Sacred Roots Workshop

Ses s i on 6: Hi s L i fe i n Us

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come again in visible power and glory to vanquish the last embodiment of evil (2 Thess. 2.1-12) and establish his kingdom (1 Cor. 15.25-28).

~ Leland Ryken, et. al. The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery , Elec. Edition.

A. Gustaf Aulen’s Christus Victor : three views of the Atonement (i.e., the work of Christ on the Cross)

1. The Satisfaction motif: Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109). The sin of humanity had offended the honor of God, bringing disharmony and injustice into God’s created order. Atonement is the debt payment necessary to restore God’s honor and to restore justice back into the universe.

a. Propitiation in response to God’s honor defiled

b. Expiation in response to the guilt and penalty of sinners

2. The Moral Influence motif: Abelard (1079-1142), the problem of the atonement was not to change God’s mind to us, but to enable sinful humankind to see how loving God was and is. Jesus died as a demonstration of God’s love to humankind. 3. The Christus Victor motif: called the “classic” view of the atonement because of its association with the ancient Church, this view stresses the image of cosmic battle between good and evil, between God’s forces and Satan’s, and Christ’s victory over sin, death, the grave, the devil, and the curse.

a. Called “classic” as the prevailing view of the early Church