By Rick Plasterer, Juicy Ecumenism.
An earlier article reviewed the defense of the doctrine of the fall of man, presented by Hans Madueme at the annual L’Abri Conference in Rochester, Minnesota, on February 13. This article briefly reviews contemporary theological challenges to the doctrine of Christ’s atonement for sin, presented by Henk Reitsema, co-chair of the Dutch L’Abri facility.
The Purpose of the Atonement
The atonement of Christ, Reitsema said, “means Jesus dying for our sins in our place, and thereby taking on a consequence, a punishment which we would have had to be carried by us.” Atonement theology is today under attack. But he said that theological error leads to real-life consequences. In this case, he believes, it will undermine the understanding of grace in Christian life. The atonement is quite central to Christian faith and life, and understanding it wrongly is devastating. People need to believe that grace is real. They must understand that grace “bridges the unbridgeable.”
Reitsema is concerned about a theology emphasizing “the royal priesthood,” in which Christians understand themselves to be advancing the new creation begun by Christ, to the exclusion of having a prophetic posture against worldliness, calling people to faith in Christ and repentance of sin. The prophetic “has the painful cutting edge to it.”
He referred to the contemporary song “In Christ Alone,” which focuses on Christ’s atonement, and which a Presbyterian Church U.S.A. hymn committee wanted to alter for inclusion in its hymnal. Specifically, the PCUSA committee wanted to replace the words “the wrath of God was satisfied” with “the love of God was magnified.” Reitsema said God’s love was indeed magnified on the cross, but this alteration was clearly an attempt to deny the penal aspect of the atonement.
Yet the penal aspect is central to the doctrine of atonement and the Christian faith.