Atonement - Part 2

In Part 1 of this blog, we looked at the common view of the atonement that is widely held in evangelical circles today. In Part 2, we look at a different point of view -- a view that was held by the church for the first thousand years of its existence.


The Christus Victor View of the Atonement

The early church had a view of the atonement that has come to be known as the Christus Victor view: Christ died and rose again to defeat Satan and to free us from his kingdom of darkness and death. As the writer of Hebrews explains, God became a man so that “… through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, …” (Hebrews 2:14). I find it fascinating that Satan holds the power of death. Satan loves death (John 8:44) while, in contrast, God takes no delight in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11).

Scripture teaches that Satan rebelled against God long ago and is engaged in a war with God that continues to this day (Revelation 12:13-17). Adam and Eve were created to have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28) but they were warned that they would “surely die” (Genesis 2:17) if they ate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When I put Genesis 2 and Hebrews 2 together, the obvious implication is that eating from the forbidden tree put Adam and Eve under Satan’s dominion and control – under the control of the kingdom of death.

Imagine that you are caught committing a murder in a country that has a mandatory death penalty for murder. You become subject to all the rules and regulations and authority of that country’s legal system. By committing the murder, you will “surely die” because you have now become subject to a system that demands your death and even delights in your death.

I believe this is what Adam and Eve did – they gave Satan authority over their lives and over God’s creation. All of us have been born into this world where the Devil now has a large measure of control – a situation we have made worse by failing to follow God ourselves (John 8:34).

All of the New Testament affirms this picture of the world as a kingdom that is ruled by Satan. John tells us that "the whole world lies under the power of the Evil One" (I John 5:19). Paul calls Satan the “god of this world” (II Corinthians 4:4). On three different occasions, Jesus refers to Satan as the “prince of this present age” (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). The word “prince” always denoted the highest ruling official in a city or region. Thus, Jesus is affirming the idea that Satan is the ruler of this world. Also, recall what Satan himself says to Jesus in the wilderness temptation. In exchange for Jesus’ worship of him, the Devil offers to hand over dominion to all the kingdoms of the earth because “it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” (Luke 4:6). Jesus does not dispute Satan’s claim to have dominion over all the earth – a dominion that he seems to have obtained at the Fall described in Genesis 3.

Jesus, unlike Adam and Eve, resisted this demonic temptation. He was on a mission to reclaim the world from Satan’s domination. As John tells us, Jesus “… came to destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8). Paul informs us that Christ, by his death and resurrection, “disarmed the rulers and authorities” – a reference to demonic powers (Colossians 2:15). The original messianic prophecy was that Satan would strike the heel of someone born of the woman but that same someone would crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15). This is fulfilled since it is the demonic powers that got Jesus crucified (I Corinthians 2:8, Luke 22:3) and yet his resurrection ended up being their defeat (Colossians 2:15).

This theme of the defeat of demonic powers is played out first in Jesus own life. Satan is after Jesus from day one. The Devil causes Herod to order the slaughter of all baby boys under two years old in an attempt to kill the Messiah (Revelation 12:4). Immediately after his baptism and the beginning of his public ministry, Satan comes to tempt Jesus (Luke 4:1, Matthew 4:1). The Pharisees and the Sadducees are children of the devil (John 8:44) and thus all of Christ’s encounters with these misguided people are battles with demonic forces. Tragically, Satan even attacks Jesus through his own friends – Peter’s denial and Judas betrayal being two prominent episodes prompted by Satan’s influence.

But Jesus does not succumb to any of these attacks. In fact, he shows that he has power and authority over demonic forces. He demonstrates authority over foul spirits by regularly exorcising demons as part of his healing ministry. After demonstrating this for quite a while himself, he sends his disciples out to do the same and he does this on more than one occasion (Luke 9:1, Luke 10:1). When they return and report “that even the demons are subject to us in your name”, Jesus is ecstatic as he reports that “he saw Satan fall like lightening.” Jesus and his disciples are taking authority over the god of this world and beginning to reclaim lost territory. This is so prominent a part of the gospel story that Paul later summarizes the life of Christ this way: “He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil.” (Acts 20:28)

Jesus had a very interesting encounter with some Scribes and Pharisees one day. It is recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 11). Jesus healed a demon possessed man who was made deaf and mute by the demon. Jesus' opponents started saying that Jesus could do this because he himself was possessed by a demon. Jesus points out that this is foolish. A divided kingdom cannot stand. It would be counterproductive for demonic powers to wage war against other demonic powers. Thus, Jesus argues, if the fruit of his work is things that are consistent with the kingdom of God (normal hearing and speech) and inconsistent with the kingdom of Satan, then he (Jesus) must be acting on behalf of the kingdom of God.

In two of the three accounts, Jesus then goes on to give an interesting analogy. He says that a strong man who guards his house cannot have his things taken away unless one stronger than he comes along to plunder him. The clear implication is that Jesus is the “strong man” of the story. He is stronger than Satan as evidenced by the fact that he can undo the death and destruction that Satan brings on people and creation. Jesus’ life and ministry is a consistent demonstration of this.

What is true of Jesus’ life is also true of his death and resurrection. In them, he defeats Satan and frees people from demonic control. I think the most startling passage in this regards is the one in Hebrews that I mentioned before. The whole purpose of God becoming a man is so that “… through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, …” (Hebrews 2:14).

The only metaphor Jesus uses to explain his mission is to describe it as a “ransom”. “The son of Man did not come to be served but to serve,” Jesus said, “and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) Paul picks up on this theme in I Timothy 2:5-6 where he observes that “… there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, …”.

Now a ransom is a price paid to free a person from the dominion and control and captivity of another person. And this is exactly what Paul reveals is behind the death and resurrection of Christ: “For He [God] rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14). We are rescued from Satan’s kingdom and restored to God’s kingdom just like a kidnap victim is rescued from his kidnapper and restore to his family. Death is no longer the ultimate master of our fate since we have been rescued from Satan’s kingdom.

The most common word used to describe Christ’s death and resurrection is the word “redemption”. You see it used in the Colossians passage quoted above. Redemption was something that happened in the slave market. You could go to the slave market to buy a slave to keep for yourself. You could also redeem a slave by paying the price to release him from slavery. Here again we have a metaphor that emphasizes kingdoms or dominions. As a slave, you are subject to all the rules and authorities of slavery. But if someone purchases you out of that system, you are no long subject to its authority. Redemption is closely tied to the idea of purchase and the New Testament writers frequently explain that we have been purchased by the death (blood) of Christ (I Peter 1:18-19, Acts 20:28, Revelation 5:9).

Over and over, we see the theme of rescue from one kingdom and deliverance to another kingdom in the metaphors used to describe the death and resurrection of Christ. And this makes sense, doesn’t it? We are all subject to various kingdoms. I’m subject to the laws of the United States and the State of Colorado. I’m not subject to the laws of Texas unless I visit there and violate some rule that brings me under their control. I’m subject to ethical rules governing real estate agents and mortgage brokers imposed on me by certain trade associations that I’ve joined. In contrast, I’m not subject to the rules of the teachers’ union since I have never joined their organization.

There is so much more to say on this topic. There are so many other passages of Scripture we could discuss. But I’ll stop here for the moment and give you a teaser for Part 3 of the blog: You have probably encounter the Christus Victor view of atonement before and may not have even realized it. You’ve encountered it if you have read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (I'm getting better; It took me 1,751 words this time before I mentioned Lewis). In the next installment, we'll see how Lewis weaves the Christus Victor view into the story.