The Cross in Context
What does the atonement actually mean? In The Cross in Context, Jackson W. walks you through reconsidering biblical metaphors for atonement.
A Better Biblical Context
W. begins the book by lamenting that the church is divided over different theories of the atonement. His aim in writing this book is to guard church unity, clarify as well as add cohesiveness to the theories, and then provide better biblical context for what the atonement actually means.
While animal sacrifices are a good place to start, W. says that the OT sacrificial system has been simplified to a fault. He introduces the concepts of what it means to be holy, common, clean, and unclean. Chapter 3 looks at the different offerings, including burnt offerings, grain offerings, and peace offerings. He spends the most time examining the reconciliation offering, where blood binds a person to the altar – and, symbolically, to God. Two key insights are revealed: First, it is not the shedding of blood; it is a burning rite that yields a pleasing aroma to God. Second, a devoted gift is most holy and therefore cannot be redeemed. It belongs to God alone.
Honor, Shame, and the Sacrificial System
It is here where W. steps back to define atonement as removing whatever barrier exists between the worshiper and God, including uncleanness and sin, in seeking God’s favor. Forgiveness and atonement follow after an offering is burned on an altar, not the shedding of blood. The unclean is made clean, and consecration can occur. “Blood makes atonement for people’s lives because blood is seen to contain life. It represents the giving of one’s life to God.”
The jewel of this book is how W. shows a relationship between honor, shame, and the sacrificial system. “Specifically, the sacrificial system (e.g., the process of giving a reconciliation offering) aims to honor God such that he removes our shame by atoning for sin.” This interpretation draws from the entire biblical canon, highlighting the fact that the sacrifices prescribed in the OT should glorify God. Thiis honor-shame perspective is eye-opening. “The offerings function to restore GOd’s honor, which is defamed by human sin. Because God accepts a sacrifice, his people will not be put to shame.” “As a reconciliation offering, Christ bears our shame by giving to God the glory due his name.”
A Stronger Love for Christ and his Cross
The second half of the book examines three fundamental ingredients that make a biblical theology of atonement: purity, debt, and burden. What most intrigued me was to see W. answer the question: Does the Father punish the Son? It is here where he shows his hand: “We have no reason to say that a substitute vicariously receives the punishment otherwise due to the guilty party.” W. bases this on the fact that “we cannot find any verse that explicitly states that God’s wrath is poured out on the Christ,” and “we also cannot find any verse that explicitly states that God’s wrath is poured out on a reconciliation offering.”
W. concludes the book by showing how viewing the atonement in this way has several implications and applications. Most moving to me is that our gospel presentations can have a redirected focus on the coming victory of God amid our suffering despite his apparent absence from our lives. It also calls us to have a heightened sense of Scriptural context as we cherish the cross of Christ. While I do not agree with some of W.’s conclusions, I found his insights in the honor-shame context of the cross to be sanctifying. I come away with a stronger love for Christ and his cross.
I received a media copy of The Cross in Context and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.