A Foundation for the Atonement – Part 6
June 22, 2009
Dear Friends,
When doctors are trying to diagnose a condition, sometimes they do what they call a “rule out.” As the name implies, it means to eliminate or exclude something from consideration. You may have a patient presenting symptoms of which five different disorders may be the cause, but by doing a certain test you can “rule out” one or more of the possible diagnoses. The use of these principles in diagnosing why the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross is not dissimilar.
In presenting these principles of the atonement for your consideration, we have not suggested to you why Christ died. At the same time, we have given you suggested tests by which we can rule out certain suggestions as to why Christ died. I think you will be surprised at just how many theories fail these simple tests. In fact, these simple tests might eliminate all but a very few theories.
Let’s review the principles.
- Principle #1 – Jesus’ death didn’t fix a problem with God.
- Principle #2 – Jesus’ sacrifice dictated the types, not the other way around.
- Principle #3 – God’s primary emotion in regard to the death of His son was love.
- Principle #4 – Jesus’ death was a real sacrifice, not a ritual sacrifice.
- Principle #5 – The blood of Christ was not “magic.”
We began this series with a quote from the Apostle Paul. It read “I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:2) For nearly 2,000 years men have struggled with the question of why Jesus died. The wide range of theories certainly attests to this. People want to know Jesus and the most significant event in history – his crucifixion. Yet, even our questions are filled with presuppositions that perhaps have us chasing our expository tails. Why Christ died is a difficult thing to diagnose.
Let me close with a practical example for what we have put forth. At my ecclesia this past Sunday, we sang a hymn which had the following lines:
Was there no other way for any man to live, but Thou must die: Is sin so dark that God cannot forgive save through thy sacrifice, and our belief?
May God bless us all in our efforts to know Christ and him crucified!
Have a great week,
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