A short overview of the Atonement

1. Topics in Systematic Theology
Atonement

2. The Atonement
1. Definition
2. Different Theories on the Atonement
3. Penal Substitution Theory

3. 1.Definition
“In Christian thought, the act by which God and man are brought
together in personal relationship. The term is derived from Anglo-Saxon
words meaning “making at one,” hence “at-one-ment.” It presupposes a
separation or alienation that needs to be overcome if human beings are to
know God and have fellowship with him. As a term expressing relationship,
atonement is tied closely to such terms as reconciliation and forgiveness.”
Elwell, Walter A. ; Comfort, Philip Wesley: Tyndale Bible Dictionary.
Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2001 (Tyndale Reference Library),
S. 129
In a word, it is reconciliation.

4. 2. Different Theories on the Atonement
1. The Classic or Ransom Theory
2. Satisfaction or Juridical Theory
3. Moral Influence Theory
4. Government or Rectoral Theory
5. Universal Reconciliation Theory

5. 3. Penal Substitution Theory
1. “The words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” express “The punitive
separation Christ accepted in our place, ‘having become a curse for us’ (Gal 3:13)”
-Demarest, in The Cross and Salvation, 171
2. “Isaiah reiterated the big idea of substitution throughout the fifty-third chapter
of his prophecy. Thus in v. 6, “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
-Demarest, in The Cross and Salvation, 172
3. “Employing the suffering Servant motif of Isaiah 53, Oeter upheld Christ’s
substitutionary sacrifice by writing, “He himself bore our sins in His body on the
tree” and “by His wounds you have been healed.”
-Demarest, in The Cross and Salvation, 175

6. 3. Penal Substitution
“The view of Christ’s death presented here has frequently been called the theory of “penal
substitution.” Christ’s death was “penal” in that He bore a penalty when he died. His death was
also a “substitution” in that he was a substitute for us when He died. This has been the orthodox
understanding of the atonment held by evangelical theologians, in contrast to other views that
attempt to explain the atonement apart from the idea of the wrath of God or payment of the
penalty for sin.” - Grudem, in Systematic Theology, 579
Christ’s death met our need:
1. We deserve to die as the penalty for sin. (sacrifice)
2. We deserve to bear God’s wrath against sin. (propitiation)
3. We are separated from God by our sins. (reconciliation)
4. We are in bondage to sin and to the kingdom of Satan. (redemption)
-Grudem, ST, 580