It may surprise you but I am not alluding to a poll of the most unlikely things for politicans to say.
Instead it comes from my musings on atonement models - i.e. different pictures we use to explain what Jesus achieved on the cross.
Over the past few years, even among evangelicals, PSA (Penal Subsititionary Atonement) - the view that Jesus suffered God's righteous punishment in the place of sinners - has taken a bit of a beating. This debate was at its zenith in the UK about 3 years ago and centred around a book written by a Baptist called Steve Chalke.
Anyway, I have followed the arguments closely over the past few years and here are a couple of comments:
1. While it is crucial to demonstrate how faithful to scripture any model is, I'm not sure that proof-texting is very constructive in this particular discussion. By definition any model will involve reading back into the text an abstract system as much as reading it out from the text. Of course there must be a place for careful exegesis (which IMO demonstrates just how biblical PSA is) but trading verses doesn't gain much ground at the popular level.
2. One key issue is responsibility. PSA is the
only atonement model that makes sinners completely culpable for their sin. The model gaining ground in popularity is known as
Christus Victor and can be found in passages like Colossians 2: 15. Here Jesus is portrayed as a mighty warrior who defeats the enemy of the devil for us, who cures the disease of sin. Now all of this is biblical and quite appropriate as just one model among other biblical pictures.
However, what happens when we put CV front and centre? What happens to our accountability? Sin is the fault of the devil, it is the sad consequence of the sickness I have. But what about me? When it comes to sin the bible teaches us that
it's all my fault. No one made me do it. Romans 6 and 7 do teach us that we are slaves to our sinful nature, but Paul still holds us fully responsible for our actions.
Any view of the atonement needs to put together all of scripture's teaching on the subject. And that is precisely why I think it is so important that we hold onto PSA, along with the other biblical metaphors. It is when we see that God holds us accountable in Christ on the cross, that sin and its power can really be dealt with. Sin is a disease, but I am responsible. Rather like anybody under the age of 40 who gets lung cancer from smoking. Ignorance cannot be claimed as an excuse. Sin. It's all my fault, I'm blaming no one else.
