Christ died for us. That statement is absolutely central, of course, in Christianity. Prefigured with intricate detail in the sacrificial system of the old covenant Christ’s death in our place is one of the most clearly and frequently stated teaching of the NT. So why would Protestants want to abandon this core doctrine? And why would a growing number of Evangelical theologians and pastors find Christ’s sin-bearing death in our place, that is the substitutionary atonement, too offensive to be plausible, much less central?i Echoing the well-worn verdict of radical theologians, Brian McLaren has written that this doctrine seems to him like “cosmic child-abuse.” It’s no wonder, therefore, that for him Jesus is more of a moral example to be followed than a redeemer, one who liberates us “to be all we can be”, rather than one who has come to save us from being “all that we have in fact have been.”
With the paradigm of moralistic-therapeutic-deism, the cross just doesn’t make sense. Deep down we are all pretty decent people, we could be a lot better; Jesus came to transform culture on the way he got himself killed; that view is actually being defended by some professing Evangelical theologians today. What this means is that the only kind of atonement doctrine that is possible is a subjective theory. Christ’s death may be morally, emotionally, politically, psychologically useful for us, but it wasn’t in any way required by God’s inherent character. Through it we may be reconciled somehow to God, but God doesn’t have to be reconciled to us– He just loves us the way we are. Given such sentimentalism and moralism across an incredibly wide spectrum in American religion today there is no really no place for the cross anymore. Why would Jesus Christ have to die such a horrible death not only an unjust crucifixion, but the Father’s sentence of death for transgressors? If all we really need is an inspiring example to get our act together?
- Michael Horton, The Whitehorse Inn – Crossless Christianity
Footnotes
- Of course in other Evangelical demographics Christ’s sin-bearing death, the substitutionary atonement is mentioned in one way or another. But I am convinced that it is one thing to mention something as crucial as this and it is another thing to really preach it. [↩]
