The atonement, specifically the Penal Substitution theory of the atonement, is under attack. This is the idea that Jesus died to take the place of humanity who are under God's wrath to placate God's wrath and thereby bring humanity peace with God. Some have called this theory divine child abuse. This phrase is erroneous since the Christian understanding of God is that God the Father and Jesus (God the Son) are one. Their hearts and minds are one in saving humanity through the atonement. Jesus shares the same sense of justice and mercy as the Father. Jesus is as passionate about saving humanity as the father. It is for the joy set before him that he sacrificed himself. He was not a reluctant participant in the atonement, as if he was forced into the plan of God. God is always one in heart and mind, although three distinct persons. This teaching is a mystery beyond human comprehension. This is biblical teaching and faith in the God of the bible requires acceptance of this teaching.
However, there is a reason to be wary of how the doctrine affects our view of God. This doctrine could seem to make God into an authoritarian being who is above all concerned about people doing the right things. One person commented that holiness is God's primary attribute, holiness being his opposition to sin. God is certainly opposed to sin, but is this his predominant attitude? Does God watch humanity to see if they do what is right? That caricature makes God to be a judgmental being, wanting perfection from his creatures more than anything else. God is holy in that he provokes awe- his greatness and beauty surpasses anything on earth that men are prompted to bow down and realize his sinfulness. However, we should also remember that when Moses saw God's backside his awe prompted him to praise God for his mercy. It seems that sin and mercy gets accentuated when man stands before God. Jesus came to show man their sinfulness (teaching men to have a repentant attitude) and show man mercy (healing and forgiving). The Spirit convicts the wold of sin and also produces faith in God's mercy. This indicates that a saving encounter with God provokes both repentance and faith, not just a sense of peace by itself or dread by itself.
The Christian creed proclaims God to be Father. The Apostle Paul affirms the belief that human beings are God's offspring (Acts 17). He brings humanity into existence and sustains humanity, both the godly and the ungodly. In some Christian circles, it is emphasized that God is the father of Jesus and of believers to the exclusion of this idea that God is father of humanity. This is a reaction to liberal Christians who emphasize the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man without regard to faith in Jesus. The bible does teach that humans become a child of God through faith in Jesus, who is the elder brother of those who have faith in him. The human being becomes part of God's household through faith in Jesus, and before that he is not in God's household. This is a paradox to be held in tension. We must affirm the clear biblical teaching that God is the father of his household- Jesus and believers. However, we must not neglect God's fatherly care for everyone- the godly and the ungodly.
Is this care genuine? The bible does say that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). The bible also says that God is love. God is disposed to love, and love bears all things, even the imperfections of the beloved. So we can't have the image of God as a judgmental being primarily concerned about people's actions and even character.
Combining this with the teaching of God's fatherhood, we can say that God is a loving father. Notice that God's love is fatherly, not a friendly love between equals. Equals may exhort each other but will not use coercion on each other. A good father guides his children sometimes even using coercion, caring about what they are to become as individuals and as part of the world. A father is not just related to one child but to all his children. One child is not the center of his universe. Pulling this together, God our father cares about the total creation (primarily humans), and our good is related to the good of all creation, as our father defines good. This will mean that God would sometimes appear to be stern, threatening punishment. However, behind that stern God we imagine, there is a loving father.
This brings us to the purpose of the atonement. We like to balance the scales of life. We feel it is unjust when people who do bad things become prosperous and behind that thought is the feeling that good things should happen to good people and bad things should happen to bad people. We feel that criminals need to be punished through retributive justice or restorative justice- sending to prison or giving back what he took. Some people feel that reparations have to be paid for what is historically done to them (slavery, holocaust), even though the original perpetrators are already gone. The concept of Karma permeates religious thought. Relating this to the afterlife, good people get reborn to a better state and bad people get reborn to a worse state. In western religions, hell is for the bad and heaven is for the good.
This feeling is placed by God in our hearts and is not something evil. There is an objective scale to be balanced. We have a longing for water when we are thirsty because our body needs water. In the same way we have a longing for the scales to be balanced because there is a scale to be balanced. The atonement balances the scales and is the answer to our longing for the scales of life to become balanced. Karma does not reign because of the atonement. Jesus gave his life to balance the scale, a law embedded in creation. It is from God, not something outside of God impinging on his sovereignty. Are we then back to an image of a judgmental God who insists on balancing the scales? We must see the scale, despite its oppressive nature, as necessary for human flourishing. The law condemns us but it is necessary for human flourishing. We reciprocate people's kindness because inside us we believe we must balance the scale. Without that feeling, we would live in an insecure world. Our hope is that we will be so changed that we give kindness to others and worship God without the necessity of law (scale). The fact that we have free will to reject God or to be unkind is not a good thing, but is a mark of our depravity. The atonement eliminates the scale and foreshadows a new age where humanity will become what the father wants us to be, a people who do what is right out of a good heart.