{"id":4590,"date":"2021-03-26T10:04:56","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T09:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/?page_id=4590"},"modified":"2022-06-16T17:39:36","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T15:39:36","slug":"christus-victor-explained","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/studies\/christus-victor-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Christus Victor Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>A short explanation of the Christus Victor theory<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<small>These are just some notes a friend of mine took many years ago during our lectures. So they are not an extended explanation but just a brief overview.<\/small>\r\n\r\n<h3>History<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>Developed\r\nby Gustaf Aul\u00e9n (May 15, 1879 \u2013 December 16, 1977) the Lutheran\r\nprofessor and Bishop of Str\u00e4ngn\u00e4s in the Church of Sweden, the\r\nChristus Victor theory of the Atonement refers to the understanding\r\nand view of Christ\u2019s death as the means by which the powers of\r\nevil, which held humankind under their dominion, were defeated\r\n(Morris 1984).<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>The Theory<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Argued\r\n\tby Aul\u00e9n as the predominant view of the atonement held by the early\r\n\tchurch and the first thousand years of church history, as well as\r\n\tsupported by nearly every Church Father of the Patristic period\r\n\tincluding Irenaeus, Origen of Alexandria, Ambrose and Augustine of\r\n\tHippo.<\/li>\r\n<li>Although\r\n\tsometimes referred to as the Revived Ransom theory, proper\r\n\tunderstanding of the view will make clear that it is not concerned\r\n\twith the payment of ransom to the devil, but with the motif of the\r\n\tliberation of humanity from the bondage of sin, death, and the\r\n\tdevil.<\/li>\r\n<li>\u201cIts\r\n\tcentral theme is the idea of the Atonement as a Divine conflict and\r\n\tvictory; Christ &#8211; Christus Victor &#8211; fights against and triumphs over\r\n\tthe evil powers of the world, the &#8216;tyrants&#8217; under which mankind is\r\n\tin bondage and suffering, and in Him God reconciles the world to\r\n\tHimself\u201d (Aul\u00e9n 1958).<\/li>\r\n<li>Not\r\n\tthe most popular of the theories, but still becoming increasingly\r\n\tpopular amongst paleo-orthodox evangelicals, liberal Christians and\r\n\tchurches such as; Anabaptists.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<h3>In Favour<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Role\r\n\tof the Trinity and the Law in Christus Victor are emphasized as\r\n\tdivine continuity and a legal discontinuity, while the opposite\r\n\temphasis is associated in the Satisfaction Theory created by Anselm\r\n\tof Canterbury.<\/li>\r\n<li>Scriptural\r\n\tsupport includes: Colossians 1:13; 2:13\u201315, 1 John 3:8; 4:4,\r\n\tHebrews 2:14\u201315<\/li>\r\n<li>The\r\n\ttheory is rooted in the Incarnation of Christ and how He entered\r\n\tinto human misery and sinfulness so that He could fulfil the will of\r\n\tthe Father by redeeming the world.<\/li>\r\n<li>Not\r\n\tonly concentrates on the death of Jesus Christ, but also on the life\r\n\tHe lived and the example left.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<h3>Against<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>It\r\n\thas been argued that when Scripture uses Christus Victor language it\r\n\tgrounds it in penal substitution. Col. 2:13-14 can also be used as\r\n\tan example of this.<\/li>\r\n<li>Churches\r\n\twho promote the Christus Victor theory of atonement have been\r\n\taccused of ignoring or avoiding the need for forgiveness in prayer.<\/li>\r\n<li>Compared\r\n\tto the Penal Substitution theory, Christus Victor does not make\r\n\tSatan\u2019s role very clear in regards to the cross.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<h3>Contemporary Relevance to the Christian Faith<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Modern\r\n\tday writers and theologians such as; Gregory Boyd, C.S. Lewis, N.T.\r\n\tWright and Pr. Mark Driscoll are found supporting Christus Victor as\r\n\ta key analogy of the different aspects of the atonement.<\/li>\r\n<li>N.T.\r\n\tWright suggests we give priority \u201cto those Pauline expressions of\r\n\tthe crucifixion of Jesus which describe it as the decisive victory\r\n\tover the \u2018principalities and powers\u2019\u201d (Wright 1988: 47)<\/li>\r\n<li>Its\r\n\tinfluence in Christian songwriters has been noted. Don Francisco\u2019s\r\n\t     \u2018He\u2019s Alive\u2019 performed by David Phelps is the perfect\r\n\texample of such influence.<\/li>\r\n<li>In\r\n\tthe film \u2018The Passion of Christ\u2019 although somewhat controversial\r\n\tand slanted towards the theory of Penal Substitution, the\r\n\tscriptwriter chose to portray Jesus\u2019 rising and walking out of the\r\n\ttomb as the last scene, suggesting the theology of Christus Victor.<\/p>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<h3>Bibliography<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>Sanders, F. (May 15, 2009) <i>Gustaf Aul\u00e9n, Lundensian Theologian<\/i> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scriptorium\/2009\/05\/gustaf-aulen-lundensian-theologian\">http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scriptorium\/2009\/05\/gustaf-aulen-lundensian-theologian<\/a> [Accessed 24 May 2012]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Morris, L. (1984) <i>Theories of the Atonement in Elwell Evangelical Dictionary<\/i><\/p> \r\n\r\n<p>Gustaf, A. (1958) <i>Christus Victor<\/i>, New York; Macmillan<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Wright, N.T. (1998) <i>What Saint Paul Really Said<\/i>, Grand Rapids, MI; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Driscoll, M. (February 05, 2008) <i>Spiritual Warfare, Part 3: Christus Victor<\/i> <a href=\"http:\/\/marshill.com\/media\/spiritual-warfare\/christus-victor\">http:\/\/marshill.com\/media\/spiritual-warfare\/christus-victor<\/a> [Accessed 24 May 2012]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Wright, T. (24 September, 2009) <i>Tom Wright THE ATOMEMENT DEBATE<\/i> 0.43-3.32 sec. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IA8CY5iC_ww\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IA8CY5iC_ww<\/a>\r\n [Accessed 24 May 2012]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The Passion of the Christ. (2004) Directed by Mel Gibson. Los Angeles, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment [DVD]<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A short explanation of the Christus Victor theory These are just some notes a friend of mine took many years ago during our lectures. So they are not an extended explanation but just a brief overview. History Developed by Gustaf Aul\u00e9n (May 15, 1879 \u2013 December 16, 1977) the Lutheran professor and Bishop of Str\u00e4ngn\u00e4s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7472,"parent":1147,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[225,307],"tags":[272,304],"folder":[102],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4590\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4590"},{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}