“Our sins are debts that none can pay but Christ. It is not our tears, but His blood; it is not our sighs, but His sufferings, that can testify for our sins. Christ must pay all, or we are prisoners forever.”
– Thomas Brooks
Introduction
The atonement of Jesus Christ for the sins of those who believe is one of the central doctrines of Christianity and is under constant attack. In Misquoting Jesus, Bart Ehrman argues that “Jesus’s death [in the Gospel of] Luke … drives people to repentance, and it is this repentance that brings salvation.”[1] As evidence, Ehrman argues that Luke’s citation of 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 cuts out the part stating that Jesus’ body and blood were shed “for you.”[2] Ehrman claims that by removing this section from Luke, the understanding of Jesus’ death being for atonement of sins can be found nowhere in all of Luke and Acts.[3] The implication of Ehrman’s assessment is that atonement for sin is not found in the apostle’s early teaching and thus is not part of authentic Christianity. Ironically, the verse that Ehrman uses to attempt to remove the doctrine of atonement is the same verse that definitively grounds atonement in the apostolic preaching. 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 is an early Christian creed that incorporates atonement into its message. This creed, and others like it, are the earliest record of apostolic teaching and contain the core elements of what the early church believed and taught about the gospel. The early Christian creeds and confessions, which are the best representation of the apostolic teaching, contain the doctrine of atonement – that Christ died for the sins of those who believe in Him.
Romans 4:25
Evidence of Creedal Nature
Romans 4:25 possesses a number of creedal elements. First, Romans 4:25 is set up using parallelism which can be seen in the following color coding of the verse:[4]who was delivered over for the trespasses of usὃς παρεδόθη διὰ τὰ παραπτώματα ἡμῶνand was raised for the justification of usκαὶ ἠγέρθη διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν
This level of strict parallelism is out of place in epistolary writing and is a clear indication that the material contained within has an origin prior to the writing of the letter.[5] Second, this verse also contains a concise statement of Christ’s salvific work, which is a common component of many creeds.[6] Finally, at the end of the “three major theological sections” of Romans, Paul includes a summary statement containing many creedal elements. By ending his theological treatises in this way, Paul is most likely referencing preexisting content to affirm the conclusion of his message. Thus, Romans 4:25 is most likely creedal in nature and pre-Pauline.[7]
Theology of Atonement
Romans 4:25 is focused on connecting atonement doctrine to the gospel through allusions to Isaiah 53.[8] Romans 4:25 shares similarity with the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 53:12 which reads, “because of their sins he was given over.”[9] Using the rest of Romans and Isaiah 53 as a backdrop, the links to atonement become apparent. First, the identity of the one who delivered/gave Jesus over is vital to understanding what exactly Jesus’ death accomplished. According to Isaiah, the one given over was “struck down by God,” as “the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.”[10] Later on Isaiah states that “the Lord was pleased to crush Him severely,” and through this punishment “the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.”[11] Romans echoes these sentiments, stating that “He [God] did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all.”[12] Thus, when Romans 4:25 asserts that Jesus was “delivered over” it is clear that God is the one doing the delivering. God’s involvement rules out Jesus’ death as being a political move by either the Jews or the Romans to maintain power or to shut down a radical Jewish sect. Instead, God’s giving over of Jesus frames His death in the context of Romans 4: humanity has transgressed against the holy, sovereign law of God and has become unrighteous as a result.[13] In order to restore humanity, the death of Jesus causes the imputation of His righteousness unto the believer.[14]
But there is a greater dimension necessary for true salvation to come to those who have faith in Christ. It is not simply faith alone that secures righteousness; according to the early Christian creed of Romans 4:25, Jesus must be “delivered up for our trespasses” in order for believers to be made righteous.[15] Isaiah 53:5 elaborates on what exactly that deliverance entails and accomplishes: “But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.” Jesus was delivered so that He could be punished for the transgressions of humanity. To be delivered for someone else’s trespasses is the language of penal substitutionary atonement. Jesus was “pierced,” “crushed” and punished as payment for “our transgressions” which would allow Jesus to “justify many.”[16] This language plays into the second half of Romans 4:25 which states that Jesus was “raised for our justification.” It is not that the resurrection itself justifies, but that “his resurrection authenticates and confirms that our justification has been secured.”[17] As Isaiah 53 affirms, Jesus’ death for the sins of those who believe is applied to the believer, justifying him or her and counting Christ’s sacrifice as credited to the believer “for righteousness.”[18] Thus, the creed of Romans 4:25 demonstrates that the full doctrine of atonement was integral to the apostles’ teaching.
1 Corinthians 15:3
Evidence of Creedal Nature
The strongest piece of evidence that 1 Corinthians 15:3 is creedal and pre-Pauline in nature is the usage of the words “passed on” and “received” which are “acknowledged by scholars generally” as termini technici that refer to the formal reception of doctrine by an authoritative source and to the official restatement and presentation of that doctrine to others.[19] 1 Corinthians 15:3 ff. also makes substantial use of the hoti recitativum, which is a distinct marker found in teaching or instructional elements of creeds. Additionally, 1 Cor. 15:3 ff. also utilizes the hapax legomena of “according the Scriptures” which is never used in any of Paul’s other writings.[20] 1 Cor. 15:3 represents one of the strongest cases for being a pre-Pauline creed from the early church in all of Scripture and is indispensable for determining the content of the early apostolic preaching.
Theology of Atonement
Like Romans 4:25, 1 Corinthians 15:3 links Jesus’ death and resurrection with the atonement for sins. The mention of “according to the Scriptures” mediates the use of Isaiah 53 as an interpretive lens for this verse in the same way as Romans 4:25. However, there are some additional insights that can be gained from this verse. First, unlike other shorter creeds, the 1 Corinthians 15 creed is longer and contains multiple parts. That “Christ died for our sins” is given primacy in the creed sets it off as a “primary tenet of the Christian faith.”[21] Thus, no matter how critics interpret other verses in Scripture, it is impossible to deny that some form of atonement is at the core of the Christian faith.
Another pivotal point is that the verses in Isaiah 53 were not originally interpreted by the Jews “in terms of a personal Messiah,” nor did people of the time see an “immediate connection between the death of Jesus and the idea that his death was “for our sins.”[22] The one who originally linked Jesus’ death to atonement for sins could not have been Paul (because the creed predates his writing), nor could it have been a pre-Christian Jewish or pagan influence (the Jews did not see the link and pagans were not in the habit of officially interpreting Jewish Scripture). Thus, the idea of atonement must have arisen some time during the life of Christ or shortly thereafter. There is substantial evidence that the “for you” language of 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 is attributable to Jesus, is the origin of the connection of sins to Jesus’ death, and is the source statement for 1 Corinthians 15:3. If this is the case, then atonement does not only date back to the apostles’ teaching, it dates back to the very words of Jesus Himself and is firmly cemented as the foundational doctrine of the Christian faith.
Additionally, 1 Corinthians 15:3 “presupposes alienation between God and humans because of human rebellion and sinfulness, for which the just penalty is death.” A natural question that arises from reading the statement “Christ died for our sins” is why does sin require death? Thus, the 1 Corinthians creed cannot be examined independently from the second chapter of Genesis, where death is explicitly connected to sin and rebellion from God.[23] Mankind should die for its sins, yet one who is sinless is the one upon whom the death penalty was enacted. If Christ truly did die for the sins of those who believe in Him, then the proper understanding of 1 Corinthians 15:3 is one of penal substitutionary atonement. God ordained that Jesus would die to satisfy the penalty for the sin of Adam and his descendants. By implication, this death would then allow humanity to come back into relationship with God, ending its “alienation.”[24] In this way, 1 Corinthians 15:3 is another example of how “the concept of substitution [and atonement] is woven into the very earliest of the Christian creeds.”[25]
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
Evidence of Creedal Nature
Like 1 Corinthians 15:3, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 is prefaced by the statement “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you,” which is an extremely strong indication that the following text is pre-Pauline and creedal in origin. However, there is one subtle difference between these two sections. In 1 Corinthians 15:3, the origin of the passage is left unstated and is likely attributable to the apostles that Paul met during his visit to Jerusalem. However, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 directly attributes the creedal content to “the Lord.” This means that the following content was not a distillation or summary of the apostles but related to direct statements from Jesus himself. While it is possible that Jesus related the following content to Paul during his conversion, it is more likely that he received it as an official recounting of the very words of Jesus from the apostles in Jerusalem.[26] Either way, the implications are the same. The following statement did not originate from the disciples, Paul, or the church, but from Jesus. With reference to Ehrman’s conclusion recounted in the introduction, it does not matter if Luke edited out the atonement aspects of this saying in his gospel. The statement as fully recounted in Paul is reflective of the earliest Christian tradition and the words of Jesus. Thus, the version found in 1 Corinthians should be used to ascertain early Christian doctrine over any version found in manuscripts of Luke.
Theology of Atonement
The focal point of atonement in 1 Corinthians 11:24 is Jesus’ statement that “This is my body, which is for you.”[27] To understand the full impact of this verse it is necessary to place the entire creed in its original setting: the Passover meal. Luke 22:15 gives a recounting of the event containing the creed, stating that Jesus “eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”[28] In this way, Jesus connects the Passover with His impending death. Later on, Jesus specifies the way in which He is connected to the Passover: His body is the bread and His blood is the wine.[29] Exodus 12 provides the context for the connection Jesus makes. In Exodus 12:4, the Passover lamb’s blood is to be placed on the door post, but the rest of the animal is to be divided “according to what each person will eat.”[30] The Israelites were then supposed to celebrate the Passover meal as “a memorial” done in remembrance of when the Lord “passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and spared our homes.”[31] The Israelites were just as guilty as the Egyptians for worshipping false Gods. When YHWH executed “judgments against all the gods of Egypt,” both Egyptians and Israelites were included. The only way the Israelites could be exempt was by providing the sacrificial Passover lamb in place of the first born.[32] Jesus’ statement that the Passover meal is now to be done “in remembrance of Me,” He is effectively putting Himself in the place of the Passover lamb and dying so that His people will not undergo the wrath of God in judgment.[33] The wrath and judgment due the sins of the people of God are laid on Jesus just as they were on the Passover lamb and thus their full debt is paid so that the people of God may walk free. That this recalibration of the Passover comes from Jesus, not the disciples or Paul, and that this statement can be linked back to His very words is exceptionally good evidence that atonement for sins has been a central doctrine from the very origins of Christianity.
1 Peter 3:18
Evidence of Creedal Nature
Another key example of atonement being found in a creedal passage is 1 Peter 3:18. One of the strongest evidences that 1 Peter 3:18 is a pre-Petrine creed is that it contains the kerygmatic data of Jesus’ “death and resurrection” in a structured “bipartite formula” in a similar way to other parts of 1 Peter as well as Acts and Pauline letters.[34] Secondarily, this creed’s proximity to a passage elucidating the practice of baptism indicates that it was probably used as a standard confession in the early church during the baptismal rite.[35] This passage also utilizes a hoti introduction that is common in confessional material. Finally, the verse contains multiple parallelisms in a compact nature, which would aid in memorization as well as serve a didactic role: “suffered/having been put to death,” “righteous/unrighteous,” “in the flesh/in the spirit.”[36] As a baptismal creed containing multiple parts of the core gospel message and various memorization markers, 1 Peter 3:18 can be safely designated a pre-Petrine, early church baptismal creed.
Theology of Atonement
One of the first differences between 1 Peter 3:18 and other creeds found in the New Testament is its association with the suffering and persecution of the church. This serves as an excellent backdrop upon which “to expound a doctrine of atonement.”[37] Verse 8 begins Peter’s thesis on suffering and persecution, stating that believers should not be “paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you can inherit a blessing.”[38] Peter makes the countercultural connection that when other people commit evil acts against the believer, blessings abound. He then draws a further conclusion stating that through the offering of blessings in response to persecution, the believers themselves will “inherit a blessing.”[39] Peter hints at the inherited blessing being “life,” “good days,” and the absence of “harm,” but later states that “even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed.”[40] It is as though Peter knows that not everyone will receive the blessing of “life” and “good days” while here on earth, but there is still a blessing or promise of “life,” and “good days” that they have already received.
Peter purposely leaves the connection unclear until he links the suffering and persecution that Christians endure to the suffering and persecution that Christ endured. Thus, the entire creed of 1 Peter 3:18 can be interpreted in light of Peter’s early comments on suffering which act as the perfect explanation of Christ’s atonement. 1 Peter 3 sets boundaries in response to the question of what good can come of the Messiah’s death? Following the formula set out in 1 Peter 3:8,10, the Messiah’s suffering and death should lead to some form of “blessing” involving “life” and “good days.” This turns out to be exactly what is promised in the creed. As a result of “suffering for sins … [and] being put to death in the fleshly realm” Jesus was “made alive in the spiritual realm.”[41] In other words, Jesus personally experienced persecution unto death and then received blessing in the form of life in the spiritual realm or life in the resurrection, just as Peter outlined. Additionally, verse 18 makes it clear why believers were charged with blessing others as a result of persecution; through Christ’s sacrifice, believers are brought “to God” which is the greatest blessing that one can receive.[42] Thus, the theology of atonement that is laid out by 1 Peter is that Christ would suffer and die for the sins of the believer once and for all so that they might be reconciled to God and like Him “made alive in the spiritual realm.”
Another aspect of atonement in this passage that deserves analysis is the statement “for sins.”[43] Another way to translate this section is “on behalf of sins” which is representative of “sin offerings of the OT (Lev. 5:7; 6:23; Ps. 39:7; Isa. 53:5, 10; Ezek. 43:21-25)” as well as Pauline and Johannine commentary on Christ’s death as found in “Rom. 8:3; 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Thess. 5:10; Heb 5:3; 10:6, 8, 18, 26; [and] 1 John 2:2; 4:10.”[44] The link to Old Testament sin offerings brings two unique emphases to light. First, sin offerings are often “unblemished” which is a technical term that represented perfection and being “without defect.”[45] In relationship to Jesus it emphasized that “Christ suffered innocently.”[46] He was perfect (sinless) and, when examined by the Roman court, found guiltless.[47] The second aspect of sin offerings is that they are always offered to YHWH on behalf of an offending party because of his or her offence against the law.[48] By being typologically related to sin offerings, Jesus’ death takes on a cosmic role of appeasing God’s wrath against the sin of mankind. Both of these components of being a sin offering safeguard Jesus’ death against being understood as the death of a common criminal. Instead, 1 Peter 3:18 firmly sets the death of Jesus as a sacrifice being done on behalf of the people of God in propitiation of their sins.
Colossians 1:20
Evidence of Creedal Nature
A third key creedal passage is found in Colossians 1:15-20, which contains a number of indicators that it is a pre-Pauline creedal hymn or poetic prose. First, like many creeds, it begins with the Greek relative pronoun “ὅς” to set off both of its major introductions. Second, it makes significant use throughout the creed of the “ὅτι”/”καὶ” construction to introduce doctrine in a formulaic manner. Third, verse 16 contains repetitive use of the word “εἴτε” as a parallelism to make memorization easier. Fourth, like most creeds, Colossians 1:15-20 includes the primitive kerygma of Jesus’ deity, death, and resurrection. Fifth, the creed contains “numerous hapax legomena” which have a slightly gnostic/mystic flair that is not present in the rest of the letter.[49] It is the presence of these hapax legomena that lends considerable weight to the creed being pre-Pauline in nature and thus indicative of early apostolic teaching. Thus, Colossians 1:20 establishes what the early church believed about the atonement.
Theology of Atonement
Colossians 1:20 begins with the conclusion in mind: through Christ, God intends “to reconcile all things to him.” The idea of reconciliation involves bringing an end to the “alienation” that mankind wrought through his disobedience and sin.[50] With that in mind, the verse turns to the means by which that alienation might be remedied. This separation is a result of a lack of peace between God and mankind, since prior to Christ all people were under the wrath of God. The creed then indicates that the only way peace could be made was “through the blood of his cross.”[51] Thus, something about “the blood of his cross” allowed for mankind and God to be at peace. Colossians commentator Richard Melick argues that the statement “blood of his cross” is a very “direct” statement and “points to the theology of the blood atonement which runs throughout Scripture and speaks of the radical death of Jesus.”[52] Like other creeds, this language brings to mind the sacrificial system of Old Testament. However, one of the most beautiful and unique parts of this verse is the way atonement is linked to the relationship of God and people. When people are justified and forgiven of their sins by Christ’s death the “immediate result” is “peace with God.”[53] Through the cross of Christ, the wrath of God is satisfied and mankind may enjoy the fullness of a relationship of peace with God.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the earliest Christian creeds paint a multifaceted, nuanced, and complete picture of Christ’s atonement for the sins of those who believe. All of the creeds used to support this hypothesis have substantial markers that demonstrate they are not original to the letters or books in which they are contained; rather, they are indicative of the early apostolic teaching and in one case the very words of Jesus Himself. The creeds present a rich tapestry of the atonement of Christ, pulling in themes of the Passover narrative, sin offerings of the Old Testament law, penal substitutionary atonement, and reconciliation and restored relationship. Rather than being devoid of the doctrine of atonement, the early Christian church was steeped in the understanding that Jesus had died for the sins of those who believe. “In Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.”[54]
Bibliography
Barnett, Paul W. Jesus and the Logic of History. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997.
Cullmann, Oscar. The Earliest Christian Confessions. London, U.K.: Lutterworth Press, 1949.
Davids, Peter H. The First Epistle of Peter. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990.
Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. New York City, NY: HarperOne, 2005.
Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. Revised. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014.
Longenecker, Richard, N. New Wine into Fresh Wineskins: Contextualizing the Early Christian Confessions. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999.
Melick, Richard R. Jr. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Vol. 32. The New American Commentary: New International Version. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1991.
Moo, Douglas. The Epistle to the Romans. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996.
Neufeld, Vernon, H. The Earliest Christian Confessions. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1963.
Pao, David W. Colossians & Philemon. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.
Schreiner, Thomas R. Romans. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1998.
Wengst, K. “Christologische Formeln Und Lieder Des Urchistentums.” Studien zum Neuen Testament 7 (1972).
[1] Bart D. Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (New York City, NY: HarperOne, 2005), 167.
[2] 1 Corinthians 11:24 (HCSB).
[3] Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, 167.
[4] http://biblehub.com/interlinear/romans/4-25.htm; Nestle GT 1904, http://biblehub.com/text/romans/4-25.htm.
[5] Richard Longenecker N., New Wine into Fresh Wineskins: Contextualizing the Early Christian Confessions (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 15.
[6] Ibid.
[7] K. Wengst, “Christologische Formeln Und Lieder Des Urchistentums,” Studien zum Neuen Testament 7 (1972), 101-104.
[8] Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), 290.
[9] Isaiah 53:12 (NET, Septuagint).
[10] Isaiah 53:4,6 (HCSB).
[11] Isaiah 53:10 (HCSB).
[12] Romans 8:32 (HCSB).
[13] Romans 4:16,22-24 (HCSB).
[14] Romans 4:16-24 (HCSB).
[15] Romans 4:25 (HCSB).
[16] Isaiah 53:5,11 (HCSB).
[17] Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1998), 244.
[18] Romans 4:22 (HCSB).
[19] Vernon Neufeld H., The Earliest Christian Confessions (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1963), 47.
[20] Longenecker, New Wine into Fresh Wineskins: Contextualizing the Early Christian Confessions, 16.
[21] Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised., New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 723.
[22] Ibid, 724.
[23] Genesis 2:17 (HCSB).
[24] Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 724.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Paul W. Barnett, Jesus and the Logic of History, New Studies in Biblical Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 98.
[27] 1 Corinthians 11:24 (HCSB).
[28] Luke 22:15 (HCSB).
[29] Luke 22:19-20 (HCSB).
[30] Exodus 12:4 (HCSB).
[31] Exodus 12:
[32] Exodus 12:12 (HCSB).
[33] 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 (HCSB).
[34] Neufeld, The Earliest Christian Confessions, 138.
[35] Oscar Cullmann, The Earliest Christian Confessions (London, U.K.: Lutterworth Press, 1949), 20.
[36] 1 Peter 3:18 (HCSB).
[37] Neufeld, The Earliest Christian Confessions, 138.
[38] 1 Peter 3:8 (HCSB).
[39] 1 Peter 3:8 (HCSB).
[40] 1 Peter 3:10,13-14 (HCSB).
[41] 1 Peter 3:18 (HCSB).
[42] 1 Peter 3:18 (HCSB).
[43] 1 Peter 3:18 (HCSB).
[44] Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 135.
[45] Leviticus 22:19-21 (HCSB).
[46] Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, 135.
[47] Luke 23:14 (HCSB).
[48] Leviticus 4:1-5 (HCSB).
[49] Longenecker, New Wine into Fresh Wineskins: Contextualizing the Early Christian Confessions, 60.
[50] David W. Pao, Colossians & Philemon, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 103.
[51] Colossians 1:20 (HCSB).
[52] Richard R. Jr. Melick, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, vol. 32, The New American Commentary: New International Version (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1991), 227.
[53] Ibid, 228.
[54] Ephesians 2:13 (HCSB).
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