HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT #5

THE DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT

There are many different views of the Atonement and what it means to the unredeemed man. After reading the various views, it is beginning to be obvious to me why the views are varied and some are irrelevant because they neglect to ask or answer the following important questions:

1. What is God's goal in history and creation, specifically what is God's goal for unredeemed man?
2. What is the view of the post-Apostolic writers or at least the early part of the ante-Nicene fathers?

The answer to the first question is crucial because it is the Atonement that makes the divine goal realized. After scoping the whole Bible and then asking, "What's the point of all these activities and events", it is clear that GOD SIMPLY WANTS TO BUILD HIS KINGDOM BY CREATING A PEOPLE OF FAITH THAT WOULD LOVE HIM BACK THE SAME WAY HE LOVES THEM, AND IN LOVING HIM WOULD SEEK TO PLEASE ONLY GOD AND NOT THEMSELVES. 

The narrative of the whole Bible is consistent with these proposition. In fact, Christ himself culminates this concept explicitly and loudly (by the many  times it  occurs in the gospels) by proclaiming an open invitation into the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of heaven, that in order to follow Him, one "must renounce himself, take up his cross daily" and then come follow Him (See Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; Matt 10:38; Luke 14:27) and that one "must be born-again" by being "born of water and the Spirit" to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:3,5). It is important to note that God's goal REQUIRES THE ACTIVE AND COMMITTED COOPERATION of man. Man is not a passive observer in this process. Furthermore, such a goal is divinely motivated, NOT by justice but by pure love bursting forth from the divine source and yearning to be generously and abundantly shared with creation.

The answer to the second question gravitates around the concept of reconciliation of man with God. Biblically, forgiveness has very little to do with this reconciliation (because forgiveness is the first benefit of reconciliation anyway). Man fell because they not only disobeyed God but desired to be able to define good and evil on their own terms instead of God's. This is active rebellion against God, in fact, the same sin that Lucifer committed which made God throw him and his minions out of heaven and renamed him Satan.  Similar to Satan, Adam and Eve where thrown out of Eden; and because they no longer had access to the Tree of Life, death became a reality and the original Image of God in man was tarnished and corrupted giving the now self-centered man the propensity to sin and displease God further. 

Because God cursed creation represented by the serpent and the ground, man was now tasked not only with the administration of creation but even the laborious planting of seed and tedious nurturing of livestock just to survive; and childbirth came with intense pain. And this is NOT justice (as some would teach) but the manifestation of God's great love of man. Because of such love, He wanted to show man the futility of living away from the Giver of Life, and involving suffering and pain to man detest life itself, in order to coax man out of such futile existence and turn back to God.

The early fathers like Irenaeus of Lyon (disciple of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who was a disciple of the Apostle, St. John) VIEWED THE ATONEMENT AS ACT OF RECONCILIATION THROUGH CHRIST TO RANSOM AND DELIVER MAN FROM THE CURSE OF DEATH BY CONQUERING IT AS MAN (HUMAN BEING) AND RESTORE THE CORRUPTED IMAGE OF GOD INTO ITS ORIGINAL DESIGN HAVING THE NATURAL "RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD BY FAITH" THROUGH THE RESURRECTION POWER (OR TRANSFORMING POWER) OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  In both results of reconciliation, man is required to actively cooperate with God in each part of the process.

To be delivered from the curse of death, Man is required to join to Christ or cling to Christ in his death and burial. Joining or clinging means being one with Christ or united with Christ (in water baptism) in order to rise with Christ in resurrection power (by the baptism of the Spirit) and to be united with His body (the Church) by continuously uniting with Christ by continuously feeding on the flesh of Christ and drinking of the blood of Christ through the celebration of the Eucharist with fellow like-minded believers.

To restore the image of God, each man has to continuously cling to Christ as the depicted by the vine and branches in John 15. With the flesh, dead, the Holy Spirit has total freedom to fill the believer with "righteousness and joy and peace" thereby maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the Church.

In conclusion, as a result of the atonement, only a true believer and one who is truly saved can say as St. Paul claimed in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

EPILOGUE

As far as the other versions of the Atonement like Christus Victor and Penal Substitution, they fail to be consistent with the above two requirements proposed. Christus Victor does not emphasize the necessary requirement of clinging to Christ or being united with Him. Penal Substitution is normally presented with man having NOTHING TO DO with the process but receive forgiveness (and most versions erroneously include "once and for all"). Both of them have very little relevance to the Kingdom of God and "the narrow gate" that leads to eternal life.