The penal substitution theory of atonement was popularized among Protestants during the Reformation and remains the paramount Evangelical view of atonement. This view of atonement sees the death of Christ as vicarious in nature. The required punishment for sin was suffered by Christ for believers, while His perfect righteousness was transferred to believers. In this […]
Atonement: Moral Influence Theory
Introduction Understanding the cross of Jesus Christ as a demonstration of God’s love for mankind is a central theme of both the New Testament and the early fathers (McGrath, 2012). What we commonly refer to as the moral influence theory of atonement has come to mean different things to different people over the course of church […]
Atonement: Satisfaction Theory
Introduction This week, in our continuing series of blogs on the atonement, we move into the medieval period. In the late 11th century, Anselm of Canterbury, a Doctor of the Church, was one of the most influential philosophers and theologians of the time. He was one of a new breed of scholars that approached topics […]
Atonement: Recapitulation
Over the past two weeks we have discussed the views of the early fathers on the atonement. The Christus Victor and ransom themes are both prominent during the patristic era. Before moving on to views popularized during the medieval period, there is one more important theme from the early fathers – recapitulation. Discussions of the […]
The Atonement: Christus Victor
Christus Victor Theory of Atonement Christus Victor (Latin for “Christ is Victorious”) is a view of the atonement closely related to and often lumped together with the ransom view that was discussed in last week’s blog post. However, the Christus Victor motif avoids some of the problems that the ransom theory falls into. It may […]
The Atonement: Ransom Theory
Over the course of church history ideas about the atonement have ranged widely. An orthodox consensus never really developed and varied views of atonement have been tolerated within Christendom. A doctrine of the atonement attempts to answer the question, “How does Christ accomplish the salvation of fallen humanity?” The Bible makes it clear that the […]
Reformation?
What was the reformation all about? That is a really large question indeed. I had a conversation this week with a life-long Catholic who obviously didn’t understand the issue at all. At first, he thought protestant was another christian denomination just like Baptist, Methodist, or CMA. That conversation started me thinking about protestant believers. I […]
How Expensive is Grace?
In a few weeks we are going to be studying the sermon on the mount in the adult Sunday School class. In preparation for that I have been reading what several great thinkers of the past have had to say about that text. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship” is a major contribution to the […]
“He Said The Prayer, That’s Enough”
During the men’s Bible study on Sunday, we discussed revival. We talked about a lot of things, and the subject of alter calls came up. Many of us come from a faith tradition that made liberal use of alter calls in presenting the gospel. Well, on Monday morning, I was catching up on some blogs […]
"The Method of Grace" a sermon by George Whitefield
Last night, just before bed, I read a sermon by George Whitefield that I thought was worth sharing. Whitefield is a famous 18th century preacher that is remembered as one of the most passionate and effective orators in church history. His preaching voice has been described as “an organ, a flute, a harp, all in […]
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