Just a Thought

Last weekend while taking part in a theological discussion group, someone made a very interesting point relating to the atonement that has gotten me thinking. Normally I would probably post something like this over at Logan Atone, but with Harlan taking a bit of a break from blogging for the meantime and the fact that this isn't an argument or thought out position per se, I decided to post it here.

What started out as a discussion on the issue of justification switched over to a discussion of the penal substitution view of the atonement. Anyone who has read any of my atonement related posts here or at LA knows that I do not hold to the penal substitution view, finding it deeply problematic on a number of theological levels. However, since at least the time of Anselm, penal substitution has become something of the default view, at least for Western Christianity.

The point that was made that has gotten me thinking, however, was simply if Jesus or the Gospel writers or whomever wanted to connect Jesus' death with an idea of penal substitution, then it would have made more sense to have his death coincide with the Day of Atonement. As it is, Jesus' death occurs around the time of Passover, which connects back to the Exodus, not to the Day of Atonement.

Now I realize that there are any number of reasons why this might be the case, and I'm sure there are plenty of people that would be willing to put forth their own theory about about why Jesus died then (ranging from "because thats when it happened" to "in order to make a subtle polemic against divisions within the early Church" I'm sure), so as I said I am not trying to argue that this is some great or novel position. It just strikes me that the narrative of the exodus instead of the narrative of atonement would be the most prominent allusion at work at the crucifixion.

It makes me wonder how things might look if we started paying more attention to Jesus' death and resurrection as being part of a story of exodus and deliverance from slavery and bondage rather than a sort of divine legal exchange like the penal substitution view leads to. Just a thought.