The Atonement: PSA vs Christus Victor

 The fundamental question here is, what specifically happened when Jesus was crucified that led to an atonement of the sins of the world?  The term atonement refers to a restoration of humanity with God.  The reparation of an injury.  In some way, Jesus work on the cross restored the relationship between God and humanity that suffered an injury when humanity was driven out of the Garden of Eden.

PSA refers to penal substitutionary atonement.  The penal substitutionary view of the atonement states that: Jesus Christ died on the cross as a sin substitute, receiving the wrath of God for His people. Looking more closely, the theory asserts that humanity is suffering a penalty, a penalty as a result of the sin of disobedience in the Garden.  The penalty or punishment for that sin is death.  It is substitutionary in that Jesus suffered death as a substitute for humanity.  He took on the penalty for our sin as a substitute for us.  Therefore, God's demand for justice is satisfied, his wrath has been appeased, and humanity is able to return to a state of fellowship with God.  

WL Craig says: Penal substitution in a theological context may be defined as the doctrine that God inflicted upon Christ the suffering which we deserved as the punishment for our sins as a result of which we no longer deserve punishment.  Notice that this explication leaves open the question of whether Christ was punished for our sins.

One of the deep philosophical underpinnings of PSA is its role in the Augustinian theological argument:

• Because of the Original Sin of disobedience in the Garden,
  
• man is under the Curse of Sin that corrupts him
  
• leading to the Inherited Guilt of all mankind, and 
• incurring the Just Wrath of God, 
• which demands the Penalty of Death that must be satisfied.  
• Because of God's Perfect Justice, 
• He cannot simply Forgive Sin.
• but instead is required to accept the Punishment of the Innocent Son
• as a Substitutionary Atonement.

 

    Here is an attempt at constructing a Restoration model:

• God created Humanity with moral free will and a range of independent thought and action that is unlike any of his other creations.
• Humanity disobeyed God in the Garden, choosing to seek a pathway apart from God
• God allowed Man to pursue their own understanding of Good and Evil. This continually results in failure.
• Because of Mankind's sheltered, perfect existence in fellowship with God, they did not understand the true difficulty in living in an unsheltered, chaotic world.  There exist physical challenges and moral temptations that humanity is not prepared to deal with.
  
• Each new birth of mankind is given that same opportunity and each one ends in sinfulness.
• Sin is corrupting and leads to greater wickedness.  Because mankind proves to ultimately be sinful, it also leads to greater corruption and eventual depravity.
  
• God's divine perfect knowledge knows that man will ultimately result in failure and that Mankind's only hope is to return to a fellowship with God.  This is what he ultimately seeks.
• Because humanity chose to turn away from God as an exercise of their free will, they can only return to God by a similar exercise of free will.  God cannot force or predetermine that humanity will ultimately return to him and also maintain that free will.
• But because of the corrupting effects of sin, humanity cannot simply return to God on their own.  They will never achieve the moral perfection necessary to enter into God's presence on their own.
• However, God can prepare a way to cleanse humanity of the corrupting affects of sin, which damages their moral compass and leaves them in a state of depravity.
• God the Son, Jesus, prepared that pathway that leads back to God by providing a Sanctifying light in the darkness that humanity created.  Christ's light, once accepted, purifies us from the depravity of sin. 
• Christ provided a sanctifying Light to all aspects of human existence, from birth, life on earth, death, and resurrection.
  
• In order to facilitate that pathway, God reaches out to humanity and draws them unto himself.  He does this through:
• a general call to return to the Creator through his witness in creation
• Working directly with his chosen people, the nation of Israel, to provide an example for us to follow.  That example is documented in the Old Testament.
  
• Sending the Son to earth as a man to preach the gospel and to provide a moral example of a perfect life.
  
• Sending the Spirit to inspire the authors of the Bible to convey the call in its teaching.
• Christ's atonement on the cross provides victory over the corrupting power of sin
• Christ provides a pathway to light.  Light provides purification if we walk in it. Sin is darkness and leads to destruction, but Jesus uses his sacrifice to purify us from that darkness and lead us back into the light.  Accepting Jesus and being "in him" provides annointing with teaches us, which gives us knowledge about how to live a more righteous life.  Jesus cleanses us from unrighteousness and causes us to life a more righteous life.
  

 

One of the key verses that seems to support PSA is found in Isaiah's suffering servant passages.

Isaiah 53: 4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

12 For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

1 Peter 2:24: ""He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed."

There are, however, other Atonement models that present an alternative to PSA.  These are other models of what Christ accomplished on our behalf.  One is the Christus Victor model, which emphasizes Christ's victory over sin and death.  "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ."  This takes the emphasis off of punishment, and instead focuses on Jesus removing mortality and separation by conquering the power of death. 

Moral Exemplar model:  Jesus' sacrifice shows Gods love for us and beckons us to return to Him and imitate God's love.  Christ's sacrifice is not so much about paying a penalty as setting an example.

Christus Victor

Christ the purifier.  Jesus' life, death, and resurrection brings light into a corrupted place, wherever he passes.  Jesus reclaims each of these modes from corruption, including everyday living, the afterlife, and reconciliation with God.  By moving through this pathway, Jesus reverses and purifies the uncleanness that curses a rebellious humanity.

1 John 1:5.  This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:1.  But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.  

12. I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins have been forgiven
because of Jesus’ name.

I am writing to you, young men,
because you have had victory over the evil one. 

20.  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. 

27. The anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as He has taught you, remain in Him.

1 John 3:2 We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. ³ And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.  

 1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 

9. God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  

1 John 5:4. Whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. ⁵ And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

In the Greek a different form of the same root is used for both victory and overcome. The first refers to an individual experience in the past, a victory won. It is this conquest that enables ongoing victory over the world. The world is the world of darkness, antagonistic to the children of God. In his death on the cross, Jesus entered into mortal combat with the powers of darkness and overcame them in his death. When by faith we appropriate the benefits of his atoning work, we enter into the power by which he gained this victory and thus in him we have (and do) overcome the world (v.4). It is the finished victory at the cross (past tense) that is the source of the present victory available to persons of faith: “To believe that Jesus has been victorious is to have the power that enables us to win the battle, for we know that our foe is already defeated and therefore powerless” (Marshall, 229). This focus on the victory of the Son as the source of the believer’s life leads to a comment on the Son and the witnesses to his validity.

 

God partners with Elijah to raise the widow's son from the dead, just as Jesus raises the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader.  This shows that God can create life out of death.

 Just as God brought life and blessing out of darkness in the beginning, so here, through Jesus, God reverses death by raising Jesus.  This is the second Creation of the second Adam.  So that the blessing of God's Life, can spread out once again.