Atonement
Christ's work reconciles sinners to God.
This doctrine defines Christian orthodoxy. Denial places one outside the historic faith.
What the traditions say
Christ's sacrifice is the perfect satisfaction for sin. The Mass re-presents (not repeats) this sacrifice. Aquinas developed a comprehensive satisfaction theory.
Christ's death is a substitutionary sacrifice that satisfies God's wrath. The theology of the cross reveals God's saving work in apparent defeat.
Multiple models coexisted: ransom (Origen, Gregory of Nyssa), recapitulation (Irenaeus), Christus Victor. No single theory was dogmatized.
Penal substitutionary atonement is central: Christ bore the penalty of sin in the place of the elect. God's justice and mercy meet at the cross.
Orthodoxy prefers Christus Victor and therapeutic models over penal substitution. Christ conquers death and the devil; salvation is healing, not primarily legal acquittal.
Who binds this (creedal)
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- 1John 2:2 — And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
- 1Pet 2:24 — Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
- 2Cor 5:21 — 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.
- Eph 1:7 — In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
- Gal 3:13 — Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
- Heb 9:22 — And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
- Isa 53:5 — But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
- Isa 53:6 — All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- John 1:29 — The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
- John 3:16 — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
- Matt 26:28 — For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
- Rev 1:5 — And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
- Rom 3:23 — For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
- Rom 3:25 — Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
- Rom 5:8 — But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
- Rom 6:23 — For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Belgic Confession Art21 — The Atonement
- Reformed Westminster Confession of Faith 11.3 — Of Justification
- Reformed Baptist 1689 London Baptist Confession 11.3 — Of Justification
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession Article 4 — Of Justification
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 15 — Of Christ alone without Sin
- Roman Catholic Council of Trent (Canons) On Justification · Canon 7 — On Justification
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, "who bore our sins in His own body on the tree," "who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer for His…
Then I replied, "Just as God commanded the sign to be made by the brazen serpent, and yet He is blameless; even so, though a curse lies in the law against persons who are crucified, yet no curse lies on the Christ of God, by whom all that have committed things worthy of a curse are saved. For the whole human race will be found to be…
First of all, the Scripture about the Hebrew Exodus has been read and the words of the mystery have been explained as to how the sheep was sacrificed and the people were saved. Therefore, understand this, O beloved: The mystery of the passover is new and old, eternal and temporal, corruptible and incorruptible, mortal and immortal...…
It was for this reason, too, that the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent there also, and [declaring] the remission of sins received by those who believe in Him. Now all those believed in Him who had hope towards Him, that is, those who proclaimed His advent, and submitted to His dispensations, the…
We must, then, as is fit, in investigating the nature of the body and the essence of the soul, apprehend the end of each, and not regard death as an evil. "For when ye were the servants of sin," says the apostle, "ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things in which ye are now ashamed? For the end of those…
Concerning the last step, plainly, of His passion you raise a doubt; affirming that the passion of the cross was not predicted with reference to Christ, and urging, besides, that it is not credible that God should have exposed His own Son to that kind of death; because Himself said, "Cursed is every one who shall have hung on a tree."…