Atonement and the Work of Christ

In sorting through how best to understand the work of Christ we need a narrative that captures the core meaning of “atonement” and a way to deploy the various theories that abound in the tradition. At the root of the issue is a narrative of reconciliation that highlights the serious alienation that exists between human agents and God. Fixing this problem requires both divine and human action. Theories of atonement seek to spell out the divine action involved. Each has its own advantage in developing complementary descriptions of what has gone wrong with the world and how to fix it.

The Person of Christ

Treatments of Christology begin with the exploration of the Person of Christ, with who he is. Prima facie, Christ is often seen as an offense to human sensibility. The deep offense is that Christ is both a specific human agent in history and the second Person of the Trinity. The first seven ecumenical councils tackle a network of issues related to this offense and stand by the conviction that Jesus of Nazareth is fully human and fully divine. Given this conviction it is apt to speak of the virginal conception and to initiate a subtle historical-theological quest for the real Jesus of history and faith.

The Divine Trinity

The Christian vision of God is that God is three Persons in one Substance. This vision went beyond Scripture in order to do justice to Jewish monotheism, encounters with Jesus as an agent of divine action, and personal and corporate experiences of the Holy Spirit. Objections based on entanglement with Greek metaphysics and on certain feminist claims about male language fail. Loss of the Trinity involves serious impoverishment of the life and work of the church. Its continued embrace prepares the way for the exploration of the attributes of God.

Salvation

Divine grace makes possible genuine victory over moral evil. This theme is best explored on several levels: a reading of Genesis 12, 15, and 22, attention to the concepts available, various lists of virtues, actions, and practices, and the resources of ascetical theology. Sanctity is based in divine predestination and the narrative of salvation inaugurated in Abraham and continued in the church. With this narrative in place we can provide a rich commentary on conspicuous sanctity. This opens up the door to engagement with the life and witness of the saints. It also provides a fitting climax in the rare cases of transfiguration.

The Church

The church can be identified either as the church universal (all believers through space and time and beyond time) or as a local congregation (and clusters of local congregations). It should be distinguished but not separate from the kingdom of God. There is no agreement on its identity because “church” is an essentially contested concept. All that use the term cannot agree on its content or referent. It is best seen as the gift of the Holy Spirit and its varied descriptions (both adjectives and images) should be seen aspirationally as promises of what the church can be in the wisdom and power of the Spirit.

Divine Providence

The doctrine of providence works out the connection between the active power of God, divine foresight, and the divine provision for human needs. It speaks of God conserving all things in being, his governance of history, and his actions as they relate to evil. The really tough case is the case where God works through the evil actions of human agents. This instance of providence can be defended by developing a weak theory of providence where God cooperates with the actions of human agents. Much damage is done to the doctrine when we misread the idea of divine power and when God’s power is divorced from God’s kindness.

Divine Creation

The Triune God created everything there is ex nihilo. This represents a move beyond Scripture but compatible with Scripture. This doctrine is not just a fitting exegetical and theological decision based on Scripture, but is a true judgment. Because God is a transcendent agent and given the kind of attributes God has, God can create the world ex nihilo. The doctrine of creation ex nihilo was hammered out in the patristic period in opposition to Gnosticism. This doctrine is compatible with the findings of science, but theology should not adopt an apologetic enterprise against the advances of scientific, empirical inquiry. It is important for a balanced devotional life and applies across the board to everything that exists, including angels. It allows also space for the development of natural theology and for efforts to provide a credible theodicy in the face of moral and natural evil.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

There is fear and a tendency to substitute the language of grace for the work of the Holy Spirit. However, the primary image for the work of the Holy Spirit is that of baptism. This is secured in the revelation to John the Baptist endorsed by the risen Lord and manifested at Pentecost. Once this priority is secure, we can trace the manifold working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Son, in the lives of individuals, and in the life of the church. There is a need for caution in tracing the work of the Holy Spirit in politics and society.

The Person of the Holy Spirit

This chapter discusses the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity who proceeds eternally from the Father. In his work in Christology Athanasius made the relevant conceptual breakthrough, yet the church was rightly cautious in stating the ontology involved. Efforts to secure the filioque clause are not successful. There is merit in applying the biblical images of breath, rain, water, dove, wine, and oil. Later images focusing on force-field, bond of love, and light are interesting but light should be preferred, not least because it helps us make theological sense of the transfiguration of the Son.

Prolegomena

Systematic theology is an intellectual discipline for insiders which presupposes the canonical faith of the church embedded in the creeds. This in turn assumes an understanding of the Gospel and serious initiation into the kingdom of God. As an intellectual discipline, systematic theology requires various modes of thinking: expository, hermeneutical, constructive, and apologetic. Epistemological issues can be mentioned but must not be allowed to marginalize the great themes of theology. In this work, the author draws on Scripture understood as a medium of divine revelation, experience, and reason. Yet the aim is to stick to theology proper and return to focused work on the central elements of Christian teaching.