The Narrow Path Ministries

Growing up I had read the Chronicles of Narnia, and was told similarly of Jesus' work.

In CS Lewis' writing, Aslan hands himself over to the wicked queen to be killed, and in the traditional view of Christ's sacrifice I always heard he had similarly handed himself over to Satan for a time before he triumphed. Somehow, it is believed that Satan was owed something, just like the queen was owed a life, and Christ and Aslan stepped in to present themselves for what the enemy was rightfully claiming.

However, I now struggle to see it since I understand it was God's law that called for justice and blood, not any claim of Satan's. It was God who was owed something, not the enemy. Thus, while I've heard from Christians that claim Christ satisfied Satan's claim to us, and submitted himself to Satan for a time, it seems more likely that Christ satisfied what we owed God. Satan has no rightful claim to anything, he (and his forces) was just an instrument that was used to perform the actions that God's righteousness required.

It seems Christian's give rights to Satan that he does not have when they claim he has a right to something that is owed him which Christ had to meet.

Do you guys see my dilemma? I haven't figured out how to word it best, but it just seems as if the Narnia idea of Christ's death makes no sense as some Christian's would picture it that Satan had a right to anything. It was God who had a right (was owed) justice.

Satan may have been a tool to inflict justice upon Christ, but I fail to see that Satan had a claim like the queen in Narnia.

I have grappled with this too. This article appears to be a work in progress, but worth a look:






Pelagius's idea that Jesus sacrifice ransomed us from death sounds pretty logical since "the wages of sin is death."

This thread appears to be wandering into a consideration of the PURPOSE of Christ's death. This is clear from scripture:

I Peter 2:24 He himself endured our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

II Corinthians 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Romans 14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Heb 9:26 ...he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

But as for HOW His death is able to deliver us from sin or regenerate us the scriptures are silent.

If you are a reader you might be interested in the following book:

http://www.amazon.com/Fortress-Introduc ... +atonement

The author traces the origins of various views of atonement throughout Hebrew and Christian history. The view that God was owed something is actually quite new.

Doug

Thanks for that link, Doug. I examined the table of contents, and found that the book seems to be a fairly comprehensive treatment of the subject.

Thanks Doug, I checked out the book and it looks interesting. I picked up a copy for my iPad. I'll let you know what I think.