Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 177:708 (Oct 2020)
Article: “A Sacrifice Of Atonement”
Author: Douglas J. Moo

BSac 177:708 (October-December 2020) p. 387

“A Sacrifice Of Atonement”*

Douglas J. Moo

* This is the fourth article in the four-part series “Salvation in Paul’s Epistles,” delivered as the W. H. Griffith Thomas lectures at Dallas Theological Seminary, February 5–8, 2019.

Douglas J. Moo is Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.
—Romans 3:25

The means by which God inaugurates the new realm is the whole work of Christ, but, as we have seen, with particular focus on his death. Paul uses Old Testament texts, concepts, and broad themes to illuminate the meaning of that death—a death that he clearly presents as “vicarious”—“for us.” But that “for us” remains undefined; what further, we rightly ask, does Paul say about how that death benefits us? Answering this question is complicated by a matter we raised earlier: Paul does not always distinguish between the inauguration of the new realm in salvation history and the entrance into that realm on the part of individual humans (the ordo historia versus the ordo salutis). For instance, as we noted earlier, Paul appears to use the language of redemption, his “buying people out of slavery,” to refer both to the work of the cross in history past and to the deliverance of people as they appropriate that accomplished redemption. Thus, for instance, “redemption” in Romans 3:24, because it is the means, or basis, of justification—“justified . . . through [διά] the redemption”—probably refers to the cross. In Ephesians 1:7, however, where “redemption” is defined as “forgiveness of sins,” the focus is on the believer’s experience of that redemption (though perhaps not the exclusive focus: redemption comes by means of “blood,” a reference to the cross).

BSac 177:708 (October-December 2020) p. 388

This language of redemption might suggest that Paul views Christ’s work in terms of an expression of God’s power, by which he overcomes those “powers” that hold sway over sinful humans. This conception of Christ’s work, roughly similar to the classic Christus Victor understanding of the atonement, has been quite popular in recent years.1 However, while deliverance from the powers is, indeed, an important theme in Paul—which I explore in an earlier lecture—it is questionable whether that theme aptly describes “atonement” ...