The Atonement Part 11: Atonement History and The Church Fathers

PSA advocates claim that this theory was there from the
beginning, and this is witnessed by the church fathers. Yet the
Church Fathers don’t really have modern atonement theories when
they speak about the cross. They use phrases like “Jesus died for
us”, “Jesus shed his blood for us”, they connect the cross with
forgiveness, Jesus freeing humanity from a curse, Jesus as a
ransom, Jesus as the 2nd Adam, etc. Though they use this
“biblical language” do they mean what PSA has defined them as.
  


Many pin a fully formed view of PSA on John Calvin in the 1500s.
Calvin was a lawyer and interpreted the Bible through a legal
lens. Though Calvin did have most of the PSA building blocks in
place he never systematized it like the modern atonement theory
school does. This didn’t happen until Charles Hodge wrote his
systematic theology set in 1871. This was the first time PSA was
but together in print as a theory.   


The building blocks came into being with Augustine. Paul Vendredi
notes this with his 17 historical claims of PSA. 3 were made by
Augustine, 9 were Anselm, and 5 are the modern atonement schools
built on and expanded upon Calvin. (Check out Idol Killer’s
Youtube for more on this).   


The 17 Claims: 


1. Original Sin 


2. Total Depravity / Inability 


3. Infant Depravity 


4. Sin is an Infinite Offense 


5. Sin is a Debt we owe 


6. Infants also owe this Debt 


7. Animal Sacrifices 


8. God could Cancel the sin debt by His will... 


9. But, God cannot Forgive a Sin without punishing the
Sinner 


10. Death Must be Painful 


11. "Propitiation" 


12. Substitution 


13. God pours out His Wrath 


14. Jesus Became a Literal Curse 


15. The Father turned His back on Christ 


16. Old Testament Sacrificial System 


17. Ransom Paid TO God  


Conclusions:


• The early church used biblical language to talk about the
cross… retribution must be read into them 


• Healing was the focus and not legal metaphors in all of
these 


• A major focus is on death, sin, and the devil’s defeat and
these 3 concepts are connected.  


• The results of their defeat are a rescue and restoration of the
image of God.  


• Until Augustine’s 3 foundational points (original sin, Total
depravity, and infant depravity) the early church had nothing to
build PSA upon, so it is a fallacy to show that they taught it.
 


• PSA has no historical leg to stand on. Most often they read PSA
into ransom and then back into other theories like recapitulation
taking them out of their context and projecting onto the language
of the Church Fathers.