sacrifice atonement theory

atonement theory

• The idea of atonement theory stems from the idea of Jesus as a sacrifice 

• This is taken to suggest that JC’s death was a sacrifice which allows humanity to atone for its sins 

• God himself had provided a sacrifice for them in JC, just as he provided a Ram for Abraham to sacrifice 

themes in OT

• Theme in OT is that sacrifice mends relationships between people + God 

• Abraham commanded to sacrifice ram isntead of son 

• Exodus 12:24-27 God commands Jews to slaughter + eat lamb on Passover 

• John 1:29 refers to JC as lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world 

WEAKNESS: mercy

many question how could god’s mercy be dependent on a sacrifice

STRENGTH: justice

upholds just nature of god

satisfaction theory + criticism of ransom

• Proposed by Anselm in criticism of the ransom theory 

• What does god owe satan? Nothing. 

• Anselm taught it is humanity who owes a debt to god, not god to satan 

• Our injustices have stolen from the justice of god and therefore must be paid back 

what is satisfaction theory

• Satisfaction = reparation/ mending what was broken/ paying back debt 

• Emphasises justice of God + claims sin is an injustice that must be balanced 

• A+E’s o.g sin was an offense against God’s justice was infinite (since against an infinite being) and the repayment of the debt must therefore also be infinite 

• Since humans are finite, the only way to forgive their sins and offense was for God to pay the debt through JC’s sacrifice (since divine + infinite) 

• JC’s sacrifice was ‘supererogation’ of merit (meaning doing more than duty requires), so it counted as an infinite honour which countered the infinite offence 

• Essentially JC died in order to pay back the injustice of human sin and to satisfy the justice of God