Atonement - Part 3

In Part 1 of of a multi-part blog, we looked at the common view of the atonement that is ubiquitous in Evangelical circles. In Part 2, we considered an alternative understanding of the atonement known as the Christus Victor view – a view that was common in the church for the first thousand years of its existence. In this third installment, we will look at a contemporary presentation of the Christus Victor view in fictional literature.

Christus Victor in the Chronicles of Narnia

As I mentioned at the end of Part 2, you may have encountered the Christus Victor view of the atonement before without recognizing it. It is presented by C. S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of the books in his wildly popular Chronicles of Narnia series.

If you’ve read the book, you recall that the Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) get into the land of Narnia which is part of a world in another universe. The children learn quickly that all is not well in Narnia. The White Witch (Satan) “has got all Narnia under her thumb” and has made it “always winter and never Christmas”. Edmund, out of pride and lust, betrays his brother and sisters to the White Witch and she takes Edmund captive. Some good creatures lead a successful battle to rescue Edmund by force from the Witch as she is about to slit his throat. Edmund is brought to the great lion, Aslan (Christ). They have a long, private talk and Edmund is forgiven by Aslan and by his brother and sisters. But we soon learn that the consequences of Edmund’s traitorous act may not be so easily undone:

“You have a traitor there, Aslan,” said the Witch. Of course everyone present knew that she meant Edmund …

“Well,” said Aslan. “His offence was not against you.”

“Have you forgotten the Deep Magic?” asked the Witch.

“Let us say I have forgotten it,” answered Aslan gravely. “Tell us of this Deep Magic.”

“Tell you?” said the Witch, her voice growing suddenly shriller … You at least know the magic which the Emperor put into Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill.” …

“And so,” continued the Witch, “that human creature is mine. His life is forfeit to me. His blood is my property.”

“Come and take it then,” said the Bull with the man’s head in a great bellowing voice.

“Fool,” said the Witch with a savage smile that was almost a snarl, “do you really think your master can rob me of my right by mere force? … He knows that unless I have blood as the Law says all Narnia will be overturned and perish in fire and water.”

“It is very true,” said Aslan; “I do not deny it.”

“Oh, Aslan!” whispered Susan in the Lion’s ear, “can’t we – I mean, you won’t, will you? Can’t we do something about the Deep Magic? Isn’t there something you can work against it?”

“Work against the Emperor’s magic?” said Aslan turning to her with something like a frown on his face. And nobody ever made that suggestion to him again …

“Fall back, all of you,” said Aslan, “and I will talk to the Witch alone.”

They all obeyed…

At last they heard Aslan’s voice. You can all come back,” he said. “I have settled the matter. She has renounced the claim on your brother’s blood.” And all over the hill there was a noise as if everyone had been holding his breath and had now begun breathing again, and then a murmur of talk.

The relief at Aslan’s apparent rescue of Edmund is short lived. Susan and Lucy notice that Aslan’s mood has changed. Late at night as Aslan leaves camp, the girls follow him at a distance. When discovered, they join Aslan and comfort him without knowing the source of his sorrow. Aslan requires the girls to stop following him at a certain point and goes on alone to turn himself over to the Witch and her minions. The girls watch in horror as Aslan is bound, shaved, humiliated and tortured. As he lies on the giant stone table, we learn from the White Witch why she has renounced her claim on Edmund:

At last she [the White Witch] drew near. She stood by Aslan’s head … just before she gave the blow, she stooped down and said in a quivering voice, “And now, who has won? Fool, did you think that by all this you would save the human traitor? Now I will kill you instead of him as our pact was and so the Deep Magic will be appeased. But when you are dead what will prevent me from killing him as well? And who will take him out of my hand then? Understand that you have given me Narnia forever, you have lost your own life and you have not saved his. In that knowledge, despair and die.”

The children did not see the actual moment of the killing. They couldn’t bear to look and had covered their eyes.

The girls spend the rest of the night in grief. When the Witch leaves, they go to Aslan’s body and, with the help of some mice, they free him from the cords that bound him. They walk away from the Stone Table and we pick up the story at the first moment of sunrise:

The rising of the sun had made everything look so different – all the colours and shadows were changed – that for a moment they didn’t see the important thing. Then they did. The Stone Table was broken in two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.

“Oh, oh, oh!” cried the two girls rushing back to the Table.

“Oh, it’s too bad,” sobbed Lucy; “they might have left the body alone.”

“Who’s done it?” cried Susan. “What does it mean? Is it more magic?”

“Yes!” said a great voice behind their backs. “It is more magic.” They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane … stood Aslan himself.

“Oh, Aslan!’ cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad.

“Aren’t you dead then, dear Aslan?” said Lucy.

“Not now,” said Aslan.

“You’re not – not a – ?” asked Susan in a shaky voice. She couldn’t bring herself to say the word ghost.

Aslan stooped his golden head and licked her forehead. The warmth of his breath and a rich sort of smell that seemed to hang about his hair came all over her.

“Do I look it?” he said.

“Oh, you’re real, you’re real! Oh, Aslan!” cried Lucy and both girls flung themselves upon him and covered him with kisses.

“But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.

“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards…”

Here is a rich and profoundly biblical understanding of the significance of the death of Christ. First of all, we learn early on that the White Witch has all Narnia under her thumb. This echoes the words of Paul who calls Satan the god of this world and John who tells us that the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One.

The Witch has brought on a perpetual winter – winter being a symbol of death. Edmund’s treachery brings him under her control and she has a right to kill him as a result. She rules over a kingdom of death just as Satan holds the power of death in this world (Hebrews 2:14-15).

In fact, think of any passage in Scripture that speaks about the death and resurrection of Christ and see if it does not fit with the Christus Victor view held by the early church and illustrated in Lewis’ fantasy.

Aslan gives himself as a ransom for Edmund (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, I Timothy 2:5-6). The wages of Edmund’s sin is death (Romans 6:23). Death is a power that the White Witch holds over Edmund and Aslan breaks this power by his own death (Hebrews 2:14). Aslan was “bruised” for Edmund’s iniquity and “crushed” for Edmund’s transgressions and the consequences of Edmund’s transgression was laid on Aslan (Isaiah 53:5-6). Aslan removes the effects of Edmund’s sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26). Without the shedding of blood, there would be no forgiveness for Edmund (Hebrews 9:22). Aslan redeems Edmund from the curse of the Deep Magic [law] (Galatians 3:13). Aslan, by his blood, releases Edmund from his sin (Revelation 1:5).

But what about justice? The common view of the atonement places a heavy emphasis on justice. It focuses on the fact that the penalty for sin is death and the penalty must be paid. A just God, it is claimed, must punish sin. He cannot let it go unpunished and be true to his character.

The passage cited most frequently that connects the atonement with justice is from chapter 3 of Romans. Romans 3:25-26 says that the redemption provided in the death of Christ was to demonstrate God’s righteousness “… because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Or, one might think also of I Peter 3:18 where we learn that Christ died as “the just for the unjust”.

The Christus Victor view also incorporates the concept of justice but it does so in a profoundly different way. In the common view of the atonement, God dies to be just towards himself; in the Christus Victor view, God dies so as not to be unjust towards Satan. Having created a world where disobedience would make people subject to death (Genesis 2:16-17) and to Satan’s power, God will not simply overrule this by force. He makes himself subject to his own rules and find another way to undo the effects of the Fall.

Lewis’ portrayal of the Christus Victor view captures these biblical themes. The Deep Magic, put into Narnia by the Emperor (God, the Father), gives the White Witch the right to kill Edmund. She has the power of death over him. This right cannot be undone by force as the Minotaur suggests. It would be unjust. And so Aslan dies – the just for the unjust. Aslan is just, and the justifier, of Edmund.

Of course, the Witch does not realize that her murder of Aslan will be her undoing. As Aslan later reveals, her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. She is a created being. She is not omniscient and does not know that there is a Deeper Magic – a higher law that will undo death itself if the Witch over-reaches and kills an innocent victim in the place of a guilty party.

This is profoundly biblical too. The gospel – the death and resurrection of Christ – is a mystery that was hidden by God for centuries (Romans 16:25-26, Ephesians 3:9-10, Colossians 1:26). For example, Romans 16:25-26 says that the gospel is a “… revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested … according to the commandment of the eternal God …”. Ephesians 3:9-10 sheds even more light on this matter when Paul reveals that God called him to “bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” Here, the secret wisdom of God [the Deeper Magic] that was hidden for ages has now been made known to the demonic powers (rulers and authorities in the heavenly places).

An even more explicit statement of this fact is found in I Corinthians 2:6-8 which says, “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; …”. Here again, the rulers of this age (demonic powers – the whole world lies under their power, remember) brought about the death of Christ but would not have done so if they had understood that this would break the power of death that they hold over the world. The power of death that was brought into the world by Adam is undone by Christ (I Corinthians 15:21). Lewis' tale captures these rarely appreciated biblical themes. It makes me appreciate what Paul is getting at in these passages in Romans, I Corinthians, Ephesians and Colossians.

But doesn’t all this mean that God tricked Satan? Doesn’t it mean that God was somehow deceitful or even unjust? Wasn’t Aslan deceitful in how he treated the White Witch?

This objection to the Christus Victor view is part of the reason why it fell into disfavor. Early theologians sometimes used some very colorful analogies to try to explain the Christus Victor view. These overly fanciful stories may have caused later believers to miss the deep theological insights of the early church fathers.

But we should not be too quick to reject the Christus Victor view on the grounds of deceit. The concept of evil sowing the seeds of its own destruction is found in Scripture. Consider just three examples from Psalms and Proverbs:

Ps 7:15-16
He has dug a pit and hollowed it out,
And has fallen into the hole which he made.
His mischief will return upon his own head,
And his violence will descend upon his own pate.

Ps 57:6
They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down;
They dug a pit before me;
They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah.

Prov 26:27
He who digs a pit will fall into it,
And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

For my money, the Christus Victor view of the atonement does a much better job on encapsulating all that Scripture has to say about the significance of the Christ’s death and resurrection. It includes Satan in the picture while the common view leaves Satan out. This alone makes the Christus Victor view more comprehensive.

So much more needs to be said which is why there will be a Part 4 to this blog. In Part 4, we’ll consider some implications of the common view and the Christus Victor view of the atonement. I will give more reasons why the latter view is superior and I will explore how it can change our day-to-day lives in rich and significant ways.