The Atonement in the New Testament

Within the pages of the New Testament, the saving significance of the death of Jesus is represented chiefly (though not exclusively) via five constellations of images. These are each borrowed from significant spheres of public life in ancient Palestine and the larger Greco-Roman world: the court of law (e.g., justification), commercial dealings (e.g., redemption), personal relationships (whether among individuals or groups–e.g., reconciliation), worship (e.g., sacrifice) and the battle-ground (e.g., triumph over evil). Each of these examples provides a window into a cluster of terms and concepts that relate to the particular sphere of public life.

For example, without using the actual term sacrifice (which, in any case, might be used to refer to a variety of cult-related practices, each with its own aim), Paul and John can refer to Jesus as the “Passover Lamb” (1 Cor 5:7) and “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29 cf. Jn 1:36; Rev 5:6); Peter can relate how Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24; cf. 1Pet 1:19); Jesus’ death can be characterized by New Testament writers as “firstfruits” (1 Cor 15:20, 23; cf. Lev 23:1-44; Deut 16:1-22) and the :blood of the covenant: (Mk 14:23; cf. Ex 24:8); and the handing over of Jesus can recall the binding of Isaac (Rom 8:32; cf. Gen 22:1-24). The writer of Hebrews qualifies the salvific significance of Jesus’ death specifically in terms borrowed from Israel’s sacrificial cult (e.g., Heb 9:11-14). Similarly, “reconciliation” can be represented not only by the specific language of reconciliation (Mt 5:24; Rom 5:10-11; 11:15; 1 Cor 7:11; 2 Cor 5:18-20; Eph 2:16; Col 1:20, 22) but also by the terminology of peace (Eph 2:14-18) and the many practices (e.g., Rom 16:16), please (e.g. Philemon) and testimonies (e.g., Acts 15:8-9; Gal 3:26-29) of reconciliation that dot the landscape of the New Testament.

Why are so many images enlisted in the atonement theology of the New Testament?

We face the challenge of exploring the saving effect of Jesus’ death among people who do not want to be “saved” – indeed, who have no perceived need for “salvation.”

Recovering the Scandal of The Cross
by: Mark D. Baker & Joel B. Green

Knowing the Future of your Role

Why is it important to Paul that his communities know how to locate themselves in the theological story? Because whatever role one plays, that role carries with it very concrete implications for the future. The story within which the members of the Apostle’s churches understand their existence extends beyond their present towards the eschatological consummation of God’s creation. So if Paul’s hearers can identify both where their present lies in the time line of the story and their own narrative role, they need only look at how that role fares further on in the story in order to know the kind of end they can expect to meet.
The stakes are high. Depending on what role they play in the story they will either be sheltered from wrath or left to bear its brunt in the coming judgment. Paul knows that because of the Corinthians’ faithfulness their “labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58), knows that one who raised Jesus will raise them as well (2 Cor. 4:14), and knows that if their earthly home is destroyed they have an eternal home in the heavens (2 Cor. 5:1). It is because the story provides such insights about the future of its various characters that Paul can rejoice in Phil. 1:19 and claim to know that his present sufferings will eventually result in “salvation”. Because he knows that “all things work together for good for those who love God,” those who are called,” the Apostle can assure the Romans who play this role that their future is secure (Rom. 8:28). On the other hand, those who act out the role of the “wicked,” who stand outside God’s saving action in Christ, will be excluded from the eschatological kingdom and face judgment instead (see, e.g., Rom 2:2; 1 Cor 6:9). The end which awaits human beings is entirely determined by the role which they play in the theological narrative.

Paul’s way of knowing
by: Ian W. Scott

The Word of God and the Church

Expansion and infiltration occur throughout Acts. Witnesses travel from Jerusalem into much of the wider Roman world. The gospel is preached and lived out in diverse cultural settings. Members of the priest hood, a Roman proconsul, an Ethiopian official, former magicians, a jailer, soldiers and other exceptional members of society respond positively to the word of God. People bear witness to Jesus before those occupying the highest echelons of political power as well as to slaves and prisoners. Luke portrays the word of God as something other than a message that finds creative expression in different social and physical places, and as something other than a power that strong-arms its way through cultural boundaries to obliterate opposition and confront new audiences. Associated with a growing, nurturing community of people, the word operates as activity that creates inhabits, and energizes an area where God’s intentions become actualized in the existence and efforts of the church. The word grows, njot simply because converts increase the church’s rolls, but because they are brought into the area of divine action, a place where they apprehend God and exist within God’s purposes as those are expressed in the gospel message of and about Jesus Christ.
Essay by Matthew L. Skinner
THE UNRELENTING GOD
God’s Action in Scripture
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Essays in Honor of
Beverly Roberts Gaventa
Edited by
David J. Downs & Matthew L. Skinner

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Satan, like Pharaoh, will not willingly relinquish his hold on the people; hence the ministry of Jesus is from its inception a struggle with Satan for authority. At the testing in the wilderness Satan tries to divert Jesus from his God-appointed task by        persuading him, too worship Satan as Lord. When Jesus by his obedience to God resists the devil’s power, the devil departs, defeated. But Jesus final
victory is not yet won: Satan will continue to oppose him throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, and will regain authority at the passion. For a brief period it looks as if the devil has conquered Jesus: darkness settles over the face of the earth, and Jesus dies. But then Jesus is exalted to the place at the right hand of God, and Satan falls from heaven. Henceforth (as during Jesus’ ministry prior to the passion) all the faithful who call upon the name of the Lord will have authority over the Enemy’s power. Their own names are written with Christ in heaven.

The Demise of the Devil
by Susan R. Garrett

Perhaps those seventy (Luke 10:1-23) were tempted, on hearing Jesus’ words, to receive them as a carte blanche of authority or merely as a theological truth, something theoretical that puts God’s stamp of approval on the message.  They were about to learn, on the ground, that this commission was not for their own benefit, nor was it mere theory or correct doctrine.  Rather, Jesus is drawing them into the modus operandi of God himself!  God had entrusted to them a delivery blessed above all other things, a message concerning the gift of his own self to the world in Jesus.  As they continued in mission, as they saw what would happen, these missionaries would come to understand more deeply what it meant to deliver God’s gift.  The delivery begins by entering into homes, healing the sick, and announcing the nearness of God.  It may involve rejection and, eventually for some, the harsh enactment of it by their own martyrdom.  (Stephen is on most of the traditional lists of the seventy.)  By the time that their entire life’s mission was accomplished, they would understand more fully the message that they bore (for Cleopas, also named as one of the seventy, would be further taught by Jesus, hearing about the grave necessity of Messiah’s death, leading to the resurrection, cf.  Luke 24:26-27).  They would also understand more fully their own place within the community that Jesus had forged by the Holy Spirit, not as autocratic leaders, but as servants who were privileged to be with Jesus. Perhaps John the elder articulates this communal understanding best in, 1 John 1:1, 3. Cleopas Cleopas

Scripture and Tradition
by Edith M. Humphrey