What
Really Happened At the Cross?
The most
common understanding in Christianity of what Jesus accomplished on the cross is
in harmony with a forensic view of the sin problem. In the forensic view, sin is
quite simply “transgression of the law,” the law in this case being God’s law.
God’s law is defined as “a set of rules of conduct established by an
authority.” The word law comes from the Old Norse word lag, “that which is laid down.” To put it in simple terms, the law
is simply rules and regulations God instituted; sin is breaking these arbitrary
rules. There are penalties that God will impose for the breaking of his laws;
the minimum sentence for the breaking of the smallest law is death, with graduated
torture being added thereafter (of course, there are many variations, such as
the teaching that far from the punishment fitting the crime, the penalty is
endless suffering and torment).
With a
forensic definition of sin, the solution or remedy for one who has found
himself in the unfortunate position of breaking God’s law would naturally be a
legal one. It is understood that God and justice demand that someone pay for the transgression. Since
Scripture indicates that the sin problem was taken care of at the cross,
Christ’s sacrifice is naturally understood to be a legal substitution: God
accepts the death of his Son in stead of the sinner’s. Moreover, since Christ’s
life has infinitely more value than ours, his death can redeem untold billions.
It is as if God said, “I will take your life in exchange for the lives of all
the sinners. Some blood is shed—I am satisfied.”
Aside from
the question of whether or not the forensic understanding of the law and sin
are true, there are questions that naturally arise in interpreting the cross in
this manner.
To begin
with, it is postulated that Jesus “paid” the penalty that would naturally have
fallen on the sinner. However, since the penalty for sin is interpreted as
ranging from eternal death by flames of fire all the way to eternal suffering
in a dark inferno, we must question: did
Jesus really fulfill the demands of the sentence imposed by the law? Everyone
acknowledges not only that Jesus is not burning in hell for eternity, but that
he wasn’t tortured by fire at all. If it was a simple substitution, why is
Jesus still not dead? Why wasn’t he tortured in flames? In Matthew
If dying for
one weekend is the ultimate consequence of sin, most certainly the worst of
sinners would flippantly accept the “penalty.” This view makes sin of little
consequence.
Scriptural Problems
There are
principles in Scripture that cannot be harmonized with the forensic view. To
begin with, human sacrifice is patently forbidden. Human sacrifice to appease
an offended deity is always associated with the heathen religions that God
condemned:
Thou shalt
not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he
hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters
they have burnt in the fire to their gods. Deuteronomy 12:31
When thou
art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn
to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among
you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or
that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a
wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto
the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them
out from before thee. Deuteronomy18:9-12
Wherewith
shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of
a year old? Will
the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of
oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man,
what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:6-8
Because they
have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it
unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings
of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built
also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings
unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my
mind. Jeremiah 19:4-5 (see also Jeremiah 32:35, 2 Kings 16:3, Psalm 106:38)
Another
principle that is in direct opposition to the forensic interpretation of
Christ’s sacrifice is found in Ezekiel 18:19-20:
Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the
son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes,
and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son
shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither
shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the
righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon
him. Ezekiel 18:19, 20
No human
government or ruler would be deemed just if they allowed an innocent person to
be punished for the guilty. However, it is a common practice to suspend reason
and all thinking altogether when approaching religion. In human jurisprudence,
we demand that “the punishment fit the crime,” that no one shall suffer “cruel
and unusual punishment,” and many states forbid the death penalty. We
deem the threats of Nebuchadnezzar to those who refuse to worship him as
insane, and are mortified by the barbarous acts of the likes of Hitler,
Mussolini, and Ghadafi. Yet when God executes infinitely more horrific sentence
on those who refuse to accept his love and gracious offer of salvation, we
don’t even question that it is anything besides “just.”
Ultimately,
the legal interpretation of redemption makes God out to be dishonest, for he
claims throughout Scripture to graciously forgive the sinner. There are only
two ways in which a debt or infraction can be dealt with: pardon or penalty. To
claim to forgive a debt that has been paid is the height of dishonesty. Yet no
one questions why God claims to forgive our sin, when in reality it was “paid
for” by the death of Christ.
Was the Sacrificial System Forensic?
The Bible
speaks of Jesus being a sacrifice for us (Ephesians
However,
there are some serious problems if we take a forensic interpretation of the
sacrifices.
The
sacrifice was to be without physical blemish. They were not beaten and tortured
and bleeding; they were treated in the kindest, most decent and humane way
possible. Furthermore, the sacrifices were slain by a priest, not the heathen.
This would “disqualify” Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for sin if we believe that
the sacrifices were a legal substitution.
Thus, it is
clear that the sacrifices were not for the purpose of legal substitution, but
rather to convey very serious truths about the nature of sin and the results of
a broken relationship with the Lifegiver.
Not God’s Plan
The
"punishment" theory of sacrifice is based on the idea that God stipulated the punishment for sin,
and that the animal sacrifices temporarily atoned for sin until the ultimate
sacrifice of Christ was made on the cross.
That God did
not desire, much less his justice appeased by sacrifice is repeatedly given
with strong words:
Sacrifice
and offering You did not desire...burnt
offering and sin offering You have not required. Psalm 40:6
You desire
not sacrifice...You delight not in burnt offering. Psalm 51:16
To what
purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says
the Lord. I am full of the burnt offering of rams and the fat of fed beasts;
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lams, or of he-goats.
Isaiah 1:11
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn
assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them. Amos 5:21; Jeremiah
For I
spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them...concerning burnt
offerings or sacrifices: but this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my
voice. Jeremiah 7:21
He would
much rather have intelligent cooperation and obedience:
Hath the
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice
of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the
fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22
The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Psalm 51:16
To do
justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Proverbs
21:3
For I desired Mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God
more than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6
Shall I come
before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ...He has shown you, O
man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:6
To love the
Lord...and to love his neighbor...is more than all whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices. Mark
Though you
offer me burnt offerings...I will not accept them.... but let justice run down
like water, and righteousness like a might stream. Amos 5:24
The
Purpose of Sacrifice
And Aaron
shall make an atonement upon the horns of it
once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your
generations: it is most holy unto the LORD. Exodus 30:10
The rich shall
not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they
give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
Exodus 30:15
And he shall
put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for
him to make atonement for
him. Leviticus 1:4
The Bible
speaks of the sacrifices and offerings making
an atonement over 100 times (see Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13,
16, 18; 6:7; 8:34; 9:7; 10:17; etc.). It is clear that the sacrifices were to be
the instrumentality of repairing the broken relationship that sin caused and
bringing the sinner back into communion with God.
How Is
Christ Our Atonement?
The
sacrificial system instituted by God was never interpreted by God’s ancient
people in the way Christianity interprets it. The laying of hands on the
sacrifice’s head by the sinner was deemed as a way in which the sinner was
identifying with the sacrifice, not a mere transferal of sin. Sin is not a
tangible object that can be bottled up and moved from one place to another; sin
is an attitude, a rebellion that takes place in the minds of the sinner.
The word
atonement has no connection with punishment or appeasing. The word literally
means “at-one-ment” (consult the Oxford English Dictionary of the English
Language for the etymology). The word translated “atonement” and
“reconciliation” are the same in the Greek.
Who was it
that was reconciled—God or the human race? "God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to Himself." (2 Corinthians
5:19) We are the ones who have left God (Isaiah 53:6), became afraid of him by
believing lies about him (Genesis 3:8-10), and needed to be brought near to the
Father. “We were [his] enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son… we have now received the
atonement.” (Romans 5:10,11)
The Attraction of the Forensic Model
It is much
easier to accept a “cheap ticket” into the kingdom, where we don’t have to do
anything but merely “accept” the sacrifice of Christ in our stead by uttering a
prayer. The forensic model demands no study, no use of the powers of reason
that God gave us, no dedication of our lives. While Scripture is clear that we
do not earn salvation by works, salvation is nonetheless accomplished only
through much work. Salvation is accomplished in our lives through a
relationship with God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3), and anyone who has a
successful marriage will tell you that cultivating and maintaining a successful
relationship requires time and effort. It may not be deemed as “work” per se,
yet action is required on the part of both parties if they are to get to know
one another.
Fortunately
for us emotional wrecks, God does most of the work. He even miraculously works
in us to enable us to have a relationship with him by giving us new hearts and
right spirits. Our Creator and King deserves to be
understood not as a dishonest, vindictive, unforgiving deity akin to the pagan
gods, but as our righteous father and friend.
~Shaliach