Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Does Christ Satisfy God’s Honor or His Justice?

Does Christ Satisfy God’s Honor or His Justice?

Last updated on: November 25, 2020 at 9:07 pm by Brad Vaughn

Does Christ Satisfy God’s Honor or His Justice? 2020-11-25T21:07:33-07:00 Brad Vaughn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Of making many atonement theories, there is no end.

It can be a real headache trying to sort out all the different theories in history. Unfortunately, people can feel pressure to pick one biblical metaphor over another when describing the atonement. The consequence can easily be that we start pitting one text against another such that we unwittingly ignore (or underemphasize) key teachings in Scripture.

I would agree with Scot McKnight’s basic contention that we need to do a better job bringing together the different atonement metaphors. In my book Saving God’s Face, I attempt to do that.

I’ll mention one example.

Does Christ Satisfy God’s Honor or His Justice?

Historically, Anselm proposed the Satisfaction Theory of Atonement (in Cur Deus Homo, “Why the God Man”). Although Anselm’s interpretation and my own view certainly share some common ground, they are different. In short, we have a common starting place––God demands glory, our sin is the withholding of honor properly due God, thus God requires that his name be vindicated from the shame brought upon him by his image-bearers. Truthfully, I don’t think many Christians would fight too hard against any of these premises.

In Saving God’s Face, I make an exegetical and theological argument. My view is not based on Anselm’s theory.

One of my Ph.D. professors reviewed a seminar paper I wrote in which I first teased out these ideas. He wisely told me to drop my attention from Anselm because if my argument is biblical, then, “Who cares what Anselm says?”

He’s right. Positively, nothing I propose hangs on Anselm’s theory; negatively, I do recognize that some people may not be able to make the distinction. Christian blogs and books are full of people assuming an author really means something contrary to what he has actually said.

Why is Atonement Necessary?

Let’s compare Anselm’s theory with penal substitution. I have two purposes. First, I want to highlight key issues that contrast my view of Anslem’s. Second, I want to give a little context so people can see how my proposal relates to penal substitution.

There are definite similarities between the theory of penal substitution and Anselm’s theory. Fundamentally, humanity’s essential problem is objective––we have offended God.

Credit: commons/wikimedia

Theopedia’s entry on Anselm’s view is rather representative of the way people talk about Anselm’s theory in relation to Penal Substitution.

Anslem believed that humans could not render to God more than what was due to him. The satisfaction due to God was greater than what all created beings are capable of doing, since they can only do what is already required of them. Therefore, God had to make satisfaction for himself. Yet if this satisfaction was going to avail for humans, it had to be made by a human. Therefore only a being that was both God and man could satisfy God and give him the honor that is due him.

The classic Anselmian formulation of the Satisfaction View needs to be distinguished from Penal Substitution. Penal Substitution states that Christ bore the penalty for sin, in place of those sinners united to him by faith. Anselm, by contrast, regarded human sin as defrauding God of the honour he is due. Christ’s death, the ultimate act of obedience, gives God great honour. As it was beyond the call of duty for Christ, it is more honour than he was obliged to give. Christ’s surplus can therefore repay our deficit. Hence Christ’s death is substitutionary in this sense: he pays the honour instead of us. But that substitution is not penal; his death pays our honour not our penalty.

The Protestant reformers shifted the focus of this satisfaction theory to concentrate not merely on divine offense but on divine justice. God’s righteousness demands punishment for human sin. God in his grace both exacts punishment and supplies the one to bear it.

Without fully unpacking Anselm’s entire argument, I would say that his basic idea is generally right but goes wrong when it comes to the details of how it works out. Perhaps, this is why I find that contemporary evangelicals are quick to distance themselves from Anselm. The unfortunate result is that we, therefore, tend to overlook the essence of what Anselm gets right.

Consider closely how Greg Allison contrasts the two perspectives:

The Reformers introduced another view of the atonement, generally called the penal substitutionary theory . In some ways, it was similar to Anselm’s satisfaction theory, but with this major difference: Instead of grounding the atonement in the honor of God—that of which God had been robbed by the sin of humanity—the Reformers grounded it in the justice of God. Because he is holy, God hates sin with wrathful anger and acts against it by condemning and punishing sin. Thus, an eternal penalty must be paid for sin.” (in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 11:2, Summer 2007, p. 10–11).

Others have made similar comments, as you’ll see in the next post. Although the quote has some truth, I think it has some problems that need to be reckoned with. But I’ll wait to say more until then.

Atonement

Honor & Shame (Face)

Justification/Righteousness

Saving God's Face

Theological Contextualization

Theology

Anselm

Penal Substitution

Satisfaction Theory of Atonement

Previous Post

June 11, 2013

Christ Died to Save God's Face

Next Post

June 13, 2013 If Christ Did Not Die, God Would Not Be Righteous

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atonement Biblical Theology Book Reviews China Chinese Church Chinese Culture Chinese Language Collectivism Contextualization Culture (General) Ecclesiology Evangelism Gospel Honor & Shame (Face) Interpretation/Exegesis Justification/Righteousness Missiology Mission Methods One Gospel for All Nations Other Practical Contextualization Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes Resources Romans Salvation (General) Saving God's Face Seeking God's Face The Cross in Context Theological Contextualization Theological Education Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the name "Jesus" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Lord Saves Prince of Peace Son of Man Chosen One

Books by This Author Books by Brad Vaughn

See All Titles »