Substitutionary Atonement - Meaning of The Doctrine

Meaning of The Doctrine

The word atonement is a theological term that is used to describe some act that pays for or erases one's sins and transgressions. The word often is used in the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew words kipper and kippurim, which mean “propitiation” or “expiation.” The word occurs in the KJV in Romans 5:11 and has the basic meaning of reconciliation. In the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible or Tanakh), atonement was accomplished by the sacrifice of specified animals such as lambs to pay for one's sins.

The word atonement encompasses Christ’s work of redemption on behalf of his people. The center of Christ’s work, to which the whole New Testament expounded, was Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. Christ’s death is the very heart of the Christian faith.

A distinction is often made between substitutionary atonement (Christ suffers for us), and penal substitution (Christ punished instead of us) which is a subset or particular type of substitutionary atonement. Both affirm the substitutionary and vicarious nature of the atonement (that Christ did His work in place of something required of us), but penal substitution goes beyond this general statement to specifically state that the substitution is of Christ's punishment instead of our punishment.

A central component of substitutionary atonement is the element of Jesus' intention to die on the cross as a substitute. Supporters cite the statements by Jesus in John 3:14-18 and 12:27-33. This is in comparison with theories that Jesus' death was unanticipated by Jesus and/or purely the fault of the Romans and/or the Jews alone. The following quotes provide some views on the nature of the atonement; they come largely from the Protestant interpretations and/or the specific theory of penal substitution, and do not necessarily express the whole spectrum of beliefs that may be properly termed substitutionary atonement.

The very idea of atonement is something done, which, to the purpose of supporting the authority of the law, the dignity and consistency of divine government and conduct, is fully equivalent to the curse of the law, and on the ground of which, the sinner may be saved from that curse…a less degree or duration of suffering endured by Christ the Son of God, may, on account of the infinite dignity and glory of his person, be an equivalent to the curse of the law endured by the sinner. —Jonathan Edwards Jr.

His sufferings were in the place of the penalty, not the penalty itself. They were a substitution for the penalty, and were, therefore, strictly and properly vicarious, and were not the identical sufferings which the sinner would himself have endured. There are some things in the penalty of the Law, which the Lord Jesus did not endure, and which a substitute or a vicarious victim could not endure. Remorse of conscience is a part of the inflicted penalty of the Law, and will be a vital part of the sufferings of the sinner in hell—but the Lord Jesus did not endure that. Eternity of sufferings is an essential part of the penalty of the Law—but the Lord Jesus did not suffer forever. Thus, there are numerous sorrows connected with the consciousness of personal guilt, which the Lord Jesus did not and cannot endure.” —Albert Barnes

If free pardon is to be extended to penitent sinners, some great measure must be substituted for the punishment of sinners that will uphold the moral government of God at least equally as well as the pronounced consequences would have done." —Gordon C. Olson

Atonement is, properly, an arrangement by which the literal infliction of the penalty due to sin may be avoided; it is something which may be substituted in the place of punishment. It is that which will answer the same end secured by the literal infliction of the penalty of the law… The atonement is the governmental provision for the forgiveness of sins, providing man meets the conditions of repentance and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.” —Harry Conn

The atonement is a governmental expedient to sustain law without the execution of its penalty to the sinner.” —Charles G. Finney