VI

THE ATONEMENT

BY

W. H. MOBERLY

FELLOW AND LECTURER IN PHILOSOPHY, LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD FORMERLY FELLOW OF MERTON COLLEGE

SYNOPSIS

INTRODUCTION

The Atonement has largely dropped out of modern Christianity; for the modern mind builds on moral experience, and is unable to see how the doctrine of the Atonement fits into or bears on such experience

The appeal to experience is right, but

(1) We must not construe experience too narrowly
(2) The inductive study of religions suggests that something
corresponding to the Atonement is at the heart of all religion.
(3) It was on personal experience that St. Paul based the
original theology of Atonement

Has the modern world the same problem as St. Paul, and,
if so, can it accept the same solution? .

I. THE PROBLEM-THE EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF SIN

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Suggestion that the sense of sin is morbid and that modern men are outgrowing it. The Once-Born and the Twice-Born types of religious experience; to which correspond the Liberal view of sin as a stage in moral progress, and the Conservative view of sin as a rebellion which rightly incurs the wrath of God

These views are influenced by the type of metaphor preferred: the Liberal inclines to biological, the Conservative to legal metaphors

Original sin.—It is rejected by the Liberal, because
(1) Science denies any historical "Fall"

(2) Sin is only sin, in so far as it proceeds from the will of

the sinner himself

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(3) Original guilt is impossible, for the individual is only responsible for what he might have prevented .

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But

(1) There may be a condition of "fallenness" without an historical Fall.

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(3) Corporate sin is a fact.

(2) No sharp division can be made between the voluntary and the involuntary

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II. THE CONDITIONS OF A SOLUTION

(1) The Liberal view. The past is unimportant; we should
concentrate on future moral improvement

(2) The Conservative view. Liberal optimism conflicts
(a) With the necessities of the moral government of the
universe; for the punishment of sin is a moral
obligation

(b) With the facts of human nature; for past sin involves
present moral disability

(c) With the witness of religious experience

(3) The "inclusive" view:

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(a) The Liberal is right in making the problem a moral
problem

(b) And in rejecting legal imagery as inadequate

(c) But he under-estimates the magnitude of the problem
and the extent of the revolution required

Penitence is that which, in experience, comes nearest to furnishing the moral transformation needed. But, in experience, individual penitence is never complete, and hence is never really atoning

In experience, it is supplemented

(a) By punishment, which should stimulate penitence
(b) And, to a much greater extent, by the love of friends-
as in David Copperfield

But even if penitence in the individual were ideally complete,
it would still be insufficient atonement while other men
remained impenitent. A true redemption must be social

III. THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST

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(1) The Liberal view. The work of Christ was to teach men the true nature of God and to set an example of the highest kind of human life, which it behoves all men to follow

(2) The Conservative view. It is the death of Christ that is fundamental: it saves men from the burden of guilt and from the consequent wrath of God

(3) The "inclusive" view. Neither Liberalism nor Conservatism by itself is satisfactory; but we agree with the Liberal that it was the moral character of Jesus, as shown during his whole life, which is of the first importance, and with the Conservative that the death was necessary and in no sense accidental to the fulfilment of his work

The death of Jesus was necessary :

.

(i.) Historically, it was deliberately incurred in the fulfil-
ment of his mission; and martyrdom has always
power

(ii.) It was an example of vicarious penitence. (Vicarious
penitence is not only possible, but is the most
"saving" thing in experience, for it "shows up"
sin to the sinner)

(iii.) It was intrinsically necessary, both in general to the
perfecting of the human character of Jesus, and
specifically to his final conquest of sin

Further, the work of Jesus Christ was the work of God. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." The recognition of this is necessary not only to any adequate theodicy, but to the universalizing of the work of Christ ; and this involves not only the Crucifixion but the Resurrection

IV. THE RELATION OF THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST ΤΟ
OTHER MEN.

(1) Liberalism makes this too slight
(2) Conservatism makes it too legal

(3) According to the "inclusive" view, salvation must take effect within us, but must be initiated from outside us. Christian theology has provided a reasoned account, on these lines, of the process by which the lifework of Jesus may come to make a vital difference to all men

Thus

(a) The historical facts of the life and death of Christ
are signs of supramundane realities.

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Consequences

(1) Practical:

(a) Though religion must issue in character, character,
in the end, depends on religion

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(b) The Gospel offer is not only a position of privilege
but an opportunity of service

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(2) Theoretical :

(a) "Justification' cannot properly be separated from

"sanctification

(b) Our ordinary conception of personality is too
individualistic

V. SOME OBJECTIONS AND FINAL SUMMARY

Objections:

(1) We are minimizing the difference between religion and mere morality.

(2) We are substituting mere ideas for the historical facts.
Answers to these objections

Further difficulty as to the relation of the work of Christ to
those who have never heard of Him; and its answer
Summary of conclusions