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Forgiveness and Atonement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2009

Paul Jensen
Paul Jensen
Affiliation:
Augustana CollegeRock IslandII. 61201–2296U.S.A.
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Extract

Christians frequently request God's forgiveness and have their Lord's assurance that if they refuse to forgive they will not be forgiven (Matt. 6:15). Forgiveness is thus integral to Christian moral existence even if life presents few opportunities to forgive those who have genuinely wronged us. This infrequency of opportunity is neither regrettable nor surprising. Sane persons after all do not wish to be routinely wronged so as to be able to forgive regularly. But perhaps the infrequency with which we forgive others helps to explain why we are mystified by the nature of forgiveness.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , January 1993 , pp. 141 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1993

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References

1 Quinn, Philip L., ‘Christian Atonement and Kantian Justification’, Faith and Philosophy 4 (October 1986): 440CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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15 I have taken this concept from James Pakcer, who described Christ's atonement in the following way: ‘…Jesus Christ our Lord, moved by a love that was determined to do everything necessary to save us, endured and exhausted the divine judgment…’ ‘What Did the Cross Achieve: The Logic of Penal Substitution’, Tyndale Bulletin 25 (1974): 25Google Scholar.

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17 There are, of course, other passages which are equally explicit such as Gal. 3:13 ‘Christ redeemed us by becoming a curse for us…’.

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