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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
How the Church has Altered Its
Atonement Theories Over the Centuries
return to main-page of the "Jesus" article
The following is an excerpt from Dr. Leslie Weathhead's The Meaning Of The Cross.
He discusses what few understand: that the church has changed its atonement theories over the centuries.
The man on the street believes that current salvation-teaching about Jesus has been around since the beginning. But Weatherhead explains that for nearly 1000 years the church taught a different "atonement theory" which centered on a ransom paid to the Devil.
"There is the type of theory that centers round the idea of a contract with the Devil. The theory was held tenaciously for nine centuries. Gregory of Nyassa, Augustine, Iranaeus, and Anselm all express it in various ways... the view that the ... death of Christ [was] a ransom price paid by God to the Devil, so that the latter, who had humanity in his clutches, would let us go...
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"How can a measure of sin be equated with a measure of suffering borne by someone else? If you were willing to 'bear' my sins and I stole a shilling, how much suffering would you have to have before the Devil considered the bill had been paid?
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"And how exactly does the Devil gain by the transaction? ..."
Dr. Weatherhead attempts to explore for logic in this castaway "infallible" doctrine of the Church. But I think we'll be disappointed in that search.
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Father Robert Benson:
"It is against every law of the spirit world that one person can assume responsibility for another’s wrongdoing. There are no merits belonging to another person of which we can avail ourselves and by which we can evade our responsibilities.
"But, it will be said, this great soul who perished so tragically, is different. He is one apart. He is Divine. He is the Son of God come down to earth to redeem us. He is, in fact, God Himself. With God all things are possible. Therefore, by virtue of his Divinity, Jesus can wash away our sins if we have sufficient faith and do what the Church teaches. We must be repentant, of course, but being repentant, we have one who will plead our cause, and by the merits of his supreme sacrifice we shall be saved.
"That is a very comforting and comfortable thought and belief, but there is just one flaw. It simply is not true."
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