Some comments on Sabbath School Study lesson 6, Atonement in Symbols: Part 1.
This week, the study guide discusses the Old Testament sacrifices and how one could interpret them as pointing to Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death upon the cross. The lesson suggests that because the Old Testament sacrifices were a requirement for the cleansing of ritual impurities, that sacrifice is necessary for the ultimate cleansing of sin.
(For other perspectives on this, you may wish to take a look at the Sabbath School Study site at Pine Knoll, and the commentary at Spectrum.)
I’m going to make the conclusion that Jesus’ sacrificial death and His blood were necessary. But my question is, in what way were they necessary? Another way of asking this is, for whose benefit was Jesus’ death? Did Jesus’ death somehow change the Father’s view of sin and sinful humans? Did Jesus’ death somehow “pay the price” as is frequently (at least in Western Christianity) ascribed? Did Jesus’ death change the human perspective of God? None of the above? Some of the above? All of the above?
Did God require the blood before forgiveness could be offered? An affirmative to this question would seem to contradict the many instances prior to the crucifixion where God and Jesus forgave sins. For that matter, let’s suppose Jesus didn’t go through with the cross nor did he shed his blood: what would happen to Enoch, Moses, and Elijah, who are believed to be with God in heaven? Was the forgiveness and cleansing offered to them contingent upon some future event? Would they have somehow been “sent back” to earth to die?
Or could it be that Jesus’ sacrifice and blood now somehow obligates God to forgive and to save?
In either case, if the sacrifice and blood are required in order for forgiveness to be granted, then forgiveness is a result of some kind of merit, such as Jesus’ super-abundant merit (as some medieval theologians theorized). If forgiveness is due to merit, then it is no longer because of grace. And so I find this line of reasoning highly problematic and contrary to my understanding of grace as found in the Bible.
My belief and position is that Jesus’ death and blood are necessary because we humans are too stupid to understand anything else. God didn’t need either. Forgiveness demands neither. Atonement demands neither. They were simply object lessons for our benefit. It demonstrated that God’s love is much greater than any human can possibly imagine. It demonstrated that God’s love can bridge the gap of sin and defeat even death itself. Many ancients believed that life was in the blood. What better example and demonstration could there be than of God Himself offering His eternal life to replace our finite life? Jesus’ death demonstrated that even God’s hatred of sin could not prevent His love from offering life and forgiveness to sinners. It demonstrated that human conception of God, where God could not approach sinful people until they got their act together, was entirely wrong. God came to reach sinners while they were still in the midst of sin. In this way, it was proof that love is the greatest power in the universe.
God demonstrated that Divine Love transcends law and justice.1
1Aulen, Gustaf. Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement, WIPF an STOCK Publishers, 2003 edition, Chapter 6, “Luther,” esp. 109, 112-113.
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