Lesson 7 Flashcards
(7 cards)
Give a brief description of Christ’s intercessory work
The OT and the Intercessory Work of Christ
1. Must begin with the OT and priestly protocols, esp. the Day of Atonement (Lev 16)
1. The high priest entered the Holy of Holies once a year
1. Clothing and personal state of ritual purity
* Typify Christ, the perfectly righteous priest
* Purely dressed, bathed, and physically whole (Lev 21:16-21)
* Had to be married
* Could not be associated with death
The NT and the Intercessory Work of Christ
1. Jesus is our great high priest (Heb 4:14; 9:11)
1. Christ inaugurates the new creation through his intercessory work (Heb 9:8 -14)
* Christology brings eschatology, pneumatology, and soteriology in its wake
* The shift of the ages
The Nature of Christ’s Intercessory Work
1. Christ is our advocate with the Father (1 Jn 2:1)
1. He enters the heavenly holy of holies (Heb 9:24-26)
* Shadows and types of OT give way to heavenly reality
* Christ offers himself as the final sacrifice
* His work is definitive and unrepeatable
1. He empowers our prayers which affects our sanctification (Eph 5:20)
1. Our offerings are perfected through Christ (1 Pet 2:5)
1. Intercessory prayer on our behalf (Jn 17:9-26)
How can we say that the atonement was necessary?
Moving cause of the atonement
1. The good pleasure of God (Isa 53:10)
1. Revelation of God’s love and justice (Rom 3:23-26)
Historical views on the necessity of the atonement
1. Atonement was hypothetically necessary
* Some have said it could have been otherwise.
* Relatively necessary - Calvin
1. Atonement was absolutely necessary
* Others have said it could be no other way
* Given God’s righteousness and holines
* John Owen
1. Christ’s words in the garden (Lk 22:42)
* Remove this cup from me.
* Not my will but your will be done.
* Seems to indicate no other way
Evidence for the necessity of the atonement
1. Sin must be punished (Ps 5:4-6)
1. Transgression of God’s law
1. Sin makes us debtors to the whole law (Jas 2:10)
1. Man cannot pay this debt (Gal 3:21)
Connect the atonement to the Old Testament images in Lev 16 and Isa 63
Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement
1. Aaron had to make specific preparations to ensure his ritual power (v3-7)
A. The sacrificial goat as a sin offering
B. Sin offering for the people (v15-16)
* Sprinkled the goat on the alter (v17)
* The goat for Azazel (expiatory goat) - (v10)
C. Aaron placed his hands on the head of the goat and be sent to Azazel * Imputed guilt of the people onto the goat. * Goat carries the sins away never to return * Foreshadows the passive obedience of Christ * Passive obedience and imputation
D. All of the active details by the priest foreshadows Active obedience and imputation
Isaiah 53 and the Suffering Servant
1. The Suffering Servant as Azazel (Isa 53:4, 12)
A. Born our grief and sorrows. (v4)
B. v12 - He was numbered among the transgressors (Lev - Bore the sins)
2. Make an offering for guilt (אָשָׁם, asham)
C. Concerning sin - same as Lev
3. Asham: Unintentional and intentional sins (Lev 5:15; 7:1-2)
4. Israel had violated the sanctity of the land which would send them to exile (2 Chr 36:14-21)
NT texts that rest on this OT foundation
1. NT texts and Isa 53
* Matt 3:15
* Rom 4:25
* Rom 5:12-21
What is the twofold objective penal substitution?
- Its purpose is to propitiates God’s wrath
- Reconcile Him to the sinner (Rom 5:10; 2 Cor 5:19-21)
Describe Christ’s active and passive obedience
Active: Christ is the federal representative for His people and earns salvation for them (Mt 3:15; Gal 4:4-5)
Passive: Submitted himself to the penalty of the law on our behalf (Rom 4:24-25; 1 Pet 2:24)
Be able to give an overview and analysis of the seven divergent views of the atonement
Ransom Theory
1. Death of Christ was a ransom paid to Satan to free those under his dominion
1. Origen was a chief advocate of this view
1. Other church fathers accepted it.
1. Analysis
A. Positive
* Tries to trace the ransom language from Scripture (Mk 10:45; 1 Pet 1:18)
* We are held captive, in a sense, to Satan
B. Negative
* Wrongly connects ransom to Satan rather than God (Rom 1:18; 3:23-26)
* God does ransom us from the power death, which is found in the law of God (1 Cor 15:55-56; Gal 3:22-23)
Recapitulation Theory
1. Christ’s sacrifice appeases the wrath of God, but he re-lives all of the stages of human life
1. By his obedience he reverses the course set by Adam
1. Advocated by Irenaeus
1. Analysis
A. Positive
* Addresses the need for the active obedience of Christ
* Sees the key element of Adam’s disobedience
B. Negative
* No attention to Christ’ passive obedience
* How do we account for the OT sacrificial system?
Christus Victor Theory
1. Christus Victor, by Gustaf Aulén (1930)
1. Argued against the forensic view
1. The early church argued for Christ the Victor over Satan, sin, and death
1. Appeals to Irenaeus
1. Analysis
A. Positive
* Engages the early church
* Highlights the theme of Christ’s victory (1 Jn 3:8)
* Highlights the obedience of Christ
B. Negatives
* Recasts the ransom theory by highlighting the victory element
* Unnecessarily pits victory against legal categories
* Argues that Christ paid ransom to the devil
* Fails to see that God saves us from God
Satisfaction Theory (Commercial Theory)
1. Anselm (d. 1109) on the atonement
1. Sinners must make satisfaction to God
1. They must pay a price of infinite value
1. Must repay the debt to God’s honor
1. Only the God-man can pay the infinite debt against God’s lost honor
1. Christ’s gift extends beyond himself
1. Analysis
A. Positive
* Stresses the necessity of the atonement by grounding it in God’s nature
* Man withholds honor due to God
* Christ pays the debt
B. Negative
* Grounds need for atonement in the honor of God, not the justice of God
* Ignores the vicarious suffering of Christ
* Ignores the active obedience of Christ
* A bare transfer of Christ’s merit to others
* A work of “supererogation”
Moral Influence Theory
1. Abelard (1079-1142)
1. God has given the great demonstration of love through Christ’s crucifixion
1. A positive example so that we would live our lives in such a manner
1. Condemned at the Council of Sens (1140)
1. Analysis
A. Positive
* Undoubtedly a demonstration of God’s love
* Identifying with sinners inn pain and suffering
* It should inspire us to sacrificial love
B. Negative
* Contrary to Scripture
* It is propitiatory
* God could be said to be cruel if the crucifixion was not necessary
Example Theory
1. Seventeenth century Socinians
1. Racovian Catechism (1602)
1. Major points
* Denied the vicarious suffering
* God does not require retributive justice
* Merely gives us an example of obedience
1. Objections
* Denies human depravity
* Contrary to Scripture
* How are OT saints saved?
Governmental Theory
1. Hugo Grotius (1583-1645)
1. A Defense of the Catholic Faith in the Satisfaction of Christ against Faustus Socinus (1617)
1. A demonstration of what sin deserves
1. Main points
* God’s law is arbitrary
* Christ pays a nominal price for sin
* Why does Christ then die? To demonstrate God’s displeasure against sin.
1. Objections
* Contrary to Scripture
* Takes a secondary point and makes it primary
* Devalues the suffering of Christ
To be able to articulate the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement and it’s OT foundation
