It's at the heart of traditional Christianity, found in the writings of the earliest Christian author we have, indeed, even before him: Jesus' death as salvific, accomplishing salvation with respect to sin--or as Paul puts it in words he himself received from others before him, "Jesus died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3). This concept has been explored and expounded perhaps more than any other ever considered, yet it remains in many respects very mysterious, elusive, just out of reach. Key questions in New Testament studies and Christian theology are tied to this idea of Jesus' salvific death: Did Jesus believe his impending death would have salvific significance, and if so, in what way(s)? Paul clearly believed Jesus' death had salvific significance, but how, and is there a dominant metaphor in Paul's understanding of Jesus' salvific death? And for Christian theology generally, how exactly does Jesus' death "work" in relation to sin and accomplishing salvation?
Several blog posts recently have brought these questions back into my mind. Most recently,
Loren Rosson has provided an interesting summary of and interaction with Stephen Finlan's
The Background and Content of Paul's Cultic Atonement Metaphors. This has been on my "must read sometime" list for a little while now, but Loren's post whet my appetite even more. I've long thought that Paul employed a rich tapestry of images and metaphors in interpreting Jesus' death. Try as some might, one cannot rid Paul of sacrificial, propitiatory/expiatory motifs, but there are certainly other images in Paul which make up his theological narrative of Jesus' crucifixion.
However, I've also been reminded by other posts, by
Michael Bird and
Benjamin Myers especially, that Jesus' death was not the only soteriologically significant event for Paul--Jesus' resurrection is at least as significant in this regard, even if much traditional and even current theology misses this full significance. And, looking beyond the Pauline borders (and, to a very great extent, still within them) one can spy other events which are viewed as having deep salvific significance, including the incarnation/sending of the pre-existent Son at the beginning, the ministry/miracles of the prophetic Messiah in the Galilee and Judea, and the arrival/revelation of the exalted Lord at the end.
Indeed, it is the
entire "Christ event" which is viewed as salvific, not simply Jesus' death, or even Jesus' death and resurrection.
Which leads me to ever more questions, pondering the
pre-dawn magic which is even deeper than is often thought...
UPDATE (08/16): Sean du Toit continues with some thoughtful posts on Wrath and Atonement
here and
here.
Labels: jesus
