Atonement

Sometimes it is worth thinking through a problem for yourself, even if it has been solved before – and whether or not you get the right answer. Let me start with a proposition, which will become clearer as I progress:

Our problem is threefold: 1. Debt; 2. Guilt; and 3. Corruption.
The solution must then also be threefold: 1. Credit; 2. Merit; and 3. Character.

These ideas are presented in Colossians 2:13-14, although in reverse order: "He made you alive^3. together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions^2. and having canceled out the certificate of debt^1. consisting of decrees against us.

In the Old Testament God solved our first problem (debt) through the institution of a system of sacrifices. He decreed, as was his right, that the debt acquired through an act of sin could be paid through the credit acquired by making a sacrifice for it. "The priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven" (Leviticus 4:35). But it was recognized even in Old Testament times that this was not enough. "Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.... The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God" (Psalm 50:8, 23).

Thus God gave the promise of a solution to the second problem: a ransom. "If a ransom is imposed on him, than he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him" (Exodus 21:30). The guilt or stain remaining after all debts have been paid can be covered by a ransom or hostage – someone who is willing to give his life in surety for the good faith of the perpetrator. Yet it was plain that "no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice" (Psalm 49:7-8). Thus faith was required that "God will ransom my soul" (v. 15), although the means was not clear until Christ's death. "The Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

But one problem remains: "You shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death" (Numbers 35:31). A ransom can only guarantee the outward behavior of the sinner, not the inward behavior of his heart. Suppose that a murderer could apparently reform his attitude and even miraculously raise his victim from the dead — would he then be given liberty by the law? No, he would not, not before he had paid for his crime. How then can God, who looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), approach one whose "heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9)?

Look at it from the other side. It is said (see Cur Deus Homo, by Anselm of Canterbury) that Jesus had to be fully God, in order to be a worthy ransom, and fully man, in order to receive our punishment (Hebrews 9:14 and 2:14). As God, Jesus had the authority and will to become man and live in full accord with God's law (John 10:18). As man, He had the responsibility and ability to pay for any wrongs committed (Hebrew 9:22). The question is, 'How could God have the right and power to punish Him for the sins of others?'. Not, 'How could He bear all our sins?', but, 'How could He bear any one of our sins?'. Granted that 1. the law allows the free to pay the debt of the slave, and given that 2. justice permits an innocent to accept punishment for the guilt of another, how could 3. any such sacrifice cleanse the corruption from the sinner?

A murder cannot be ransomed because the law cannot correct the heart. Is there any way that justice could transfer the status of one to another – any way that one could be so identified with another as to allow the character of one to be shared with the other? It seems to me that the relationship of a father and a child is the only thing that comes close. If a son willfully kills a fellow person, although ignorant of the consequences, the father will be required not only to pay the debt of the son (to the family of the deceased) and to cover his guilt (perhaps by reform school), but to labor under the bad repute deserved by his son. He will (probably fairly) be considered the source and cause of the youth's corruption.

Does this make sense? How could a perfect God become responsible for the failures of His creatures? He claims the position of Father, offering us the position of the prodigal son. But what a relationship that must be – far beyond that of earthly father and son! Christ must become the spiritual and legal head of all believers, in some fundamental sense. And what a weight God must account to human relationships! As God described Himself as He passed by Moses on the mountain: "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation" (Exodus 34:6-7).

This hereditary transfer of culpability and responsibility had previously bothered me, but now I find comfort in it, as I recognize this as the gracious means whereby God has ordained to redeem His people. When we accept God as our Father, Jesus takes full responsibility for our behavior, and in our adoption imbues us with new natures. Thus, with Christ dies our corruption, inherited from our other fathers, and we receive His perfect character, outwardly and (eventually) inwardly. In this way earthly parents can take responsibility for their children's faith and baptize them in infancy before these children are able to decide for themselves. As their legal and spiritual head, they have authority over them even in this. But I suspect I should reserve an entire post for this subject.

As James Boice puts it, "The representative nature of Adam’s sin is an example of God’s grace toward us, for it is on the basis of that representation that God is able to save us. Paul says, "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s [Jesus'] obedience many will be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19). Because we are beings who live in relationships and because God has chosen to deal with us in that way, both in regard to Adam and his sin and to Jesus and his righteousness, there can be salvation" (Foundation of the Christian Faith II.1.2). If we were not condemned with Adam, we could not be restored with him, and my heart assures me that my sin alone is more than enough to weigh me down to Hell! Thanks be to God for his gracious plan, which covers our debt, guilt, AND corruption in Christ Jesus.