For the fourth time, I flew to St. Paul, MN to participate in this dialogue. This time as I flew into Denver, my memory was stirred by the sight of Long’s Peak, near the Rocky Mountain National Park. I remembered times there, driving across Trail Ridge road, especially one SF afternoon spent watching Rocky Mountain sheep in the meadow and then a night walk around Lake, listening to the high country silence. As the airplane approached the Denver airport, I looked west along the length of Colfax Avenue. Again, my memory went back to SF at Cheesman Park, Lookout Mountain, Central City and going on to the high country to watch shooting stars in the clear high country. Good memories and an Auntie Anne’s almond pretzel make life peaceful.
I stay at the St. Paul Seminary Residence. The rooms are designed for monks, I suppose. They are Spartan but comfortable other than the shared bathroom between every two rooms. But the huge sloping lawns with crunching leaves and the walk down to the Mississippi River are wonderful places for prayer, long talks with Sherry or friends, as I walk along the paths and stand on the rocky outcroppings marveling at the soft colors of the Minnesota fall.
This year we are discussing atonement. I did a presentation from the evangelical perspective, accompanied by complementary copies of Death by Love. That was a popular addition! We talked animatedly about the fullness of what Jesus did on the Cross in the context of His birth, life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. There was considerable hubbub as we wrestled with whether the Father punished Jesus on the Cross or whether He was a suitable sacrifice to atone fully for our sin. There were a couple who were adamant that the Father poured out His wrath on the Son to pay the penalty of sin. But I asked my famous question: "where is that in the Bible?" Sacrifice, substitute, wrath appeased? Definitely. Father’s wrath on the Son? I can’t find it.
This afternoon we changed tenor and began the process of drafting a consensus statement on atonement. When we stopped fighting old fights, I was amazed at what we could agree on. Take a look at this first shot and let me know what you think.
By faith we perceive the Cross within the saving mystery of God’s plan for the ages to make all things new in Christ. Therefore it cannot be separated or isolated from the birth of Emanuel, His life and ministry, His sinless suffering obedience, His resurrection to life, His exaltation to the right hand of the Father, or His return to judge. In Christ God works the renewal of the desecrated and deformed humanity and the reversing the curse on creation.
We agree that atonement, the passion and death of Christ, is a Trinitarian event. The Cross is a sacrifice, a satisfaction, wherein the incarnate God is our substitute, in which the justice and mercy of God are revealed, out of which comes our justification and salvation. Christ is the priest, the victim sacrificed (the paschal Lamb), and as God, the one to whom sacrifice is made. The Cross is the place where propitiatory sacrifice is made that satisfies the wrath of God against sin and also the expiatory sacrifice that cleanses guilt and shame. It is Christ’s perfect spiritual service of worship of the Father, an example for His followers as living sacrifices. The Father sent His Son into the world so that through the eternal Spirit, the Son in obedience to the Father offered Himself in the shame of the Cross as a ransom for many. In the Cross, He disarmed and triumphed over the evil powers. In His death and resurrection, He conquers death. In His obedience, He conquerors disobedience.
Hey Gerry,
Thanks for this post! The section about the wrath of God is interesting to me. I guess I’ve always just assumed Christ was crushed under God’s wrath not differentiating between God pouring out His wrath/punishing His son and His son being a suitable sacrifice. I think the key word here is “appeasing”.
How do you respond to the idea that God’s wrath was poured out onto His son and is demonstrated by Christ’s ……I’ll use the word….stress…over going to the cross? Did it come up in your conversation? There’s the “let this cup pass from me” verse and of course the agony demonstrated by sweating drops of blood. I’ve heard it argued that countless martyrs have gone on to brutal deaths, more brutal than Christ’s even, and yet were joyful even to the point of singing hymns. It’s then deduced that Christ wouldn’t be agonizing over losing his life at the hands of man but rather the facing of the wrath of God. Is there anything to this?
What did the final draft look like? How long were you there?