians are branded as heretics and Predestination is raised to a dogma. Predestination is summed up as "The fact that only some of the race of sinful men come to faith must be attributed to the eternal counsel of God. God elected a definite number of men in Christ to salvation, whilst in his justice leaving the others to perdition. But the election is realized in the mission of Christ, the effectual call, the bestowal of faith, justification, sanctification, and glorification. Hence man is assured of his election by its infallible fruits. Faith, the fear of God, sorrow for sin, hunger and thirst after righteousness, constitute thus the basis of our recognition of predestination..." (History of Doctrines II, Seeburg; page 422).

"The certainty of the salvation of the elect is secured finally by the Perseverance of the Saints" (History of Doctrines II; page 423).

Predestination becomes dogma and its opponents are defeated.

"Predestination was once a support for the assurance of salvation; now it has itself been made the fundamental conception. The course was once from below upward, i.e., from justification to predestination; now it is from above downward, i.e., from predestination to justification" (History of Doctrines II; page 424).

5. The Rise of Free Will:

Over the course of time free will gained influence and the doctrine of predestination was largely abandoned, except by the Calvinists. The popular theories of salvation began with the Anabaptist and Pietistic beliefs which affirmed the Reformation through Lutheranism. Arminianism was banned by the Calvinists, but kept resurfacing in their salvation theology of man's free will.

With the development of the Covenant Theology in America which saw God acting with humans through Covenantal relationships and the ability of man to enjoy or refuse such a relationship, man was seen as an active participant in the designs of God instead of a block of stone or wood on which God acted.

Covenantal Theology stresses that God offers the seed of faith through His Word, but humans need to cultivate the seed. That Atonement belongs to those who are members of the Covenant. That God makes the first move, but humans must act to receive God's gift. That grace seems to be irresistible, but humans must act or the grace of God will not avail. 

1) What do these ideas say about God? 

2) What do these ideas say about us? 

B. Doctrine of Salvation: 

The Doctrine of Salvation in the early Church has been returned to which is "repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." 

1. SALVATION IS: The Greek word "Soteria" denotes deliverance, preservation, salvation. Salvation is used in the New Testament: 

a. of material and temporal deliverance from danger and apprehension; 

b. of the spiritual and eternal deliverance granted immediately by God to those who accept His conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus; 

c. of the present experience of God's power to deliver from the bondage of sin; 

d. of the future deliverance of believers at the Parousia of Christ for His saints (which also assures them of being delivered from the wrath of God destined to be executed upon the ungodly at the end of this age); 

e. the deliverance of the nation Israel at the Second Advent of Christ; 

f. inclusively, to sum up all the blessings bestowed by God on men in Christ through the Holy Spirit. (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words). 

2. REPENTANCE Jesus said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). REPENTANCE: 

a. IS NOT REFORMATION: Morality is not repentance, for repentance is an inward act of the heart and mind. Repentance is NOT doing something, for you cannot be saved by any work. A man can turn away from "sinning" and still not be saved. 

b. IS NOT CONTRITION: It is NOT the agony of the soul for sin. Many people in jail are sorry, not because of their crime, but because they got caught. Genuine repentance includes sorrow for your sin. Just being sorry is not repentance, but it can lead to repentance. 

c. IT IS NOT PENANCE: Penance is an expression of sorrow by some act (maybe a feat of daring, prayer, act of service, etc.) that is done to pay for sin. A punishment that will secure your freedom of guilt or at least clear your conscience. 

d. IT IS A CHANGE OF MIND: The literal meaning of the word repentance is "afterthought" or "reconsideration". A "change of mind" does not mean a "change of opinion"; but a substitution of a new mind for the old; new in character. True repentance is a change of mind which LEADS to a CHANGE IN ACTION, but we understand that it is possible to change your actions without changing your mind. Matthew 21:28-29 is a good example of repentance. In order for repentance to be real, there is a change of mind about many things: sin, self, God, the Lord Jesus Christ, self judgment.

 3. THE MANIFESTATION OF REPENTANCE IS: 

a. CHANGE IN INTELLECT OR THOUGHT OR ATTITUDES;

b. CHANGE IN FEELINGS; 

c. CHANGE OF WILL; 

d. CHANGE OF ACTION. 

4. THE CONDITIONS OF REPENTANCE ARE: 

a. THE GOODNESS OF GOD, Romans 2:4; 

b. THE GOSPEL OF GOD, Acts 2:37,38,41;

c. SCRIPTURAL TEACHING, II Timothy 2:24-25; 

d. CHASTISEMENT OF THE WORD, Revelation 2:16. 

5. THE ROLE OF FAITH: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17). TRUE FAITH IS COMPOSED OF THE FOLLOWING: 

a. KNOWLEDGE: Romans 10:17. Faith comes by hearing the Word. You do not pray for faith. Faith is increased by hearing the Word of God. 

b. BELIEF: People can know that a Saviour exists by the name of Jesus, and believe that He can save and then do nothing. That is not faith. Belief must be mixed with Trust. 

c. TRUST: trust is exercised by the action of believing. 

d. RECUMBENCY: a total reliance upon Christ, resting on Christ. 

6. WHO GIVES FAITH: 

a. God the Father, Romans 12:3 (God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith); 

b. God the Son, Hebrews 12:2 (Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith); 

c. God the Holy Spirit, I Corinthians 12:8-9 (For to one is given by the Spirit...faith). THE END OF FAITH IS SALVATION (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

7. REGENERATION, TO BE BORN AGAIN: 

Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3); and again "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6)! You cannot dress the flesh up! God is the Father of spirits! The new birth is not a theoretical fancy. The new birth is real! It is to be changed from darkness into light; from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of God; removed from temporal existence into an eternal existence; to be rescued from the power and kingdom of Satan and ushered into the eternal life as only God has. To be Born again is to become a partaker right now of the kingdom of God in its entirety.