The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant

A (Not So) New Model of the Atonement

Michael J. Gorman

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781630872076
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

In this groundbreaking book, Michael Gorman asks why there is no theory or model of the atonement called the "new-covenant" model, since this understanding of the atonement is likely the earliest in the Christian tradition, going back to Jesus himself. Gorman argues that most models of the atonement over-emphasize the penultimate purposes of Jesus' death and the "mechanics" of the atonement, rather than its ultimate purpose: to create a transformed, Spirit-filled people of God. The New Testament's various atonement metaphors are part of a remarkably coherent picture of Jesus' death as that which brings about the new covenant (and thus the new community) promised by the prophets, which is also the covenant of peace.Gorman therefore proposes a new model of the atonement that is really not new at all--the new-covenant model. He argues that this is not merely an ancient model in need of rediscovery, but also a more comprehensive, integrated, participatory, communal, and missional model than any of the major models in the tradition. Life in this new covenant, Gorman argues, is a life of communal and individual participation in Jesus' faithful, loving, peacemaking death.Written for both academics and church leaders, this book will challenge all who read it to re-think and re-articulate the meaning of Christ's death for us.

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The Promise of the New Covenant

As noted in the Introduction, that there is no theory or model of the atonement called “covenant,” “new-covenant,” or something very similar is one of the great wonders of the theological world. This book aims to address that lacuna, that theological hole, so to speak, by proposing a new model of the atonement that is really not new but is often overlooked and always underexplored: the new-covenant model. In this chapter we consider the promise of the new covenant. The chapter title is a deliberate double entendre: it refers both to the promise of the new covenant made by the biblical prophets and to the theological promise of considering the new covenant as fundamental to our interpretation of the atonement.

The chapter begins by noting the curious overall absence of new-covenant language and theology from discussions about the atonement, as well as hints that atonement and new covenant are inherently connected to each other. This leads to a case for a new, more comprehensive model of the atonement focused on the new covenant. The chapter concludes with an overview of the new covenant promised by the prophets and of the resulting new-covenant model of the atonement being proposed in this book.

The Absence of the Obvious

How many images of the atonement are there in the New Testament? In most recent interpretations, from precise exegetical studies like those of John Carroll and Joel Green in The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity to more synthetic, theological treatments like Scot McKnight’s A Community Called Atonement, the answer is “many.”11 Based on these various images, how many major models or theories of the atonement have developed in the course of the Christian tradition?12 A standard answer is three—Christus Victor, satisfaction (often associated with sacrifice and/or punishment), and moral influence—though some prefer to separate sacrifice from satisfaction and call it a separate model, yielding four basic models or, by omitting moral influence from the list of true models, retaining three.13

These major models have been supplemented in recent years by a variety of new models and by recognition of older models that are not as prominent as the “big three.” A volume called The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views, edited by James Beilby and others, contains essays treating the Christus Victor, penal substitution, healing, and “kaleidoscopic” views, the last being the name given by Joel Green to his proposal that no one model or metaphor suffices to articulate the meaning of the atonement. He refers vividly to “the church’s glossolalia with regard to the soteriological effect of the cross.”14 In his book Triune Atonement: Christ’s Healing for Sinners, Victims, and the Whole Creation, Andrew Sung Park prefaces his own contribution (summarized in the subtitle) with a review of eight theories, five traditional and three recent. The five traditional theories are ransom, Christus Victor, satisfaction, moral influence, and penal substitution, while the more recent additions he calls “last scapegoat” (proposed by René Girard), nonviolent narrative Christus Victor (J. Denny Weaver), and symbolic (i.e., “the symbolic power of Jesus’ blood”—Paul Tillich).

David Brondos, in his Fortress Introduction to Salvation and the Cross, considers the role of the cross in ten more general soteriological models, both from the ancient church (e.g., redemption/recapitulation and the union of divine and human natures) and from more recent discussions about such themes as the kingdom of God (Albrecht Ritschl), reconciliation (Karl Barth), proclamation (Rudolf Bultmann), and liberation (Jon Sobrino, Rosemary Radford Ruether). “Covenant” is absent.15 Peter Schmiechen, in Saving Power: Theories of Atonement and Forms of the Church, also surveys ten “theories of atonement” under four rubrics, but, again, none of the rubrics or theories contains the word “covenant.”16 With emphasis on soteriology and relying largely on the church fathers, Ben Myers proposes a fascinating “alternative typology” to Gustaf Aulén’s (in his Christus Victor). Myers identifies six types of early Christian soteriology, with Christ as the second Adam, sacrifice, teacher, brother, life-giver, and healer, suggesting that the death of Christ alone is not sufficient for soteriology and that a focus on Christ’s salvation as teaching and as healing was prominent in the patristic era.17 In none of these surveys or others with which I am familiar, however, is there a chapter called something like “the new-covenant model of the atonement.”

The recent work of two prominent theologians, however, does suggest that there is hope and promise in pursuing this kind of model. The work of the late reformed theologian T. F. Torrance (d. 2007) comes close to the development of such a new-covenant model.18 Torrance argues that Christ’s life and death effect both the fulfillment of the covenant—God’s desired relationship with a people—and its transformation into the new covenant. For Torrance, Christ’s atonement encompasses his entire life (with a strong emphasis on the incarnation), not only his death, but it culminates on the cross. “Christ fulfills the covenant in that he is the embodied communion between God and man, and in that he is himself the instrument whereby the covenant is established . . . The Son offers his life and death in a covenant sacrifice for the remission of sins and the establishment of covenant communion between God and humanity.”19 This basic thesis and framework allow Torrance to explore and incorporate a variety of New Testament atonement metaphors into his overall perspective, especially redemption, justification, and reconciliation. Torrance also stresses that the giving of the Spirit, and thus the existence of the church, is the completion and “actualizing” of the atonement.20 That a reformed theologian would stress covenant comes as no surprise. However, although covenant is highly significant for Torrance’s understanding of atonement, it is apparently not sufficiently developed or stressed to be recognized by others as constituting the core of a model.

Echoing some of Torrance’s interests, theologian Kevin Vanhoozer has developed a “canonical-linguistic,” or “theo-dramatic,” approach to theology in which God as dramatic covenant-maker and -keeper is center stage.21 He argues that Scripture tells us that God...