Jesus’ atonement was, most of all, penal substitution. Christ bore the punishment for my sin in my place. What it means is that, on the cross, God treated Jesus as if he had lived my life and punished him for my every sin. Calvin thus calls Christ “our substitute-ransom and propitiation” (Thiselton 2018:94). That’s why only Christ can enable me to be in the presence of God who is infinitely holy.
In that sense, I find all other atonement views are significantly lacking and unsatisfactory. The so-called “ransom” model of Gregory of Nyssa (330-395) fails to capture the comprehensiveness of Christ’s death and resurrection because it is unduly dualistic (i.e. through Christ, God won victory over evil powers). The “moral example” model seems to focus on one of the smallest effects of Christ’s atonement and presents it as its essential nature or end. Schleiermacher and von Harnack, for instance, were under its influence. It is alarming, however, that this view still remains strong today.
Here are some relevant quotations.
“It’s by Jesus’ meritorious life and his substitutionary death that we can stand in the presence of a holy God.” — R. C. Sproul
“There is no greater state than to get up from your knees knowing that God has forgiven every sin you’ve ever committed.” — R. C. Sproul
“It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God if you do not know Christ . . . if you cannot claim before the judgment seat of God, ‘I’m with Him’ . . . But if you belong to Christ, that next moment after death is a moment of profound life.” — Kevin DeYoung
“If Christ has taken your sins upon himself, and he has done so if you have truly trusted him, then your sins have ceased to be; they are blotted out forever.” — C. H. Spurgeon
“When God justifies sinner through faith in Christ, he does so on the basis of justice done, that is, the punishment of our sins in the person of Christ our substitute; thus the form taken by his justifying mercy shows him to be utterly and totally just (Rom. 3:25-26), and our justification itself is shown to be judicially justified.” (J. I. Packer, Concise Theology, 44)
