Most Catholic Christians subscribe to Satisfaction theory.Most Orthodox Christians subscribe to Christus Victor.Penal substitution was developed during Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, primarily by Martin Luther and John Calvin. Satisfaction theory was then developed, primarily by Anselm of Canturbury. (I am listing Ransom theory last only because it has relatively few adherents today.) Ransom theory and Christus Victor were the dominant views of atonement for the first thousand years of Christianity. However, the four primary interpretations in Christianity depend on these four main theories of Atonement: It would be impossible to cover every meaning that Christians attribute to it. What Christians mean by it depends on which interpretation they accept. Received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with theĭifferent Christians understand "Christ died for our sins" in different ways there have been many interpretations of it over the centuries. This is a reference to 1 Corinthians 15:3:įor I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had When Christians say "Jesus died for our sins", what do they mean? So, Jesus is the Messiah-the only one who could pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Only Jesus, the eternal Son of God who existed before the world and time began, has the authority to die to pay the penalty for the sins of anyone else.
Yet, while people may make notable sacrifices, no one but Jesus could die for the sins of another.Īll other people are only human and have their own sins to deal with. Indeed, many people have done good things and made sacrifices for others, from Mother Theresa to many others. That is not what the word "Messiah" means. He is not merely one of many good people who made sacrifices for others. Jesus is not merely a Messiah-He is the Messiah. So, Jesus died for our sins and paid the penalty for them out of His love and generosity, allowing us to avoid paying the penalty ourselves if we accept that. Yet because of the generosity and sacrifice of your father, you are not bound to pay the penalty. However, if you happen to be the son of Warren Buffet, he could pay the penalty on your behalf. What it does mean is that the penalty incurred by our sins is satisfied by the payment made by Jesus Himself.īy way of illustration, if you committed a crime and the penalty for that crime was $1,000,000, you could not pay it. As you point out, this does not mean we stop sinning. Jesus died for our sins in that He paid the penalty for our sins.
In spiritual death, we are separated from God. In physical death, our bodies are separated from our souls and spirits. The penalty is death-not just physical, but spiritual as well. Our sins are really rebellion against God, and they carry a weighty penalty. When the penalty is paid, we say that justice has been served, and that's a good thing. We see the same thing in the justice systems of nations-for every crime, there is a penalty. What we (and the Bible) mean by the phrase "Jesus died for our sins" is that all sins have a penalty.