N.T. Wright and the Atonement: Part 2, Christus Victor and the Forgiveness of Sins

In yesterday's post I pointed how N.T. Wright in his book The Day the Revolution Began makes the argument that the gospels do present us with an atonement theology.

Specifically, the death of Jesus is associated with Passover in the gospels, rather than the Day of Atonement. According to the gospels, then, the death of Jesus is a liberating and emancipating event. This is Christus Victor imagery. According to the gospels, Jesus' death liberates us from dark, enslaving forces in the same way the Passover saved Israel from bondage, Pharaoh and the Angel of Death.

And yet, Day of Atonement imagery also runs through the gospels, most notably with the repeated references to "the forgiveness of sins." Jesus goes about performing exorcisms, good Christus Victor stuff, but he also goes about forgiving sins, Day of Atonement imagery.

Wright's book is helpful in showing how these two festivals--Passover (Christus Victor) and the Day of Atonement (forgiveness of sins)--go together in the gospels.

This is important because in our modern atonement debates Passover (Christus Victor) and the Day of Atonement (forgiveness of sins) often get pitted against each other, forcing you to choose between the two. But in the gospels they work together.

According to Wright, here's how these two festivals get fused.

In the gospels the Jews felt themselves to be in a time of exile, in bondage of foreign powers. Despite the return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding the temple as recounted in Ezra and Nehemiah, this exile was an extension of the Babylonian exile. This season of exile was felt to be similar to the captivity in Egypt. So the Jews were looking for a Messiah who would lead a Second Exodus, a Messiah who would be the awaited Second Moses.

This parallel between the Babylonian exile and the captivity in Egypt sets up the Passover imagery in the gospels. But there's a crucial difference between the two. As Wright points out, the captivity in Egypt was a result of historical circumstance. By contrast, the Babylonian exile was punishment for Israel's sins.

This twist linked Passover expectations with the Day of Atonement. Because the exile was associated with the punishment of sin, the forgiveness of sins would be the sign that Israel's exile was coming to an end, that the long awaited Passover event was at hand.

In short, when Jesus is going about forgiving sins he's proclaiming the end of Israel's exile. Jesus is fulling Israel's hope that with the forgiveness of her sins her liberation and emancipation--her Passover--could now commence:

Isaiah 40.1-5
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

In short, there's no need to pit Christus Victor against the forgiveness of sins. In the life of Israel, these were a part of the same story.

And Jesus' death accomplishes both.