Atonement and the Life of Faith (Soteriology and Doxology)

ATONEMENT

AND THE

LIFE OF FAITH

SOTERIOLOGY AND DOXOLOGY

Kent Eilers and Kyle C. Strobel, Series Editors

Atonement and the Life of Faith

by Adam J. Johnson

Glorification and the Life of Faith

by Ashley Cocksworth and David F. Ford

ATONEMENT

AND THE

LIFE OF FAITH

Adam J. Johnson

K

© 2024 by Adam J. Johnson

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

BakerAcademic.com

Ebook edition created 2024

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 9781540961709 (paperback) | ISBN 9781540968326 (casebound) | ISBN 9781493421985 (pdf) | ISBN 9781493421992 (ebook)

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016

Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

Cover photo: Window inside Church of Sacred Heart of Christ the King, Rome, Italy / Gari Wyn Williams / age footstock / Superstock

Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and postconsumer waste whenever possible.

I dedicate this book

to the faculty, staff, and students

of the Torrey Honors College

at Biola University.

When asked about what I do for work, I often say,

I am retired and just doing what I love.

Contents

Half Title Page    i

Series Page    ii

Title Page    iii

Copyright Page    iv

Dedication    v

Series Preface    ix

Preface    xiii

Acknowledgments    xvii

Abbreviations    xix

Doxological Prelude: Athanasius’s On the Incarnation    1

Introduction    3

Doxological Interlude: Anselm’s Meditation on Human Redemption    29

1. The Apostles’ Creed    31

Doxological Interlude: George Herbert’s The Sacrifice    59

2. Scripture    61

Doxological Interlude: Traherne and Barth    87

3. A History of the Doctrine of the Atonement    89

Doxological Interlude: John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 10    109

4. The Spirit of Atonement: The Role of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s Death and Resurrection    111

Doxological Interlude: Thomas Traherne’s Centuries of Meditations    133

5. Atonement and the Christian Life    135

Doxological Postlude: Calvin’s Institutes    161

Bibliography    163

Author Index    180

Scripture Index    183

Subject Index    186

Back Cover    189

Series Preface

And Moses said, Here I am.

Exodus 3:4

IN THE WILDERNESS, Moses stumbles upon a burning bush that somehow goes unconsumed. As if the scene is not arresting enough, the God of his forefathers bellows forth from that crackling, glowing bush: Moses, Moses! The response of Moses is simple and yet so evocative of a faithful response to God’s call: Here I am. Holy Scripture pictures that response time and again. So many other encounters with God are unmistakably echoed and foreshadowed here: Samuel, Mary, Jesus, and of course Adam. To Adam, God calls, Where are you? and he hides, and his hiding is paradigmatic of us all, sadly (Gen. 3:8–10); but Moses, Samuel, Mary, and Jesus offer themselves in response to the gracious calling of God: Here I am, Lord. Their proclamation inspires what this series humbly attempts to accomplish: theological activity that bears witness to God’s work in time and space to redeem and restore by following the doxological pattern of Moses. Addressed by God and fearful to look upon God’s face, Moses finds himself suddenly shoeless in God’s holy presence.

Said more formally, the volumes in the Soteriology and Doxology series offer specifically theological interpretations of the Christian life through the lens of various features of God’s gracious activity to save, in which doctrinal activity is suffused with and held together by praise. The gracious acts of God are the contemplative aim of the series, advancing Christian rationality in grateful response to the redemptive, restorative, and transformative work of the Father by the Son and the Spirit. Focusing on soteriological loci, the topics addressed follow a twofold inclination: that God is the ever-present, captivating reality of all theological work, and that this focus awakens a doxological response that is intrinsic to the proper mode of theological reflection. As such, the orientation of each volume is both dogmatic and doxological: each particular doctrine is located within an attentive retrieval of the Christian confession, all while demonstrating how theological reflection springs from worship and spills over into prayer and praise. Seeking to be catholic and evangelical, this series draws upon the richness of the whole church while keeping the sufficiency and singularity of the gospel at center.

The books in the series are designed for theologians-in-formation, meaning that the pedagogical aim of each volume is to train student-readers in a form of theological reasoning that unites what often remains painfully separate in Christian theology: doctrine and spirituality, theology and prayer, the church and the academy, the body of Christ and the individual theologian. This series’ approach to theology is exemplified by men and women across the Christian tradition, from Athanasius to Benedict, Ephrem the Syrian to Anselm, Bonaventure to Catherine of Siena, and Aquinas to Calvin. However, with the inclusion of theology in the academic disciplines of the modern university, the expectations and norms of theological reasoning have been altered in many quarters: exegesis is sequestered from theology, and dogmatics from doxology. This series offers something different. It seeks to retrieve forms of theological reflection unapologetic about their home within Christian worship and celebratory of their place within the entire Christian tradition.

With the sight of God as the proper aim of theological contemplation—trembling before the descending fire that calls us to bear witness to his presence—each volume seeks to constructively articulate soteriological loci through the broad range of biblical, historical, and contemporary issues with an eye to expositing the Christian life. While the different authors will vary in how they approach these tasks, the overall flow of each volume will follow a broad fivefold movement: (1) creed, (2) scriptural range, (3) comparative soteriology, (4) constructive theology, and (5) the Christian life, along with a doxological prelude and doxological interludes throughout. Having approached the doctrine from the standpoint of the regula fidei through creedal reflection; looked to Holy Scripture for the doctrine’s content, scope, and form; and measured diverse traditions of biblical interpretation and theological reasoning, each volume offers a contemporary restatement of Christian teaching that shows how this theological locus directs doxology and Christian living. The lived reality of Christian existence, often far from the purview of theological reflection, remains the focused end of articulating the saving acts of God.

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! . . . For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. (Rom. 11:33, 36)

Kent Eilers

Kyle C. Strobel

Series Editors

Preface

Can you be Holy without accomplishing the end for which you are created? Can you be Divine unless you be Holy? Can you accomplish the end for which you were created, unless you be Righteous? Can you then be Righteous, unless you be just in rendering to Things their due esteem? All things were made to be yours; and you were made to prize them according to their value: which is your office and duty, the end for which you were created, and the means whereby you enjoy. The end for which you were created, is that by prizing all that God hath done, you may enjoy yourself and Him in Blessedness.

Thomas Traherne, Centuries of Meditations 1.12

THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT THE ATONEMENT—about the meaning and significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus. But it is, at the same time, about two other things. First and foremost, it is a book about worship; second, it is a book about the third article. Paul tells us:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:1–2)

There are several remarkable features about this passage. First, Paul integrates the atonement via the notion of sacrifice and worship. Second, Paul integrates the physical and the spiritual; presenting our bodies properly just is our spiritual or reasonable worship (τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν). And third, the transformation in question, the shift from being conformed to the world to being holy and acceptable to God, occurs by means of the renewal of our minds. To weave these points together, it is precisely by a proper kind of knowing, of a renewal of our minds, that we become the kinds of creatures who worship God properly—a worship that entails lives of living sacrifice. The mind and proper worship are utterly and completely interwoven.

And while we have already seen that this proper kind of knowing connects to the doctrine of the atonement in Paul’s mind (through the notion of living sacrifice), the connection is yet stronger. For how exactly do we renew our minds? To jump to another passage in Paul: And I, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:1–2). Paul is able to distill his ministry, his posture toward the Corinthian church, to one thing: knowing Christ and him crucified. Now, of course, given Paul’s pattern of thought, this likewise entails the resurrection and the way that this shapes the whole history of God’s covenantal relationship with Israel—and through them, creation as a whole. But Paul can nevertheless say that he knows just one thing.

The doctrine of the atonement, in other words, is the hinge upon which we are to become different kinds of creatures—creatures able to properly worship the maker of heaven and earth. The doctrine of the atonement, and therefore this book, is fundamentally about worship, as we seek to conform our minds and thus our whole selves to the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Does the goal of worship change in any way how we go about the theological task, how I write this book? I believe it does. First, it means that this book should be about God—not about me or culture or perceived problems or polemics or anything of the sort. Of course, these may have their proper place. But order and priority are vital to keeping all things, books included, healthy. So this book should be first and foremost about God. And for this reason, it should be joyful. God’s work, as revealed in Holy Scripture, is not entirely positive. God destroys. God kills. God judges. But fundamentally, God’s work in, through, and for Jesus Christ—and in Jesus Christ for us—is good news. So this book is (or should be) fundamentally joyful. For that reason, I spend far more time saying what I believe to be true rather than critiquing false views. I choose proclamation over polemic. The fear is more that I sin by omission, leaving out or precluding some aspect of the work of Christ, than that I make a misstep and say something false. The posture is more joyful than defensive in this way. And because it is joyful, it finds room or freedom to be playful and creative. There are places or chapters in the book where I venture into areas of the doctrine that have been relatively undeveloped in its history—not to be sensational but because when we work or act out of joy, more of our faculties, more of our creativity, enters into the service of our work. Theology that worships tends to be free and creative theology—but no less orthodox for all that.

Second, this is a book about the third article. The Apostles’ Creed is often referred to in terms of three articles; the first is about the Father, the second about the incarnate Son, and the third about the Holy Spirit and things particularly related to the Spirit: church, eschatology, and so forth. In my previous books on the doctrine of the atonement, I focus on the first two articles: some of the ways in which the doctrines of the Trinity, of the divine attributes, of election, of Christology, and so on shape our thinking about the doctrine of the atonement. The emphasis in this book is on the last part of the Apostles’ Creed, on the church and its history, the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, and healing. The possible exception to this is the chapter on Scripture, but there, too, I am thinking about how to be guided in reading Scripture well by the teaching and pattern of the church. This is not to say that the atonement can and should be understood exclusively from the standpoint of the third article—far from it! But the standpoint is a good and proper one that has opened up new and beautiful ways in my own life for understanding the saving work of Jesus Christ, and I hope you will likewise benefit.

This is, then, a book about worship and about the Holy Spirit and the church, or to put it more poetically, it is about the Holy Spirit in the church, guiding and shaping its participation in the worship proper to the eternal life of God.

Acknowledgments

IN THINKING THROUGH THE FOLKS I would like to acknowledge for their part in the writing of this book, I am mostly struck by the role of friendship in my life and how naturally interwoven it is into my scholarship. Dave Nelson was first a friend and then the editor supervising this series—but our conversations about family and theology (usually in that order) came first. And when Bob Hosack took over the series, that too was first a friendship. Matt Jenson, at a conference, told me, That guy is really cool. I walked over to the man who turned out to be Bob, told him a friend said he was cool, and only later, over coffee, found out he was a publisher. Thanks to both Dave and Bob for their work on this book and the series as a whole.

I dedicate the book to the faculty, staff, and students of the Torrey Honors College, where I teach, and it is those friendships that shape so much of what and how I write. The conversations among the faculty theologians (Matt Jenson, Greg Peters, Ryan Peterson, and Fred Sanders), sometimes in my office and sometimes in my backyard, bear consistent fruit in so many different ways. The friendships across the faculty as a whole create an environment in which the life of the mind is in service of the triune God and a matter of joy, creativity, and freedom rather than one of pressure or competition. When your boss (Paul Spears) and your dean (Melissa Johnson) happen to be your friends, and when scholars in other disciplines are first and foremost friends with intellectual and disciplinary tools that only make your own work better and richer (everyone should have at least one historian like Todd Thompson in their life), then work, research, and play easily blend together, to the benefit of all.

The same holds true of my students (and alumni) in the Torrey Honors College at Biola University and the Masters in Classical Theology at Talbot Theological Seminary. The blending of teaching, mentoring, and friendship we get to have with our students in class, office hours, or in the summer national parks trip/class my wife and I teach creates a rich network of relationships that is so nourishing to the theological work I do. The chapter in this book that I cowrote with one of my former students, Tessa Hayashida, bears witness to that.

And of course there is the wider network of friendships, nourished by theological conferences, that I find so helpful. Time with Mike Allen, Matt Anderson, Marc Cortez, Steve Duby, Matthias Grebe, Scott Harrower, Han-luen Kantzer Komline, Matthew Levering, David Luy, David Moffitt, Paul Nimmo, Scott and Laura Rosenkranz, Kate Sonderegger, Adonis Vidu, Tom Ward, and too many others to count is at the heart of my research and writing.

In addition, I am grateful for a sabbatical and a couple of research and development grants from Biola University, for the opportunity from Kent Eilers and Kyle Strobel to write this book, for the incredible editorial work by the team at Baker (Brandon Benziger and Tim West), and for my research assistant, Sierra Christensen. Thanks to Daniel Joseph and Sierra Volmar for compiling the indexes.

Writing theology is something I do as matter of joy and worship of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, in service of the church, and as part of the broader Christian life. Permeating that life is the life of my family. I am so grateful that my work as a theologian is part and parcel of my marriage to Katrina and the way we raise our boys, Reuben, Nathan, and Simeon. And that life, of course, is so greatly shaped by the larger membership of which we are a part and for which we are so grateful.

Abbreviations

DOXOLOGICAL PRELUDE

Athanasius’s On the Incarnation

The achievements of the Savior, effected by his incarnation, are of such a kind and number that if anyone should wish to expound them he would be like those who gaze at the expanse of the sea and wish to count its waves. For as one cannot take in all the waves with one’s eyes, since those coming on elude the perception of one who tries, so also one who would comprehend all the achievements of Christ in the body is unable to take in the whole, even by reckoning them up, for those that elude his thought are more than he thinks he has grasped. Therefore it is better not to seek to speak of the whole, of which one cannot even speak of a part, but rather to recall one thing, and leave the whole for you to marvel at. For all are equally marvelous, and wherever one looks, seeing there the divinity of the Word, one is struck with exceeding awe.1

1

 Athanasius, On the Incarnation 54 (p. 167).

Introduction

NOW AND THEN I COME ACROSS a book so good, so eye-opening, that I might have majored in the subject if I had read it early enough in my college career. And these are rarely introductory volumes. While introductions can be helpful, they tend to be so general that they really don’t give me a vision of the real power and possibilities of a subject. So rather than offering only an overview of the main features of the doctrine of the atonement—something I do in the book as a whole (but not, I hope, in a manner typical of introductory volumes)—I will primarily try to take you behind the scenes, as it were, to reflect on how one does work like this, how one comes to understand a doctrine, to conform one’s mind to the patterns and shapes of a core feature of the Christian faith. Of course, the goal of theology is to delight in conforming our minds (and thus our lives) to the reality of God and his work for us and for our salvation. Theology, in short, is