Theories of Atonement

ALAYMAN

ALAYMAN

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Credit to rsc2a on this one.  As much as we bump up against one another, he has challenged me to look into subjects in some cases of a deeper nature than I have previously.  A good while back I looked into some of the varying theories of atonement superficially. Having settled on Penal Substitution I quickly came to the conclusion that I was satisfied no extensive digging was necessary.  But apparently, in recent years, some of the other theories of atonement have found a resurgence, so I'd like to sample the FFF to see what your particular (if any) flavor is.  Which best describes your position....


1) Penal Substitutionary/Satisfaction Theory (in vogue for the last millenium amongst evangelicals)

2) Christus Victor/Ransom Theory (interestingly enough, from having heard Adrian Rogers sermons touch on this at least tangentially, I believe he must have subscribed to some form of this, but mostly held by Eastern Orthodox

3) Subjective Theory/Moral Influence (Charles Finney held to this)

Here's an interesting polemic in defense of Penal Substitution from D.A. Carson:

One recent work that loves to emphasize the Christus Victor
Click to expand...
 
I would describe my position as "all of the above" to one extent or another. I believe, individually, PAS is most "correct" and, universally, CV is most "correct" with some truth to MI.

I highly recommend this article by N.T. Wright and this article by J.I. Packer.
 
Mixture of PA/S and CV/R. MI also has some truth but it's a smaller part of what's going on, and would be very inadequate without the others.

I agree with rsc2a that PA/S is more correct individually, CV/R more correct universally. Wright and Packer both make good points, as they always do.
 
Don't know what y'all mean on this thread......but I keep my piano tuned up so the a'tone'ment sounds mighty fine, all the time. Just sayin'.  :D
 
Penal substitution. There's nothing true that the other theories state, which penal substitution also does not.  And the rest isn't worth keeping.
 
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