What are the different theological understandings of Easter?
Talking to kids about Easter isn’t for the faint of heart. Betrayal? Torture? Death? And we haven’t even tackled the whole God-mandating-the-death-of-Jesus thing.
What if that wasn’t the only way to talk about Jesus’ death? What if the way most American Evangelical churches have taught, explained, and understood Jesus’ death was one of many ways of understanding it—and a fairly recent theory for what it represented? What if understanding God calling for and needing Jesus to die wasn’t the only way to view what happened on the cross?
There are different ways of understanding what exactly happened on the cross with Jesus’ death and resurrection. These different understandings are known as “atonement theories”. (And all of them are just that—theories. The “Paschal Mystery”, or the events of the last days of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, is exactly that—a mystery.)
So no matter what view we hold, humility in how we hold it is a good idea. Remember, atonement—at-one-ment— is the result regardless of whether we understand how it’s accomplished.
Below are the most commonly held theories for understanding the purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection:
Ransom Theory. This was most popular between the 4th and 11th centuries and is connected to early church father Origen. The main idea behind this theory is that Jesus’ death was a ransom God paid to Satan in order to free the souls of humans from Satan.
Satisfaction Theory. This became popular in the Middle Ages from theologian Anselm, but was derived from ancient Jewish practices like the Day of Atonement. This theory suggests that our sin dishonored God, but as imperfect humans, any sacrifice we make to God is not good enough. So, Jesus, as the perfect human, was sacrificed to restore justice and bring God “satisfaction”.
Moral Influence Theory. This theory was a response to the satisfaction theory and was created by Peter Abelard. He believed that Jesus came to live, teach, heal, forgive, and then die as an example to humanity for moral improvement, demonstrating God’s love. The point was to change the perception of God from being violent or transactional to being loving and accepting.
Penal Substitutionary Atonement Theory (PSA). This is the predominant atonement theory in Protestantism that started with Martin Luther in the Reformation in 1500. This theory suggests that Jesus’ death was a substitute for our own, in order to fulfill the legal requirements of God’s law that calls for death because of our own sin. So, Jesus took the penalty for humanity’s sin to satisfy God’s justice.
Christus Victor Atonement Theory. This theory emphasizes Jesus’ victory over the forces of evil and dates back to the early Church Fathers, being the most dominant atonement theory for a thousand years. It suggests that the cross and then resurrection made Jesus victorious over sin, death and the devil.
Maybe some of these theories are new to you, maybe some resonated with you more than others, or maybe these made you consider what happened on the cross and what it meant in a different way. If nothing else, our hope is that taking a look at just a few of the different understandings of atonement help us to realize how theologically diverse Christian history and tradition is, and that there is more than one way to approach conversations around the cross.
