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Revelatory Theory of Atonement From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Revelatory Theory of Atonement addresses the existential questions of God’s response to the problem of evil. If there is a God, why does he allow evil to exist? Can he be trusted? In this view, God's response, through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of his son Jesus, reveals the truth about both his character and the nature of evil. This revelation provides clarification of the issues and invites restoration to a trusting, transforming relationship with him.

Contents

 Definition  Revelation through Evidence & Transparency Revelation through Jesus Love is the Law Criticisms & Foundational Concepts  Notes <li>Sources</li> <li>External links</li></ol>

Definition

The Revelatory Theory of Atonement addresses the existential questions of God’s response to the problem of evil. If there is a God, why does he allow evil to exist? Can he be trusted? In this view, God's response, through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of his son Jesus, reveals the truth about both his character and the nature of evil. This revelation provides clarification of the issues and invites restoration to a trusting, transforming relationship with him.

This view of the atonement is based on an understanding of a cosmic conflict Biblical Reference(s):

Revelation 12:7-8 John Peckham, Theodicy of Love: Cosmic Conflict and the Problem of Evil (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018), p. 55: [In the first two chapters of his book, Peckham explores] the relationship of love, free will, and evil…suggesting that God permits evil for the sake of love. However, by itself, free will of the kind and extent necessary does not appear to account for God’s allowance of the kind and amount of evil in this world. Could not God…grant us free will sufficient for love without allowing such horrendous evils?... Whereas many approaches to such questions have been offered, most have neglected the prominent biblical theme of conflict between the true God and false gods or demons. Perhaps the main reason for this relative neglect is the supposed implausibility of such a conflict. Although the vast majority of Christians throughout the ages have believed in a conflict between God and demonic agencies, since the rise of Enlightenment modernism this view has often been dismissed or overlooked. Further, some wonder how any such conflict could be compatible with the omnipotence and sovereignty of God. In order to address whether and how such a conflict might provide significant insights into the problem of evil, we must first understand the framework and the nature of the cosmic conflict as depicted in Scripture. <span id="Tonstad_3"> Sigve K. Tonstad, Saving God’s Reputation: The Theological Function of Pistis Iesou in the Cosmic Narratives of Revelation in the Library of New Testament Studies 337, ed. Mark Goodacre (London: Bloomsbury, 2012), p. 68: …[T]he narrative in Revelation 12 points to a cosmic conflict that began in heaven before embroiling the earth. Essential to this unveiling is the discovery that the earthly conflict cannot be described or understood in human terms alone. P. 129: The cosmic perspective signifies that the heavenly beings are assembled for their own sake and not only in order to model heavenly peace for the benefit of the earthly believer. The issue before the heavenly council, framed in terms of the worthiness of the One who sits on the throne, has a bearing on the heavenly beings as much as on earthly realities. When, on the one hand, Revelation asserts that ‘war broke out in heaven’ (12.7), it pinpoints where the conflict arose and identifies the contestants in the conflict. On the other hand, however, the repeated identification of Satan as ‘the deceiver’ solicits an understanding of the means by which the uprising must be overcome. As a deceiver, Satan wins support for his cause and programme by something other than what he truly represents. If this is the case, simple demolition of the deceiver will not suffice unless or until his true character has become manifest. Such a perception of the cosmic conflict depends on presentation of evidence for its resolution. To the extent that the deceiver wins support by purporting to be what he is not, he must be unmasked by evidence to the contrary, that is, by the evidence of his own actual deeds. To the extent that the deceiver gains influence by slandering his opponent, again hewing close to the language of Revelation and to the indicators of the agent’s programme, his cause will unravel if the actual deeds of his opponent turn out to be different from what the slanderer has made them out to be. The crucial point relates to the fact that a conflict of this nature cannot be resolved by force. Inevitably, this requirement exposes at least one troubling risk that is intrinsic to the non-use of force: If the deceiver is partly to be unmasked by the evidence of his own actions, it means that he will be granted the opportunity to bring his design to fruition. Satan must be allowed to commit evil for his evil character to be manifest. The political risk to the divine government of this projected policy, not to mention the theological risk, hardly needs to be elaborated. that began in heaven when the highest-placed created being, Lucifer, the “Light Bearer”, became envious of God and began to question the goodness of God. Biblical Reference(s):

Isaiah 14:12-14 Ezekiel 28:12-15

A. Graham Maxwell, Can God Be Trusted? (Nashville: Southern Publishing Association, 1977), p. 11: Who would dare to question the integrity of God? Who would dare suggest that God cannot be trusted? Yet with this incredible accusation, the Biblical account of human history begins.

The one who raised this charge had not always been God’s enemy. He is pictured first as highly honored, standing in the very presence of our heavenly Father. As God’s trusted spokesman he went out among his fellow angels bearing light and truth. He was called “the Light Bearer”—sometimes translated “Lucifer” or “Morning Star”—a name belonging also to the Son of God Himself….

But Jesus later called him “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The last book in the Bible describes him as “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9).

Alden Thompson, Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God? 5th ed. (Gonzalez: Energion Publications, 2011), pp. 46-48: Turning to Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19, we find two passages which share several similar characteristics. Both passages have been applied to the “prehistory” of Satan and both appear in prophetic oracles or “taunt-songs” against heathen kings. Isaiah 14 is directed against the king of Babylon; Ezekiel 28 is directed against the prince or king of Tyre. Modern scholarship has been very much intrigued with the parallels between these passages and similar passages in the literature of other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Two general conclusions can be drawn from the research done on these passages. First, that the parallels in pagan cultures are striking indeed; second, that the prophets themselves are speaking of the historical enemies of Israel, not of the supernatural realm. The supernatural appears only by way of analogy. In other words, most modern scholars would say that these prophetic oracles would not have been understood by an Old Testament audience as describing Satan. That conclusion seems to be verified by the fact that the first clear application of the Lucifer passage, Isaiah 14:12-15, to Satan, was not made until the time of Tertullian, a church father who died in AD 240.

The history of the interpretation of Ezekiel 28:11-19 is less clear, for the passage has been applied not only to a supernatural being, but to the first man as well (cf. RSV), a problem of interpretation which stems from ambiguity in the original text. In any event, the application to Satan was apparently not made until several centuries into the Christian era.

The question naturally arises: is it legitimate to apply these passages to Satan when such was apparently not the intent of the original author? That is a difficult question to answer, for within the Christian tradition, an interpretation has often been drawn from a biblical passage which was clearly not the one intended by the original writer. A second meaning may have been implied but that is quite a different matter from saying that such a meaning was the one intended by the original writer. Nevertheless, as long as we do not use a second application to obscure our study and understanding of the author's original intent, such second meanings can be useful. Certainly, if we choose to stand within traditional Christianity we must be willing to admit that such secondary meanings have been very popular within the Christian community, and to a certain extent, we must be resigned to such an approach even if we aren’t very happy with it. But the problem has been that such traditional interpretations have often obscured or even replaced the original meaning. I actually suspect that the vehemence with which traditional Christian positions are sometimes attacked is a direct result of Christian reluctance to admit the first meaning of the text. Thus, one of my concerns as I write this book, is to show that it is possible to stand within a conservative Christian tradition and still be able to read the Old Testament for the purpose of discovering its most likely original meaning.

But after admitting that the original intent of Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19 was probably not to outline the pre-history of Satan, I still suspect that Satan is lurking somewhere in those passages. Connected with that suspicion is the probability that the prophets have apparently borrowed from cultures other than their own. We must make it clear, however, that prophets are free to “borrow” whatever they choose and from wherever they might wish. It is the final product that is the result of the divine inspiration, not the bits and pieces. Yet even if that is the case, what right do we have to suspect that pagan religions had bits and pieces of a sort that could be used? That is where I think we ought to take the events of Genesis 3-11 more seriously. Whatever mankind may have originally known about the cosmic struggle would have certainly made its way into pagan cultures and would have come in a distorted fashion to that line of patriarchs which retained the slender thread of the knowledge of the true God. Suddenly, here in prophetic literature, bits and pieces of that cosmic struggle begin to appear, but in a way which does not threaten God’s first concern, the development of faith in him as the one true God. Certainly Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19 do define the issues of the cosmic struggle, namely, that selfishness and pride are the supreme distortion of the will of God and lead inevitably towards full opposition to God himself. The personality of the Adversary, however, is certainly well hidden behind the mask of his quite human protégés. Perhaps, then, the primary criticism of the Christian usage of these passages stems from the impression that has often been given, that these passages must have clearly outlined in the Old Testament audience the knowledge of God's Adversary. Within the context of the approach of this book, I would say that such a knowledge was still too hot for the Old Testament to handle; it had to come later. His envy led to distorted thinking, producing slanderous lies that God is harsh, arbitrary, exacting, vengeful, unforgiving, and severe. He insinuated there can be no real freedom under God’s governance. <span id="Tonstad_7" class="anchor"> Tonstad, Saving God’s Reputation, pp. 142-3: In the Garden of Eden God casts the character of the divine government in terms of freedom (Gen. 2.16). When ‘the ancient serpent’ has his turn, however, he insinuates deprivation of freedom as the hallmark of the divine regime (Gen. 3.1). In the ensuing crisis of credibility the biblical narrative leaves no doubt that the serpent’s proposition is accepted, promising greater freedom and a more exalted state of existence (Gen. 3.1-6).

The all-absorbing issue facing the heavenly council in [the book of] Revelation should also be construed in such a way that freedom is the issue on which the decision will turn. In the scroll that no one is worthy to open lies the evidence that freedom constitutes the basis of the divine government, precisely the opposite of the mudslinger’s charge in the Garden of Eden. Within the logic of freedom, working itself out in the transparency of an open system, ‘the ancient serpent’ inexorably reveals his true character, and the process happens precisely by the quality in God that the adversary has denied.

Sigve K. Tonstad, God of Sense and Traditions of Non-Sense (Eugene: Wipf &amp; Stock, 2016), pp. 102-3: What is the character of the divine rule and, by inference, the character of God? In one representation, God gives ability, freedom, and responsibility to human beings. God stands for principles valued in a free society: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Above all, God’s command makes sense, inviting consent and admiration on the part of human beings and not only obedience.

On the other side in the conflict, God is represented as a tyrant who wields authority arbitrarily, exemplified in a savage prohibition and certainly not along lines of provision, promotion, or protection. This God is hostile to the pursuit of happiness, as evidenced by the allegation that the divine economy is an economy of deprivation and lack ([Genesis] 3:1). In this representation, the harsh terms must be hurriedly overturned for life to flourish. An important feature in either representation is absence of demonstrable suffering at the point when the charges are made. To the serpent, God is at fault not because there is demonstrable suffering, but because there is lack of freedom….

Not to be missed in the representation in Genesis is the fact that God allows an opposing power to misrepresent God in the most barefaced manner. God does not curtail false speech by shutting it down. The serpent who blames God for issuing harsh and senseless prohibitions is itself the beneficiary of God’s permissive stance. The God who allegedly puts a restriction on the freedom to eat, has not restricted the freedom to talk even when the talk is malicious and untrue.

See also Maxwell in Note 8 and Tonstad in Note 68. Using deceptive tactics, he persuaded a portion of other created beings to distrust God, including Earth’s first humans. <span id="note_9" class="anchor"> Biblical Reference(s):

Genesis 2:16-17

Genesis 3:1-5

Maxwell, Can God Be Trusted?, p. 139-40: By the sixth day this world was a beautiful place. Where now were Satan’s charges that God was selfish and severe? And look at the freedom He gave Adam and Eve, creating them in His own image, with individuality, power to think and to do. He created them able to love and trust—or to rebel and spit in His face!

God even gave Satan an opportunity to approach our first parents at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God did not hide that tree in some dark corner of Eden. He placed it in the middle of the Garden so that Adam and Eve would see it every time they came to eat at the tree of life (see Genesis 2:9; 3:2). Of course we could trust God not to allow His children to be tempted beyond their power to resist (see 1 Corinthians 10:13). So Satan’s approaches were limited to the tree, and Adam and Eve were warned not to risk a confrontation with the wily foe.

Tonstad, Saving God’s Reputation, p. 103: The identity of the serpent in the setting of the original temptation, a vexing question to Old Testament expositors, is a lesser concern from the vantage point of Revelation. With an eye to this text [Gen. 3:1] Revelation gives the adversary in the cosmic conflict the title ‘the ancient serpent’, explaining that this character is also ‘the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world’ (Rev. 12.9; 20.2). Suggestions favouring a psychological reading of the temptation may suffice in the setting of Genesis, but this option seems closed from the perspective of Revelation and its resolve to pinpoint the identity of the cosmic antagonist. The eagerness to see the incident purely in anthropological terms is contradicted by evidence to the contrary in the text itself and in the relation it holds to other texts.

Pp. 105-6: Appraising the effect of the serpent’s opening statement, it is clear that his main purpose is to win acceptance for the premise that God is stern and arbitrary, not for the specific version that it is forbidden to eat of any tree in the garden….

Absence of consequences is further proof of the arbitrariness of the command, and it also means that God is not telling the truth. God’s trustworthiness relative to motives and God’s truthfulness relative to facts are both impugned.

Revelation through Evidence & Transparency

In response, God has sought to convince us of the truth about himself using transparency and evidence. <span id="Peckham_10" class="anchor"> Peckham, Theodicy of Love, p. 91: Since the enemy’s slanderous allegations are epistemic in nature, they cannot be effectively answered by any display of power, however great. Indeed, no amount of power exercised by a king would prove to his subjects that he is not unjust…. A conflict over character cannot be settled by sheer power but requires demonstration.

P. 103: [Because] the cosmic dispute is primarily an epistemic conflict over God’s character, God’s mode of operation makes sense. Since God’s very character and government has been challenged, it makes sense that he would operate in a transparent way that involves celestial beings, allowing them and others to see that God is wholly fair and just and loving. Doing so involves parameters, or “rules of engagement,” in which the allegations can be settled and defeated once and for all.

<span id="Maxwell_10" class="anchor"> Maxwell, Can God Be Trusted?, pp. 41-2: The great controversy is not over who can perform the greatest miracles but over who is telling the truth. As the former Lucifer, Satan has seen the awesome power and majesty of God. And whenever he thinks of the One who hung the whole vast universe in space, he trembles with fear (James 2:19) and “knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:12).

God has not been charged with lack of power but with its abuse. The controversy is over the character of God.

How can we know who is telling the truth?...

When God took His case into court, He was inviting the universe to test even His claims and to believe only what proved to be true. Since the truth was on His side, He had nothing to fear from the most searching investigation. Nor was there any need for Him to tamper with the evidence or to intimidate His inquirers.

All that was needed for God to win His case was the clearest possible exposure and demonstration of the truth. The more openness and light the better!...

God Himself has come to the light. And the universe has clearly seen that the truth is with Him. No lie has been found in the mouth of God. “How right and true are your ways!” all heaven agrees (Revelation 15:3, TEV; compare 16:7; 19:2). We can safely place our trust in Him.

Surely such faith is no leap in the dark—unless one should believe that God has left us without light. And if God has really left us in the dark, without sufficient evidence of His trustworthiness, then Satan’s charges have not been met, and trust in God would indeed be an unenlightened risk.

Tonstad, God of Sense, p. 47: God’s remedy is revelation and not compulsion, persuasion and not force.

See also Tonstad in Note 3. Because God has been charged with not looking after the best interests of his creatures, mere claims of authority or displays of overwhelming power would not suffice to convince intelligent beings of the goodness of God. Moreover, this is not God’s way of working. God’s use of any kind of coercive force would simply confirm the charges that his government is based on his use of self-serving power. With these charges originating in the universe at large, God’s answer must be given in that same universal context in order to be ultimately effective. <span id="Maxwell_14" class="anchor"> Maxwell, Can God Be Trusted?, p. 31: Since the great controversy began, it has been Satan’s studied purpose to persuade angels and men that God is not worthy of their faith and love. He has pictured the Creator as a harsh, demanding tyrant who lays arbitrary requirements upon His people just to show His authority and test their willingness to obey. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible tells of Satan’s unceasing efforts to pervert the truth and blacken the character of God.

But if God were as Satan has pictured Him, how easily He could have blotted out His rebellious creatures and started over again! If all God wanted was unthinking obedience, how easily He could have manipulated the minds of men and angels and forced them to obey!

But love and trust, the qualities God desires the most, are not produced by force—not even by God Himself.

That is why, instead of destroying or resorting to force, God simply took His case into court. In order to prove the rightness of His cause, to demonstrate that His way of governing the universe was the best for all concerned, God humbly submitted His own character to the investigation and judgment of His creatures.

<span id="Tonstad_14" class="anchor"> Tonstad, Saving God’s Reputation, p. 3: God’s method is the crucial issue in the drama. Since the issue in the conflict revolves around the kind of person God is, the winner of the battle is not determined simply on the basis of power and might. A more subtle and circumspect reading is therefore required. In [the book of] Revelation God’s leading adversary is called ‘the great dragon,… the ancient serpent,… the Devil and Satan,’ said to be ‘the deceiver of the whole world’ (12.9). This disclosure explains why the antagonist in the conflict cannot be brought to heel by force. The deceiver must be unmasked, and the task of doing that has in Revelation been accomplished by Jesus in the form of a Lamb that looks ‘as if it had been slaughtered’ (5.6). This Lamb is the definitive manifestation of God’s character in history…. This manifestation encompasses the twofold mission of unmasking the deceiver on his own terms and of unveiling what God is like in a way that wins the confidence and admiration of the entire universe (4.8; 5.9-13; 11.17; 15.2-4; 19.1, 2, 5-7).

The clearest and most crucial evidence that God provided was when he sent his son Jesus to this world to reveal what he is like, Biblical Reference(s):

John 14:9

Hebrews 1:3

Larry Ashcraft et al, Servant God: The Cosmic Conflict Over God’s Trustworthiness, ed. Dorothee Cole (Loma Linda, Loma Linda University Press, 2013), ch. 13 by Marco Belmonte, p. 191: Any attempt at analyzing the life of Christ would be incomplete if not placed in the framework of these words spoken by Jesus to his Father hours before he faced his own execution. “I have finished the work.” What work? What was this work that Jesus came to complete?... Fortunately, we don’t need to guess what “the work” was, because Christ himself went on to make it very clear: “I have manifested Your name.” “Name” is synonymous with character in the Bible, as reflected by Eugene Peterson’s The Message: “I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me.”

Jesus’ whole mission was to reveal to the entire universe the true character of his Father in Heaven—our God. Every action Jesus performed, no matter how significant (or insignificant) the impact may appear on the surface, was designed to give insight into the very heart of God’s character, which had been so grossly misrepresented by Satan and the men and women who had come to believe those lies.

Bradley Jersak, A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel (Pasadena: Plain Truth Ministries, 2015), pp. 83-4: [I]n the flesh and blood person of Jesus, we have the only life ever lived that perfectly reveals the true nature of God, as far as it can be revealed in a human being. New Testament writers remind us that Jesus of Nazareth was more than a wandering peasant-prophet from Galilee. They insist he was and is the exact image of God’s essence, the precise imprint of God’s being (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:13). They testify that in Christ, “all the fullness of the Godhead lived in a human body” (Col. 2:9). John’s first epistle contends for the central Christian truth: that Jesus Christ came ‘in the flesh’ (1 John 4:2). ‘Flesh’ as in a tangible body. ‘Flesh’ as in authentic humanity. ‘Flesh’ as in the full range of physical limitations, human emotions and depths of suffering common to us all.

In simple terms, we say that Jesus showed us exactly what God is like, not just a facet of divinity; Jesus was the one true and living avatar of the transcendent God. When the Apostle Philip asked him, “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us,” Jesus himself declared, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

“I and the Father are one,” he says (John 10:30).

That is, Jesus on earth unveiled God in heaven. His apostles confirmed that in Christ, they had experienced the impossible: they had seen God, heard God and touched God (1 John 1:1-2). They knew face-to-face fellowship with the Almighty because Jesus was in truth the very face of God (2 Cor. 4:6).

These are profound claims, not only about who Jesus was and is, but even more importantly, these claims mean that Jesus is the decisive revelation of who God is and the radical re-definition of what God is like. If so, then understand: God is entirely Christ-like!

<span id="Peckham_15" class="anchor"> Peckham, Theodicy of Love, pp. 120-1: If the cosmic conflict involves a courtroom drama regarding God’s character, it could not be settled prematurely by the exercise of divine power but first requires a public demonstration of God’s justice and character to defeat the enemy’s slanderous allegations. This demonstration has been set forth ultimately and definitively in Christ…. This demonstration of God’s righteousness was at the same time a demonstration of his character of love: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8)….

Christ’s mission was, in large part, one of epistemic revelation of God’s kingdom of truth and justice (contra the enemy’s kingdom of slander), which is made clear in Christ’s stated purpose: “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37; cf 8:44-45).

Although Jesus is the clearest revelation of God, God has and continues to reveal himself in many other ways, as well. This is why Paul could say in Romans 2:14-15, “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.” thereby both exposing and refuting the lies of the rebellious Lucifer. The incarnation reveals that God did not abandon humanity when they chose rebellion. Rather, it demonstrates that God can be trusted to keep his promises. Biblical Reference(s):

Habakkuk 2:3-4

<span id="Tonstad_18" class="anchor"> See Sigve Tonstad’s argument in The Letter to the Romans: Paul among the Ecologists in The Earth Bible Commentary Series, 7, ed. Norman C. Habel (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2017), especially pp. 13-15, that “his faithfulness” refers to God’s faithfulness.

“The source of [Habakkuk’s] bewilderment is God’s apparent un-faithfulness. The moral order is coming unglued for lack of the requisite action on God’s part.” (p. 13)

“[T]he problem for Habakkuk is the apparent absence of God’s faithfulness. The promise to Habakkuk is that something is to happen that will put God’s faithfulness on display. The summons to Habakkuk…is that ‘the righteous will live by my faithfulness’.” (p. 14)

“Habakkuk…received the answer that God’s righteousness would be revealed, telling him that ‘it awaits an appointed time…it will certainly come and will not delay’, and then, ‘the righteous one will live by my faithfulness’ [Hab. 2.4, Tonstad’s translation]. This is the statement quoted by Paul [in Romans 1:17]. We should be reluctant to assume that Paul applies this answer to a completely different question that Habakkuk. ‘Thus, when Paul quotes Hab. 2.4, we cannot help hearing the echoes—unless we are tone-deaf-of Habakkuk’s theodicy question’, says Hays.” (p. 15, Tonstad quoting Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (1989), p. 40.)

The Revelatory Theory of Atonement captures the OT context of Paul’s quote from Habakkuk which is not concerned with “human salvation” as traditionally defined, but rather the theodicy question and God’s apparent absence, i.e. God’s faithfulness to deal with evil. It further demonstrates his commitment to come near to us and dwell among us, sharing in our plight while also demonstrating that God is indeed looking after the best interests of his creatures.

Revelation through Jesus

Jesus’ ministry of healing people illustrates the way God deals with the problem of sin and evil—restoration, not punishment; healing in response to brokenness. Biblical Reference(s):

Isaiah 53:5

Ashcraft et al, Servant God, Belmonte, p. 193-4: What could be more revelatory about the kind of God Jesus came to reveal than the sheer volume of restorative healing Christ extended to those who were afflicted with physical, mental, and spiritual ailments? Humble and compassionate, Jesus never forced his patients into being healed but frequently asked, “What would you like?”

Flood, Healing the Gospel, pp. 18-9: When we look at the ministry of Jesus, we see that the majority of his actions are not focused on calling people to repentance, but rather on ministering to the sick, disabled, and mentally ill, all of which have a direct connection to poverty. In the time of Jesus, illness was seen as God’s curse, and as a result people with chronic illness and disability were often ostracized from love and social support….

Once we realize this, the fourfold ministry of Jesus—healing the sick, freeing the demonically oppressed, forgiving the sinner, and caring for the poor—can be seen as addressing the full scope of human brokenness. All of these are part of his salvation work which was not only focused on dealing with moral problems, but dealt with the full person: physically, mentally, spiritually/ethically, and socially.

Maxwell, Servants or Friends?, p. 124: God has presented himself as our heavenly Father and Physician. When Jesus was here, he spent much of his time healing the sick. He had so little time to accomplish his purpose. Why didn’t he spend more of it preaching?

It is apparent from all sixty-six books, that God’s way is not only to explain but to demonstrate. What was Jesus showing about the Father, and about God’s treatment of sinners, by healing all kinds of people the way he did? Some of them never thanked him. Some of them may even have been among his enemies at the end. He will ultimately heal all who respond to his love, all who are reconciled back to a trusting relationship with him. This restoration reveals that God’s justice and mercy do not work in opposition to each other. God’s justice is making right what went wrong; his justice is restorative, not retributive. Ashcraft et al, Servant God, ch. 11 by Brad Cole, p. 168: In the Old Testament, to “bring justice” does not mean to bring punishment but to bring healing and reconciliation. Justice means to make things right by correcting injustice. Justice is ultimately an expression of mercy—it is God’s mercy in action.

Pp. 174-6: The Old Testament definition of God’s justice as compassionate intervention in this world does not suddenly change in the New Testament. Unfortunately, we often fail to rely on the Old Testament as a basis for understanding God’s justice in the New. Instead, we apply our modern-day understanding of courtroom justice and interpret any New Testament reference to justice predominantly in legal terms: Quid-pro-quo payback justice, retributive justice, legal justice, and justice that primarily involves an imposed, painful penalty and a punishment that fits the crime….

The beauty of the Bible is that it is internally consistent on the subject; we can use both Testaments to define and explain God’s justice….

Flood, Healing the Gospel, p. 6: While our understanding of justice has shifted as a society away from a punitive model and towards a restorative one, most of us continue to think that punitive justice is what the Bible teaches. As a result, many Christians defend a punitive model, even when it conflicts with their own values…. We struggle to believe it, even though it seems wrong and hurtful to us. We hate it, but think this is what God wants us to believe….

What I want to propose is that the above is not at all what the Bible teaches, and instead is the result of people projecting their worldly understanding of punitive justice onto the biblical text. The New Testament, in contrast, is actually a critique of punitive justice. It presents it as a problem to be solved, not as the means to the solution…. In other words, restorative justice is how God in Christ acts to heal the problem of punitive justice.

P. 17: A restorative approach, rather than a punitive one, recognizes and addresses our underlying brokenness that leads to hurtful behavior. It is a focus on healing rather than on hurting, on restoration rather than on retribution.

Pp. 24-5: The irony then, is that it is in fact penal substitution that ends up ignoring sin because it understands salvation as a mere legal acquittal. According to this model, once a substitute is punished in our place, God can then justly overlook our sin. Nothing changes in us, nothing is restored for the one who was hurt. All that happens is that someone is punished, and with that it is declared that the demands of justice have been satisfied. Case closed. This amounts to what many have called a “legal fiction” where the harm our sin does to us and others is simply ignored via a legal loophole.

In contrast, a restorative model recognizes the real harm that sin can do, and seeks to heal it. This involves both caring for those who have been hurt, and restoring those who are hurting others (and if we are honest, we all fall into both of these categories). A restorative model does not deny the problem of sin, but like a doctor, its response is to heal. In this light, justification is setting straight what has been misaligned.

Jesus further illustrated this in the way he treated people and in the stories he told. His treatment of the woman taken in adultery demonstrates that it is not God who accuses sinners; rather, God is working toward restoration. The story Jesus told about his being the Good Shepherd demonstrates that he puts himself between his people and the Adversary, putting his own life on the line in order to protect them (substitution), but not because it is God who is their adversary, seeking their death.

Although Jesus did not sin, he voluntarily laid down his life, dying as if he had sinned, accepting separation from God who is the life giver—that is, the second death, the ultimate death of the wicked. This death, which demonstrated the truthfulness of God’s warning about the consequences of sin, See God’s warning about the consequences of sin in Note 9. Biblical Reference(s):

James 1:14-15 Romans 6:23

<span id="Maxwell_31" class="anchor"> Maxwell, Can God Be Trusted?, pp. 77-9: The most important story in all the sixty-six books is how the Son of God came to this earth, how He lived among us as the most gracious person the world has ever seen, how still in the prime of life He died a terrible death and then rose from the grave and returned to His heavenly Father.

What does this tell us about God? Why did Jesus come in human form? And why did He have to die?...

The first mention of death in the Bible is in God’s solemn warning in the Garden of Eden: “in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Genesis 2:17).

Satan has denied the truthfulness of these words. “You will not die,” he asserted to Adam and Eve. “It is perfectly safe—in fact, highly beneficial—to eat the fruit of this tree. You cannot depend on God always to tell you the truth. This is why it is not wise or safe to place full trust in Him” (see Genesis 3:1-6).

But Satan has not only denied the truthfulness of God’s words of warning; he has also led to a perversion of their true meaning. The enemy of God and man, who would have us fear our heavenly Father as arbitrary, unforgiving, and severe, has led to the misunderstanding of this warning as a harsh demand for obedience under penalty of death.

What a baleful effect this distortion of the truth has had worldwide! How it has poisoned people’s attitude toward God and their practice of religion! Obey, or face execution at the hands of an angry God. How could this satanic view have met with such wide acceptance?

For thousands of years men have offered sacrifice—sometimes even their own children—to win the favor of offended gods. Even in the Christian world some teach that had it not been for Christ’s appeasement of a wrathful God, we would long ere this have been destroyed; and but for His Son’s constant pleading in our behalf the Father could not find it in His heart to forgive and heal us sinners.

But need anything be done to persuade God to love His children?

Nothing is more emphatic in Scripture than that God has always loved—even His most wayward child. The consistent testimony of all sixty-six books is that our heavenly Father loves us as He loves His Son.

When God said, “In the day that you eat of it, you shall die,” He was uttering no arbitrary threat. In love for His created beings, He was only warning of the consequences of sin.

Sin so changes the sinner that it actually results in death. Separated from the Source of life, he will surely die…. was as much for the created beings who did not follow the Adversary into rebellion as it was for humans. It was also to answer their questions about God. Jesus died the sinner’s death to reveal the natural consequences of sin. <span id="Maxwell_34" class="anchor"> Maxwell, Can God Be Trusted?, pp. 81-2: The universe was watching when God forgave Adam and Eve. Angels had heard God’s warning of death. They had heard Satan’s bold denial. Again the same question had been raised that started the war up in heaven. Who was right? Who was telling the truth—God or the former Light Bearer?

Had God permitted our first parents to reap the natural consequence of their rebellion and sin, the truthfulness of His warning would have been clearly seen and Satan’s falsehood would have been exposed.

But “the Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, KJV). Instead of death He offered forgiveness and healing…. He preserved the life of the sinner that he might have more time to consider the truth.

What a risk God ran of being misunderstood! Satan would not hesitate to take advantage of God’s willingness to forgive as evidence supporting his evil charges. “I told you God has lied!” the devil could claim. “Sin does not result in death. You will not die.”

Why did not God allow Satan and his followers to reap the full result of their sin? Would not their death have been the most effective way to halt the spread of rebellion and wipe out temptation and sin?

But the universe had never seen death. It was not yet apparent that death was the inevitable consequence of sin. There was danger that the universe would assume that God had executed His enemies, that onlooking beings would thus be led to obey Him out of fear.

In spite of Satan’s charges to the contrary, God does not desire the service of fear. It grieves Him to see His children afraid. If we should be moved to keep God’s commandments merely by fear of His power to destroy, our obedience would not speak well of our loving heavenly Father.

To remain free and unafraid of God, the universe must learn the truth about the results of sin. They must be helped to understand that the sinner’s death is not execution at the hands of a vengeful God. He did this so that no one else would necessarily have to suffer the same consequence. Biblical Reference(s):

John 3:16

<span id="Tonstad_35" class="anchor"> Sigve K. Tonstad, The Letter to the Romans: Paul among the Ecologists in The Earth Bible Commentary Series, 7, ed. Norman C. Habel (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2016), p. 172-5: …Paul stresses that Christ died to demonstrate God’s love ([Romans] 5:8), ‘not to prompt a transformation of divine wrath into love’ [Tonstad quoting Robert Jewett, Romans: A Commentary on the Book of Romans (2006), p. 364]. Revelation is here the short hand meaning of Christ’s death…. ‘God proves (synistesin) his love for us’, as the NRSV translates it, has the meaning of revealing as well as commending…. If there is a point to having proof of God’s love, what could the point be other than doubt in regard to God’s love in the first place? God’s demonstration answers the vexing question in a persuasive, definitive manner….

The human predicament is not adequately described in terms of violation of the divine command as though this is the main problem that needs to be made right. What, then, is the other—the main—problem? The main problem is misrepresentation and misperception of God’s character (Gen. 3.1-6). The death of Jesus is redemptive as revelation because it addresses the kind of person God is (Rom. 5.6, 8). Erstwhile enemies become friends by force of the discovery that the human perception of God was widely off target (5.10)….

The God toward whom human beings are hostile, is a God thought to be hostile toward them. Sin’s triumph, thus understood, is nowhere more evident than in its success in construing God as though standing in the posture of a virtual executioner toward humans. When human enmity is…predicated…on a perception of divine hostility, God’s action must address the reason for the enmity. This should be taken to be the primary—and the revelatory—meaning of the statement, ‘We were God’s enemies, but he made us his friends (katellagemen) through the death of his Son’ (5.10, GNB). This was a revelatory substitution, not a transactional substitution.

God did not need Jesus’ death in order to forgive sinners. Consider the dozens of Old Testament instances where God is forgiving, being described as forgiving, or promising forgiveness, that precede the death of Jesus, e.g., Jeremiah 36:3; Ezekiel 16:62-63; Numbers 15:28; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 32:1; Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35; Leviticus 5:10, 13, 16, 18; Leviticus 6:7; Leviticus 19:22. Also consider Luke 15:11-32, the Parable of the Lost Son.

Maxwell, Can God Be Trusted?, p. 104: For many years God pleaded with His erring people to come back and be faithful once again. Patiently He kept on calling, “Come home, Israel, come home to the Lord your God! For it is your sins which have been your downfall. Take words of repentance with you as you return to the Lord; say to him, Clear us from all our evil.” And God promised, “I will heal their unfaithfulness, I will love them with all my heart” (Hosea 14:1, 2, 4, Phillips).

The prodigal son did just this. He came home with words of repentance. And his father was so glad to see him that he didn’t let him finish his confession. This is how our heavenly Father feels about every sinner who comes back, Jesus explained (see Luke 15:10-32). He had already been forgiving humans for millennia before Jesus came, using a sacrificial system to remind people of sin and the direct causal link between sin and death. God’s purpose in this process was to evoke humility in the person offering the sacrifice so that they would be willing to listen and learn.

This view holds that the Adversary twisted God’s sacrificial illustration to imply that payment is necessary to forgive sin. He also twisted God’s words of warning that sin is deadly, insinuating that it is God who punishes by ultimately killing the unrepentant sinner. The Revelatory Theory of Atonement, however, defines sin as an attitude of rebellion, the inherent consequences of which are death. In the freedom that God maintains in his universe, evil must be allowed to demonstrate its self-destructive nature, <span id="Peckham_45" class="anchor"> Peckham, Theodicy of Love, p. 103: Insofar as God maintains his commitment to epistemic freedom, the use of force can do nothing to counter such allegations, so another strategy is required to meet the allegations. Thus in the case of Job, God allows such allegations to have a hearing before the heavenly council and to be put on display so that creatures can make their own decisions. Toward answering such cosmic allegations, God allows Satan parameters within which he might make his case.

In order for a finite being to be able to make such a case against the omnipotent God, there must be consistent parameters within which that finite being is allowed to operate. The finite being must be granted some jurisdiction that the omnipotent being covenants not to override. This is just what we see in Job 1-2. Satan is initially restricted and later brings requests to the heavenly council to have more license to demonstrate his charges. This evinces not only that Satan works within limits that are known to him and to God but that these “rules of engagement” can be modified by agreement before the heavenly council. Insofar as God covenants to act or refrain from acting in a certain way, he is morally bound to do so. Given such covenantal “rules of engagement,” then, God’s action is (morally) restricted.

P. 109: We might wonder why God would enter into a covenantal arrangement that would grant Satan such jurisdiction in the first place, even if only temporarily. …[I]t may be that the kind and extent of free will necessary for the maximal flourishing of love—coupled with the enemy’s slanderous allegations against God’s character and government—required a context in which a demonstration could take place, apart from which the conflict could not be settled without severely damaging the flourishing of love (cf. Matt. 13:29).

Since the cosmic war is not one of sheer force but one of character—a challenge to God’s moral government and thus a battle for hearts and minds—there must be known limits or rules within which the enemy can operate (cf. Job 1-2; Dan. 10). Further, if Satan is to set forth a real, demonstrative counterclaim, he must possess some jurisdiction to do so…. This jurisdiction was presumably triggered or greatly increased by humanity’s fall, providing the context for Satan to manifest his government as temporary “ruler of this world” and concomitantly to lay forth his charges against God’s government of love. Insofar as this covenantal arrangement is itself morally justified as the best (or only) available avenue to settle the cosmic dispute, the great good of ensuring that love flourishes throughout the universe for eternity serves as the morally sufficient reason for God’s allowance of evil, without affirming that any such evil itself is justifiable or necessary for such flourishing.

Tonstad, God of Sense, p. 58: If evil is posing as something other than what it is, the truth will come to light only when evil is made to show its hand. If, too, the divine intent is to make manifest the self-destructive character of evil, this happens only by letting evil stage its own defeat…

See also Tonstad in Notes 3 and 7. establishing conclusive evidence of God’s truthfulness. God’s role in the final death of the wicked is, with his terrible anguish, giving them up to the full consequence of their choice to separate from himself, the source of life. The Old Testament develops the concept of God giving people over to consequences. For example, see 1 Kings 8:46, 1 Kings 13:26, 2 Chronicles 6:36, Nehemiah 4:4, Psalm 41:2, Psalm 63:10, Psalm 118:18, Psalm 141:8, Isaiah 34:2, Isaiah 64:7, Jeremiah 18:21, Ezekiel 23:46, Ezekiel 35:6, Daniel 8:12, and Micah 6:16. Perhaps the text that reveals the most about the anguish that God feels by this, however, is reflected in Hosea 11:8

The New Testament continues this concept in how it describes Jesus as “given over” by Judas to those who sought to kill him (Matthew 26:15, Mark 14:11), which Paul reiterates in Romans 8:32.

<span id="Maxwell_46" class="anchor"> Maxwell, Can God Be Trusted?, pp. 84-9: God’s wrath, as Paul seems to describe it, is His turning away in loving disappointment from those who do not want Him anyway, thus leaving them to the inevitable consequences of their own rebellious choice.

Surely no more awful sentence could be pronounced upon a sinner than for God to say, “Leave him alone.” …

There is no clearer picture of God than may be seen at the foot of the cross.

God had told the truth when He warned that the wages of sin is death. In His Son He was dying that death. But God was not executing His Son. He only “gave Him up,” as He will give up the wicked at the end. And though by rights we should have died, God did not ask us to prove the truthfulness of His word. He sacrificed Himself in His Son….

Christ died primarily to prove the righteousness of God in the great controversy….

With this supreme demonstration of God’s righteousness all questions about His character and government were settled throughout the universe. God had won His case. The issues in the great controversy had been clearly seen….

Even as the wicked die, God will not be angry with His unsavable children. As He watches them perish, we shall hear His cry, “How can I give you up! How can I let you go!” [Hosea 11:8]

Derek Flood, “Substitutionary atonement and the Church Fathers: A reply to the authors of Pierced for Our Transgression,” published in Evangelical Quarterly 82.2 (2010) p. 147: Typical of the Greek Fathers, Athanasius defines sin as corruption leading to death…. Instead of externally inflicted judicial punishment, the model Athanasius has is one of natural consequence. In breaking our communion with God, Athanasius says that we have cut ourselves off from the very source of Life. As a result we return to the state we were created out of: nothing, ‘returning, through corruption, to non-existence again’... Being separated from the source of Life, we die. This ‘corruption’ and resulting ‘death’ is not understood by Athanasius in terms of a punishment externally inflicted, but as the inevitable consequences of sin, ‘Inevitably, therefore when they lost the knowledge of God, they lost existence with it’...

Jersak, A More Christlike God, pp. 207-10: Paul clarifies throughout Romans 1: what had been described in the narrative as active wrath is in fact a metaphor. He defines ‘wrath’ three times as the ‘giving over’ (God’s consent) of rebellious people to their own self-destructive trajectories…

Nor is this only a New Testament discovery. Although Isaiah uses a lot of myth-literal language, he seems fully aware that God’s wrath is a metaphor, and clarifies on a number of occasions. In the Book of Isaiah we read, “No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins” (Isa. 64:7). This giving over is played out in the exile, as Jerusalem is given over to her enemies….

…We are not to believe that Jesus is saving us from God the Father, but from the consequences intrinsic to sin itself, namely death…. [T]he Apostle of Grace could not lay out the contrast more clearly: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23 NASB). The Revelatory Theory of Atonement categorically rejects the doctrine of hell as an imposed punishment; it is considered to be one of the many lies of Satan, aimed at thwarting a trusting relationship with a loving God.

Jesus' resurrection reveals God's power over death and his assurance of our liberation from the power of the system of lies and sin that lead to death. Ashcraft et al, Servant God, ch. 19 by Ken Peterson, Jr., pp. 282-3: …[T]he Resurrection forces us to question some traditional ways of explaining the Cross. So we must not focus on the Cross alone but see it in the context of the Resurrection. The Cross by itself, while moving us to admiration for the innocent man who quietly suffered a brutal murder, leaves us frightened, exhausted, and maybe even hopeless, just as it left his disciples. But the death and resurrection of Jesus, as a package deal, provides a supreme explanation of reality. It is the great beacon of hope for all of us trapped in this life of falling short of the mark. It reveals to us the reality of God’s sovereign power over evil and his ultimate creative power to finally defeat the wages of sin and reveal himself as the Conqueror of death (Romans 1:4; Revelation 1:18). Even more important than proving God’s power, the Resurrection settles the issue of God’s character because it ratifies Christ’s real-life demonstration.

<span id="Flood_50" class="anchor"> Flood, “Substitutionary atonement” pp. 149-51: It is an understanding of salvation which involves our healing by way of Christ ‘abolishing’ the very system of death through his death and resurrection. In other words, substitutionary atonement understood within the conceptual framework of what we might term restorative justice. It is restorative in the sense that salvation is focused on our healing and re-birth (restoring us), and restorative in that it seeks to overturn the system of death (restoring God’s reign). This represents a paradigm of justice not based on a punitive model, but one focused on setting us right by transforming us, and setting the world right by overthrowing ‘the law of sin and death’ (Ro 8:2). In this later sense it reflects a model of justice that is in fact the opposite of retributive justice, because it seeks ultimately to abolish retribution, not to appease it….

[Gregory of Nazianzus] writes that Christ ‘destroyed the whole condemnation of your sins’. The implications here are staggering: condemnation itself is wholly destroyed, dissolved, undone. This effectively takes us out of the bounds of any theory of the satisfaction of legal retribution. It is the overturning of the economy of wrath with the superior economy of grace. Christ became condemnation-itself in order to abolish condemnation-itself.

This language of death and curse being ‘abolished’ and ‘annulled’ present in both Gregory and Athanasius is quite significant. It begins with the assumption of validity of retributive justice: We are not only victims of Satan’s bondage, we are also sinners and the just consequence of that is death. But in the Christ event (incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection) this way of retributive justice has been superseded, replaced and ‘destroyed’ by the superior way of restorative justice. The law of sin and death is replaced with the economy of grace which works to set free and restore life. Seen through the lens of the father’s image of salvation as healing, we can think here of a doctor who, while recognizing that certain behaviours can lead as a consequence to injury and sickness, nonetheless seeks to heal the patient. His resurrection also reveals to a broken, hurting humanity the promise of eternal life and shows the way to its fulfillment.

Love is the Law

This view of atonement emphasizes God’s principle of self-giving love as the foundation of his government. <span id="Jersak_51" class="anchor"> Jersak, A More Christlike God, pp. 211-3: God has woven supernatural love into the very fabric of the world; a love that not only consents to violence but also subverts and overcomes violence. Far from feeble in this nonviolent consent, God’s love is powerful—all-powerful! In fact, it’s the only conceivable power that can make all things right and new. God’s love does not need to violate the freedom or the laws of that which exists by suspending natural and spiritual order, because love is the ground of all that exists. Love is part of that order—its essential heart. At the top of that order is humanity, with the created capacity to be like God, that is, to consent to bear and seed God’s supernatural love throughout all of creation.

Somehow, though, we know—we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears—something is broken, has ruptured. All of creation and, most of all, humanity groans under an affliction whereby God’s consent to violence seems to enslave us rather than free us. Or perhaps God’s loving consent to our freedom has born the fruit of violence rather than love. Our very freedom has become the violent means of our slavery.

From that point of view, God seems cruel, whether through absence or complicity. God seems impotent, for how can God possibly mend a breach that God’s love and our freedom ultimately created?

Thanks be to God, at the pinnacle of humanity stands Jesus Christ. His nonviolent consent to the Cross—the intersection of humanity’s affliction (our freedom-to-violence) and God’s radical forgiveness—becomes the occasion whereby supernatural love flows through God’s own wounds into the world. God’s love, far from being weak or impotent, will eclipse violence, might and force as the relentless catalyst for the renewal of the world….

God’s Kingdom does not advance through violence, freedom-violating force or law-breaking interventions. God’s kingdom reign is the expression of supernatural love in and through those who consent to being indwelt and transformed by Christ-mediated love.

See also Ashcraft in Note 64. Jesus fulfilled this law of love, revealing how God’s law is perfect and eternal, and is a universally applicable moral code. Because genuine love like this cannot be commanded, God is absolutely committed to maintaining freedom in his creation. <span id="Ashcraft_54" class="anchor"> Ashcraft et al, Servant God, ch. 4 by Tom Ewall, p. 68: In order for there to be love, there must be the possibility of love rejected. Love cannot be forced, as love forced is not love at all. Love must be freely given. Given that God is love and has created us in his image, it is not surprising that God would view love, and hence freedom, so highly.

<span id="Peckham_54" class="anchor"> Peckham, Theodicy of Love, p. 11: In my view, the free will defense is strongest when the value that is offered as the morally sufficient reason for God’s allowance of evil is not moral freedom alone but love, which I take to be a greater good, perhaps even the greatest good in the universe. Indeed, if “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16), what value could be greater? Thus I agree with [Stephen T.] Davis and many others that love was a “main aim” of God in granting free will: “God wanted to create a world in which created rational agents (e.g., human beings) would decide freely to love and obey God.” [quoting Davis, Encountering Evil: Live Options in Theodicy (2001), 74] As such, love itself might be God’s “overriding reason for allowing the amount of moral evil that exists in the world.” [Davis, p. 77]

If love requires freedom and if the rejection of God’s love is itself evil, then love requires the possibility of evil. Davis explains, “Obviously, in making human beings free, God ran the risk that they would go wrong. The possibility of freely doing evil is the inevitable companion of the possibility of freely doing good.” [Davis, 75] Rice further argues that love “requires freedom.” He explains, “God’s creatures would not be free to say yes to God unless they were free to say no. Sadly, this is just what some of them did.” [quoting Richard Rice, Suffering and the Search for Meaning (2014), p. 47] Consequently, God does not wish to manipulate or control any of his creatures. Rather, he desires to help each one to recover their self-control. This is accomplished through a trusting, transforming relationship with him. The sinner is set right, or justified, as God works repentance in them, turning them away from their rebellion and toward himself. By his transforming love, they are turned to other-centeredness.

Criticisms & Foundational Concepts

The Revelatory Theory of Atonement has been deemed by its critics to be equivalent to Peter Abelard’s Moral Influence Theory. While there are attributes of Moral Influence that the other atonement models embrace (including the Revelatory Theory), it is an incomplete model. To address some of these deficiencies, the Revelatory Theory of Atonement has embraced certain foundational concepts:

1) It focuses on God’s answer to the charges that have been leveled against him by the Adversary.

2) It clarifies the reason why Jesus died was to objectively reveal God’s truthfulness about the cause of the second death; it is sin that kills, not God who kills. Because the charges were against God himself, this could not have been demonstrated in any other way or by anyone other than God.

3) It contends that sin is much more than merely breaking rules; sin is a mindset of rebelliousness against the principles of self-giving love that sets up a barrier between people and God, who is the source of life. <span id="Ashcraft_64" class="anchor"> Ashcraft et al, Servant God, ch. 2 by Timothy R. Jennings, pp. 49-51: We can describe God’s law in two primary ways:

A legal enactment by the Creator of the universe. An imposed set of rules to which created beings are required to adhere, upon threat of an imposed penalty by the Creator of the law.

A principle emanating from the Creator upon which life is designed to operate or function. Deviations are inherently incompatible with life as the Creator designed it.

From these two diverging ideas of God’s law, two separate views of sin have emerged; and, subsequently, two very different ways of resolving the sin problem have been taught.

From definition number one emerges the version that argues God is arbitrary and imposes laws upon his creatures that they must obey. When the law was broken, God, in order to be just, had to impose penalties upon his creatures. This view portrays sinful mankind under the legal condemnation of God and without hope of life eternal unless the “legal penalty” is paid. Sin, from this perspective, is merely disobedience to an imposed law. Rule breaking equals bad behavior….

But what if the law of God is not enacted, imposed, legislated, or decreed? What if God’s law is something entirely different? What if sin is something more sinister than a mere breaking of rules? What if sin is a damaging condition that kills people? Wouldn’t that call for a treatment or solution for sin that is more than just a legal payment? Is it possible that the sin situation requires some change in the heart of those affected?...

The Bible teaches that God’s law is the “law of love.” The “law of love” is not something God “created” but is the life principle that emanates from God’s very being, because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love is not enacted or legislated or imposed but is simply the natural order of all things arising from the God of love. This law of love is the design template upon which God has constructed all life to operate and is described in Scripture in this way: “[Love is] not self-seeking” (1 Corinthians 13:5). In other words, love is other-centered and outward moving. The law of love is the law of giving….

When the God of love created, he created all life in harmony with his own character of love. Life is constructed to exist only when operating in perfect other-centered love. All life, health, and happiness are dependent upon harmony with this law (Romans 1:20, 13:8)….

Sin is stepping outside the law of love, breaking the circle of life’s normal operation, severing the outflow of selfless giving, violating the construction protocols for life. In other words, sin is “lawlessness,” or being outside the design template of life, outside of love.

4) It addresses the great theodicy questions of why there is evil in the world, why there is so much of it, and why it seems that God is absent. If God had prematurely intervened in the working out of evil by forcefully halting it, or even if God had simply allowed Lucifer to die of natural consequences when he first rebelled, questions about God’s involvement in death would remain for eternity. This would leave the seeds of distrust and rebellion within God’s creation. Instead, evil had to be allowed to fully reveal how damaging and deadly it is.

5) It emphasizes the importance of evidence in the development of trust. The Revelatory Theory of Atonement holds that God will heal and save all who trust him, but he does not expect his creatures to believe and trust him based on mere claims of authority or demonstrations of power. Rather, the long record of God’s involvement with his creation provides evidence of his trustworthiness and commitment to restoration, without sacrificing freedom. This view sees atonement as at-one-ment, or reconciliation, that is based on the revealed evidence of the true character of God.

Notes

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[https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Traditions-Non-Sense-Sigve-Tonstad/dp/1498233139/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499307462&sr=1-1 Tonstad, Sigve K. (2016). God of Sense and Traditions of Non-Sense]. Wipf and Stock. ISBN 978-1-4982-3313-2.

[https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Gods-Reputation-Theological-Narratives/dp/0567044947 Tonstad, Sigve K.; Goodacre, Mark, ed. (2012). Saving God’s Reputation: The Theological Function of Pistis Iesou in the Cosmic Narratives of Revelation] in the Library of New Testament Studies 337. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-567-20244-4.

[https://www.amazon.com/Letter-Romans-among-Ecologists-Commentary/dp/1910928208/ Tonstad, Sigve K.; Habel, Norman C., ed. (2017). The Letter to the Romans: Paul among the Ecologists] in The Earth Bible Commentary Series, 7. Sheffield Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-1-910928-20-2.

[https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p820.9861&index=0 White, Ellen G. (January 20, 1890). “God Made Manifest in Christ],” Signs of the Times.

[https://egwwritings.org/book/b130 White, Ellen G. (2005). The Desire of Ages] in the Conflict of the Ages Series. Pacific Press Publishing Association. ISBN 978-0-8163-2091-2.

[https://egwwritings.org/book/b132 White, Ellen G. (2005). The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan] in the Conflict of the Ages Series. Review and Herald Publishing Association. ISBN 978-0-8163-2090-5.

[https://egwwritings.org/book/b84 White, Ellen G. (2005). The Story of Patriarchs and Prophets] in the Conflict of the Ages Series. Pacific Press Publishing Association. ISBN 978-8163-2093-6.

External Links Greg Boyd: ReKnew Derek Flood Edward Fudge: The Fire that Consumes Great News About God Brad Jersak Graham Maxwell: Speaking Well of God Herb Montgomery: Renewed Heart Ministries Sigve Tonstad Brian Zahnd