Christ's Work In Salvation.

By Val

There are crosses everywhere, but what does the cross mean? Does anyone really know? If the average Christian was asked today, "how did Jesus save us?", the answer to expect would most likely be, "He died on the cross for your sins", or "He was a sacrifice for the sins of the world", or some other simple answer, to which if asked to explain further the Christian would not be able to explain how or why Christ's death or sacrifice way back then, saves us from our sins here today.

The work Jesus did on earth to save us is referred to by many titles. A few of them are SALVATION, ATONEMENT, or REDEMPTION. We will refer to the title as ATONEMENT at this time because of it's popular use. The Bible explains the mechanics of the atonement [Christ's work in salvation] in great detail.

Atonement Doctrines

     Theologians have developed from the Bible several theories, doctrines or views to explain the atonement of the Cross of Christ. You need only look in any Christian dictionary of theology[2]. They are not perfect explanations by themselves and by no means fully reveal individually the majesty of what Christ has done; but each one sets in order the logical framework of Christ’s atoning work.

Atonement doctrines are the study of how Christ's death on the cross provides salvation to humanity. None of the different atonement views in Christian theology deny the provision of salvation. They all acknowledge that it is through the cross. The theories never debate “if the cross,” but only “how the cross” provides eternal life.

Within Christian theology, the deity of Christ, and the atonement are two of the most vital teachings of the Christian Faith. These essentials depend upon each other completely, because a person could believe in vain that Jesus is God if he would doubt that Jesus was sacrificed and raised again to redeem him[1]. It is these two essentials that one must begin at in order to find salvation; and then based on these, faith must be submitted to Christ as Lord and Savior (must be prayed to as ones God).

 Substitution View

     Within the “penal substitution” doctrine, there is a vision of a literal substitution in behalf of sinners. Christ upon the cross as God's own Son endures the wrath of God (Isa 53:10), which wrath makes plain God’s hostility against sin. God’s judgment on sinful man must fall on His sinless Son.

Mankind is cut-off from God through breaking God's Laws. When humanity’s sin is judged in Jesus on the cross, Father Gods hostility against sin comes between He and His Son; and temporarily cut’s Him off with the rest of humanity (Dan 9:26; Isa 53:8) and relieves the hostility between God and the rest of humanity.

Jesus as the sinner’s substitute bears the full punishment, spiritual death, which is by definition- separation from God. Deliverance then comes to the human race through Christ's suffering and death. And from then on, right standing with God is judged legal for mankind through faith in His substitution and Lordship.

Despite this atonement theories strong Biblical foundation, critics of this view rise object to the idea of spiritual death, that is, the spiritual death of Christ. Counter argument is constantly made that spiritual death refers only to separation from Father God, and not spiritual destruction. A handful of those in history who preached the doctrine of substitution are: Billy Graham, Kenne S. Wuest, Ozwald Chambers, Thomas H. Nelson, Aurthor W. Pink, Henry C. Maybe, G. Cambell Morgan, J. C. Ryle,  R. W. Dale, J. N. Darby, commentators Jamison, Fawsett & Brown, Charles H. Spurgeon, Charles Hodge, Johnathan Edward, Matthew Henry, John Pearson, John Calvin, Martin Luther, St. Thomas Aquinas and many others. A thorough study of this doctrine is in the next chapter.

Ransom View

     In the early Church, one explanation of atonement held by the Apostolic Fathers was called the “devil ransom theory,” or today called the “Classical Theory.” Leon Morris explains:

“Because of their sin people rightly belonged to Satan, the Fathers reasoned. But God offered his Son as a ransom, a bargain the evil one eagerly accepted. When, however, Satan got Christ down into hell he found that he could not hold him. On the third day Christ rose triumphant and left Satan without either his original prisoners or the ransom he had accepted in their stead.[3]”

The Ransom Theory holds that God is His own law-abiding God, and because of the fall of man (choice of disobedience), God would have to abide by His decree's of mans choices and allow Satan to be the god of man, or the god of this world (2 Cor 4:3-4). Romans 6:16 states, "to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness". So mankind's new lord became Satan. God however by His power and wisdom blinded the devil through the master plan of the birth of Jesus Christ, and offers Christ (via human form) to Satan, in a legal exchange for mankind.

The reasoning is that Jesus was a “price paid”, and it comes from the scriptures- “You are bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20), and Jesus own words “The Son of man came...to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Some have said the ransom was paid to God, but the problem with that is that we were never His prisoners. The Bible says we were satan’s captives -"...that they may come to their senses [through repentance] and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” 2 Timothy 2:26.

Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me...to preach deliverance to the captives” Luke 4:18.

By this ransom of Jesus for humanity, God snares the devil, offering him something that could not possibly hold. God would keep His end of the deal. Jesus gives himself over completely to satan’s “power of death” [Heb 2:14]; but turns out by no surprise He could not be contained in hell as a prisoner. This is something the devil did not understand seeing the Son of God as a man.

1 Corinthians 2:8 “For had the princes of this world known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

     Christ’s descent into Hell has never been a necessary doctrine in modern Christianity, however the Fathers saw it as the logical consequence of His humanity. For all dead humanity descended to Hades before Christ’s resurrection; plus Christ died in identification with sinners. The Apostle Peter quoted David’s psalm prophetically, and when he spoke of Christ’s resurrection says: “Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 2:26-27).

     The Ransom Theory was held by the church during it's first thousand years, and Christ's descent into Hell was fully recognized within redemption preaching. Our two thousand year old Apostle's Creed stands testimonial to it's popularity. It reads that Jesus “was crucified, dead and buried, He descended into Hell; the third day rose again from the dead.[4]”  

     The illustrations of Christ’s descent into Hell over time have been various. One very old explanation of the descent repeated by today’s teachers is that Christ needed to shoulder the full punishment for sin due to sinners. The descent is seen as an integral part in the humiliation of His cross, but also as His victory over death and Satan, where Christ is viewed as putting His foot on the devils neck and snatching from him the keys of hell and death (Gen 3:15, Heb 2:14, Rev 1:18). Unlike other views, the Ransom theory offers a more dramatic picture:

* God giving a ransom to the devil to buy back sinners (Mark 10:45, Matt 20:28, 1 Cor 6:20, 1 Cor 7:23);

* Christ releasing himself into the hands of the devil and demons as part of the secret plan and purpose of God (John 19:11, Luke 22:53, Matt 27:45-46);

* Christ's descent into Hell [Abyss, Hades] (Rom 10:7, Acts 2:24-31, Matt 12:40, Eph 4:9-10);

* His victory in Hell (Gen 3:14-15, Col 2:15, 1 Pet 3:18-20, Eph 4:8, Matt 27:52-53, Rev 1:18);

* His resurrection [finishing the work of redemption] (Rom 4:24-25, 1 Pet 1:3, 1 Cor 15:14-17).

     Protestant reformer Martin Luther, and Thomas Aquinas, the Middle Ages’ greatest theologian, and numerous others taught Christ's descent into Hell as part of the humiliation for the sins which He died for[5]. “Christ was cast to the lowest depths and subjected to all devils,” said Martin Luther. “He not only made himself subject to men, but also to sin, death, and the devil, and bore it all for us.” Luther insisted that faith itself was “based on Christ’s death, His descent into Hell, and His resurrection from the dead.” In Luther’s eye’s, Christ’s descent into Hell was not additional, but fundamental to the Faith.

The first preachers of the Ransom view of atonement are the early Church Fathers: Irenaeus, Origen, Baisil, Clement of Alexandria, the two Gregories, Cyril of Alexandria, down to and including John of Damascus and Nicolas of Methone, Hilary, Rufinus, Jerome, Augustine, Leo the Great, and even so late as Bernard[7].

Blood Atonement View

    The atonement beliefs seen so far, the Ransom view and Penal Substitution views, are not complete without knowledge of blood atonement. However, blood atonement is not complete standing alone either. The word ‘atone’ is a word that means “to cover.” We do need a covering. But Atonement is a word to describe what the blood of animals did for sin before the cross. But the blood of Jesus in the New Testament is said to purge (Heb- 1:3), remit (Acts 10:43), blot out (Col 2:14), cleanse the conscience and take away sin (Heb 9:12-14).

Covering sin, and not taking it away, Hebrews argues, was the weakness of the first covenant, and the main reason God made a new one,- “for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins”-Heb 10:4. If Jesus blood only made an atonement then His blood is no different than the blood of a bull or a goat! Jesus blood made more than an atonement for sin. Clearly the blood of Jesus wipes out sin! We know that the blood of bulls and goats only made “a covering for sin.” Why does Jesus blood do more than cover? Because it was the Blood of God? Yeah, but more so because it was the blood of a sinless man-made sin for us (2 Cor 5:21).

Jesus was the only sinless man in the entire world history after Adam fell. In other words, Jesus blood cleanses our spirit because He took the sin of the first man [Adam-our sin] on the cross. The blood of animals could not cleans a mans sins. An animal sacrifice cannot be dealt with spiritually as a mans can be. Jesus was "the man" sacrifice who's blood dealt with the vengeance of God on the human sin problem.

We need “a covering” for sin, but more important;-without “a cleansing,” the Holy Spirit would not indwell us as a body. Seeing this then, when we sing our songs “the blood of Jesus covers all of my sins”-and we picture His blood covering our sins, we should see them also being washed away forever. Not just covered over as the Old Testament sacrifices did.

The difference between covering sin and purging-or cleansing sin is a vivid point. Covering a smelly garbage barrel full of trash with “a covering” may hide the sight and smell of it. This pictures what the blood of bulls and goats provided. But we need a blood that can go in and dump out the garbage and cleanse out the inside and create it a vessel of honor fit for the Masters use. This is a job for the Holy Spirit through the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus takes care of the physical breaking of God's Commandments, and the penal substitution takes care of our thoughts and hearts purged from sin forever. 

Moral Influence View

     Another theory is that the cross saves souls today because it produces a "moral influence" in an unbeliever causing them to have faith in God. Seeing the cross, one thinks, "what love, that God would lay down His life to save mine". Jesus said it is the greatest love to lay down your life for a friend.

The seeking, but still immoral man gets influenced the longer he looks at the cross. He looks at the love of God and at his own sin, and becomes convinced that Jesus is the truth, seeing there is no greater act of kindness. He repents seeing the love of God. The Bible says, "we love Him because He first loved us." [1 John 4:19]

As it stands alone, the moral influence theory is most likely responsible for saving millions of humble souls to the Lord. People who are downcast and lowly in their own esteem readily accept the message of a loving God. The moral influence view however does not deal well with the mechanics of the nature of sin, and the laws of God that made it necessary for Jesus to die in the first place. The proud in heart justify themselves in their sin and do not see the moral influence of the cross of Christ. Evil men mock at the message of God's love when they want to keep sinning. They pride themselves in their own deceptions and choose to see themselves as "good enough" to make it to heaven without God's or anyone else's help. In order to produce a moral influence in the proud of heart, the message of God's Law and wrath in the day of judgment needs to accompany the message of the cross of Christ. Only then does the cross of Christ take on the meaning of a legal transaction to save the sinner from certain death.

Atonement Views Colliding?

    Some have pre-supposed that all these differing Biblical atonement views collide inaccurately. Leon Morris in the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (a work of three hundred contributors) discuses not one, but six different theories of atonement taught in the church today; and after explaining each of them he states that “we need all the theories. Each draws attention to an important aspect of our salvation and we dare not surrender any.” One of  the views mentioned by Morris is Christ's blood atonement. He admits that Christ's saving act as a sacrifice must enter into any into any satisfying theory, but unless it is supplemented, it is an explanation that does not explain[8]. Same goes for the moral influence theory. The cross is a moral influence of God’s mercy for sinners, but without a supplement, this view alone does not explain how the cross saves us.

    Statements are often made in the preaching of atonement that get miss-used and miss-understood by those who are over-schooled in a particular view and unschooled in other views of atonement. Consider the words of John Calvin, the great reformer. Some critics have said that he “transfered” the saving work of Christ from the physical to the spiritual when he said:

“...not only was the body of Christ given up as the price of redemption, but there was a greater and more amazing price--that he bore in His soul the dreadful torments of a person condemned and irretrievably lost.[10]”

Calvin did not deny Christ’s physical price upon the cross; nor did he “transfer” his saving work from the cross to elsewhere. Calvin considered all the aspects of the cross as one whole saving work of Christ. His statements on the substitution are clear to make the point vivid. This is typical in the skill of explanation. Calvin also said:

"If Christ's soul experienced no punishment, He would have been only a redeemer for the body.”  

John Calvin is known as one of the greatest minds in the doctrine of the Blood atonement of Christ. Point here is not to defend him for preaching the spiritual substitution Christ paid for us, but to show how these different views do not conflict, but agree and flow together beautifully. 

Resurrection View

 Some think that one of Jesus’ final statements on the cross, “it is finished” (John 19:30), followed by the tearing of the temple curtain (Mark 15:38), absolutely completed the plan of redemption. Some say that access to God had been restored at that precise moment. Only thing is, the scriptures declare there is no salvation without the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only His death, His resurrection.

Here again reformer John Calvin to explain: 

    "Next follows the resurrection from the dead, without which all that Christ did on the cross would be defective. For seeing that in the cross, death and burial of Christ, nothing but weakness appears, faith must go beyond all these, in order that it may be provided with full strength...it is not by His death, but by His resurrection, that we are said to be begotten again to a living hope (1 Pet 1:3). For how could he by dieing have freed us from death, if He had yielded to it's power?  How could He have obtained the victory for us, if He had fallen in the contest? Our salvation may be thus divided between the death and resurrection of Christ.[11]” (italics added)

     I quote Calvin not because I am his biggest fan, but because he speaks well to the resurrection view of atonement. In 1 Corinthians 15:14-17 the Bible declares that the cross does not save us without the resurrection; verse 14 says:

“...If Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain.”  And in verse 17, “...if Christ be not raised your faith is vain and ye are still in your sins.” 

What! But Jesus paid the price! Who needs anything more? But there is more, much more. In Romans 4:25 the Bible puts the resurrection right with the cross as the fundamental work of salvation-

“Jesus was delivered for our offenses [the cross] and was raised again for our justification.”

     He was raised from the dead for our justification. In another verse, the word ‘begotten’ is used the same as the term ‘born again’ in 1 Peter 1:3

“The Father has begotten us again by the resurrection of Christ.” Without that resurrection of Christ Romans 14:9 says He would be only the God of the dead;-

“For to this end Christ both died and arose and revived, that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.”

Minus the resurrection, scripture makes it clear that no matter what Christ did before it, there would be no salvation for us. Romans 10:9-10 declares that salvation is only by faith in the resurrected Lord; that you must “believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead.” Then Colossians 2:12-13 describes that “we are buried with Him in baptism, wherein we are also risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead.”  And 3:1 says “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.” The resurrection is listed in Christ’s’ work of salvation. Christ said “I have the power to lay down my life, and the power to raise it up again” John 10:18.

    When Christ said ‘It is finished’ we know that His earthly life was over and His temptable flesh was near to be crucified. He did mean ‘it is finished, when He said it, but to be dogmatic that this was the exact time of salvation’s completion excludes the resurrection; a big no no. Also, today the cross is exploited as the symbol of salvation, and thank God it is, but we know His death was not only the cross, it was also ‘the tomb’ for three days. We are saved by His death, and it lasted three days.

In the Bible, the resurrection of Christ is taught as part and parcel of the plan of redemption, and puts it right equal to the cross. Why is the resurrection so important? If the resurrection is seen necessary, it immediately adds His three days and nights ‘dead’ as part of the same price.

    All Christians are unified that it was His death that saved us. What is overlooked often is that His death was three days and three nights, not just the cross. The resurrection necessity makes the scriptures important to explain as to where Jesus spent three days and nights; and also where His spirit was raised from [where His human spirit came from the moment before bodily resurrection]. There are scriptures teach where He was those three days. The Bible says Jesus spent His three days partly in the abyss and partly in paradise [a compartment of Hades or Abrahams bosom] ,[12] [the bottomless pit, or underworld storage of departed souls] (Rom 10:7, Acts 2:24-31). Most suppose that He went to Heaven from the cross then came back from Heaven to be raised from the dead. When Jesus rose from the grave He said, “touch me not;  for I have not yet ascended to My Father” (John 20:16-17). His three days dead as a man was part and parcel of the salvation price, if not so, staying dead no longer than a minute would have sufficed.

The Bible says we are saved through faith (Eph 2:8). The Bible says the resurrection is the point of faith that saves us (Rom 10:9-10). Salvation includes the resurrection, and those who deny this deny the Faith (1 Cor 15:14-17)

So what did Jesus mean saying it "It is Finished" as His final words before death? Did you know Jesus said "it is finished" even before He went to the cross? Jesus prayed:

 “Father...I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do... And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee Holy Father...While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name...And now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world...” John 17:11-13. (See also John 12:31-32)

In His prayer before the cross, Jesus said, "I have finished the work... I am no more in the world”. What is this supposed to mean? In order for Jesus to be “no more in the world,” things would have to be “finished” as He said, but He had not died yet. Jesus said ‘It is finished’ on the cross; but He also said “I have finished...I am no more in the world,” even before He was arrested.

God does not always measure the importance of time before He says things are done. “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done...”(Isaiah 46:9-10):

He could say ‘It is finished’ and still have three days plus resurrection before the finish. God has track record of doing this. He often says things are done before they are done. He said at the birth of His Son- “peace on earth, good will toward men” thirty three years away from the cross (Luke 2:14). God was calling things that be not as though they were (Rom 4:17). God told Abraham “You are the father of many nations, for I have made thee such” while Abram was an impotent old man without child. Scripture says Abraham believed God that he might become the father of many nations. Jesus could have said ‘it is finished’ weeks, months or years before His death, and it still would have been finished at the resurrection.

Also, the Holy Spirit was not given until after His resurrection (John 7:38-39, -16:7-8). There is no access to God outside the precious Holy Spirit. Jesus had been with them forty days after His resurrection before he ascended. It was fifty days before the Holy Spirit came as promised. The day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two was the birth of the church. The Holy Spirit did not fall on the believers when the temple curtain tore. None were filled with the Holy Spirit until after Jesus arose from the dead. Christ gave instructions to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit [or access to God-Acts 1:1-8].

Blood Atonement In Heaven View

    Another atonement theory deals with a Blood atonement in Heaven. The cross was the alter of God where the final sacrifice was made; yet it appears the atonement work continued even past the resurrection. Many denominations[13] teach from the scriptures that after Christ arose from the grave and appeared to Mary, He ascended to the Father to perform the Heavenly Blood Atonement ceremony in Heaven. Two occurrences in the Bible lead them to believe this happened after the resurrection. First, when Christ arose from the dead, He appeared to Mary Magdalene. When He did, she most likely tried to touch Him, because He said to her “touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to My Father” (John 20:16-17). This scene took place in the morning when it was still dark. But the same day much latter in the evening, He appeared again to all His disciples and He said, “reach here thy finger, and behold my hand and reach here thy hand and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless but believing” (John 20:27). One time He says "don't touch Me" then another He says, "Touch Me". Secondly, at this moment it is reasoned that He had no blood in His resurrected body, because He said to them “...touch me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have” (Luke 24:39) [notice He did not say flesh and blood and showed them His open wounds].

The period of time between the morning when Jesus said “don’t touch me,” to the evening when He said “touch me” it is believed that Jesus ascended to the Father as our great High Priest, and in that role He brought His own blood before the Father and poured it out before the throne of God. He did this to cleanse the Heavenly Tabernacle of God from the fall of man and to fill every office as the Savior of the world. The High Priests of Old Covenant temple worship were to take the blood of the sacrifice into the Holy Place to make atonement for the people. The book of Hebrews reveals that the Earthly (physical) Tabernacle where the blood animals was poured out-was only a pattern of the things in Heaven, and further declares that Jesus brought His blood to Heaven itself:  

Hebrews 9:11-12, 22-24 says “But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us...And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these; but the Heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."

(see also Heb 8:1-5).

     Every drop of Jesus blood according to Heavenly Atonement is now contained before the Throne of the Father in a fountain. Zechariah 13:1 “In that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.[15]" There is an old hymn to this doctrine: “there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Imanuels veins, when sinners plunge beneath the flood draws all their sins away.” God sees all believers through Jesus blood. With Jesus as the High Priest of Heaven, and the fountain filled with blood before Him and the Father, the Christian is completely free at the Throne of God.

     This doctrine constantly affirm the present day ministry of Jesus as our High Priest in Heaven. Not that He is daily offering up Himself to die, for this He did once for all, but that His sacrifice is daily utilized by Himself to make intercession for us (Heb 7:21-26, Rom 8:34).

     Some do not appreciate the teaching of Heavenly Atonement. Personally, I like the way it keeps Jesus blood alive in my thinking. The sinless blood of God kept before the Throne in a fountain of mercy. Every mention of Jesus blood brings the saving remembrance of Calvary. The Bible says in Revelations 19:11-13 that at the end of the tribulation period to come, He Himself will appear in the heavens on a white horse; and sitting on that horse He will be clothed in a vesture dipped in blood[16]."His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in Heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean...And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

Conclusion. 

    The early church Fathers did not dice up the story of Jesus passion. They saw the incarnation, His life, death, burial, descent to hell, resurrection and ascension not as separate works but all as one complete work for our salvation. Any part missing would be fatal to what they called “The Faith.” The Fathers had the right idea on how to view the Gospel. We don’t single things out and say this or that is the point that completed salvation. It was all He has done and is doing that saves us.    

    The misunderstanding over ‘it is finished’ is not on whether Jesus meant “the debt is paid in full,” but on whether this ended Christ’s work, and whether Christ meant it to be an official time marker for theologian’s to surmise the end of God’s plan for salvation. The Bible says that “Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us.” Another verse says “if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The premise of such verses is that Christ is still working for our salvation before the Father and that it is His present day ministry as our heavenly High Priest. The idea that any work Christ did for us beyond the cross voids the cross and makes heretics out of such teachers is rubbish. If theologians wish to quibble over ‘it is finished,’ scripture says “the works were finished before the foundations of the earth” (Heb 4:3.) Even Abraham was saved by faith through Christ (1 Cor 10:1-4;Gal 3:16-18). Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.