A little Good Friday reading

If you’re up for some intellectual heavy-lifting, Mark Dever has a good article at Christianity Today called “Nothing But the Blood”. The article summary says:

“More and more evangelicals believe Christ’s atoning death is merely a grotesque creation of the medieval imagination.” Atonement is the word we use to indicate that Christ’s death paid for our sins - his blood in place of mine.

Dever opposes this view of course, and so do I. But the criticism he outlines in his article makes me wonder if we emphasize enough the other two explanations of the cross in Scripture besides atonement. Namely:

  1. Ransom - “…humanity’s main problem is that we are trapped and oppressed by spiritual forces beyond our control. Christ’s death, then, is seen as a ransom that frees us from captivity.”
  2. God’s love demonstrated - “Christ’s death on the Cross demonstrates God’s love so dramatically that we are convinced of his love and are now able to share it with others.”

In my own preaching, I probably tend to emphasize atonement and the demonstration of God’s love more than ransom. All three are Scriptural.

In listing the problems some people have with atonement theology, Dever hits on a valid concern - that focusing only on Christ’s payment for my sin often leads to a very individual Christianity that is only about personal guilt, ignoring social action. His article is worth reading just to see the other potential problems.

April 14, 2006 · Filed Under Christ, Discipleship

Comments

Leave a Reply