Today is Good Friday, when millions of people around the world are convinced that Jesus “died for our sins”. The concept of vicarious atonement is complex, intricate and difficult to understand, without being in any sense profound. It is such a vital component of Christian faith that it’s easy to forget how immoral it is. God sent Jesus down to earth, to ‘atone’ for our sins (that is, to pay a debt he did not owe). Paul described the divine transaction that took place when Jesus died on the cross: “God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross” (Colossians 2:13-15).
Vicarious atonement is more usually known as scapegoating. Our sins and misdemeanours are loaded onto a scapegoat which, literally or figuratively, is driven out into the desert to die of hunger and thirst. In absolving us of culpability, scapegoating first undermines and then demolishes the notion of personal responsibility. What a loathsome idea! If I do you a grievous wrong, it is up to you to decide whether or not to forgive me. Can I honestly claim to have been forgiven already, by a third party who I have not personally wronged?
Licenced yesterday: a detail from the 8th century Anglo-Saxon cross in Ruthwell Kirk, Dumfries and Galloway...
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