What is your theory of the atonement?

On this Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, let's take some time to reflect.

What did Jesus do for us?

His death on the cross was an atonement. He saves.

The atonement of Christ is complex and cosmic.

The atonement of Christ reconciles. The atonement of Christ justifies. The atonement of Christ restores. The atonement of Christ redeems. The atonement of Chris propitiates. The atonement of Christ make both adoption and union with God possible.

Bible scholars have for a long, long time debated about what the correct theory of the atonement might be.

But I believe that if you take any one theory and make it your only theory, then you miss the beauty and the glory and the majesty of the atonement. The passion of the Christ – the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus – (because He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God) has ultimate meaning and infinite implications.

The atonement of Jesus is an example for us of sacrificial love. The atonement of Christ has accomplished victory over evil, Satan, and death – a victory that we have foretastes of now and will enjoy completely in the life to come. The atonement means that Jesus died as our substitute, taking upon Himself the wrath of God, sacrificing Himself in our place, bearing our sin as the Lamb of God.

“The atonement is vast and deep… There is nothing quite like it… The plight of sinful man is disastrous… [We are] lost… perishing… and more… An atonement that rectifies all this must be necessarily complex. So we need all the vivid concepts: redemption, propitiation, justification, and all the rest. And we need all the theories. Each draws attention to an important aspect of our salvation and we dare not surrender any. We are small-minded sinners and the atonement is great and vast. We should not expect that our theories will ever explain it fully. Even when we put them all together, we will no more than begin to comprehend a little of the vastness of God’s saving deed.” (Leon Morris, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Theories of the Atonement, p. 102).

A very many, many, many things happened as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus. I think heaven will be a place where more and more understandings of the cosmic implications of the cross will take place on and on and on into eternity.

So, today - between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday - take some time to reflect and worship and praise the One who lived and died and rose again so that you might have new life and have it abundantly.