Further notes on the atonement

To some minds the death of Christ was just the death of a martyr.  To others Christ’s death was an exhibition to a sinful world of God’s great love.  To others He was an “Example” only.  Still others see it in the light of the fact that God being holy, deemed it necessary to show to the world His hatred for sin, and so His wrath fell on the Christ of Calvary.

Modern thought fails to see the necessity of Jesus dying.  Stephen died a martyr, Saul of Tarsus watched him die, but (Paul) did not preach forgiveness of sins through Stephen’s death (Acts 13:38).

Light and erroneous views of the atonement come from light and erroneous views of sin. If we regard sin merely as an offense against man a weakness of the human nature or a mere disease, we shall not of course see the need for atonement.  We must see sin as it is revealed thru the Bible, which depicts it in its exceeding sinfulness, which must be punished and guilt, which needs expiation then and only then will we understand the reason for the cross of Christ.