Now this is a dangerous exercise. I post this tentatively and as a work in progress. I am about to post a several part series on Evangelical Calvinism. Now, what I say here is very much a work in progress but I hope that we can think this through together. I will start with the atonement and incarnation, two things which are inextricably linked in Evangelical Calvinism. I hope to write this in such a way that you do not have to be an academic theologian to understand what is going on… we will see how that goes. Easier said than done 
Federal Calvinist visions of the atonement have often been guilty of not taking into account the full implications of the incarnation for forming an adequate atonement theory. Evangelical Calvinism-following T.F. Torrance thinks though the atonement in terms of the incarnation as well as the death and resurrection.
In dismantling what Torrance calls the “Latin Heresy”, he attempts to show the way Jesus acts in solidarity with fallen humanity. What has so often happened, Torrance argues, is that Jesus’ humanity has been understood as some kind of ‘ideal’ or perfect humanity which is unaffected by the sinful human condition. But in assuming a fallen human condition Jesus acts in solidarity with us in our humanity, yet of course remains without sin. Thus, there is an ontological union between Jesus Christ in his humanity and us in our humanity. This explains the way in which Jesus can act as the second Adam; the one who acts on behalf of all humanity. Thus, Jesus acts from within the ‘ontological depths’ of the fallen human condition to bring us back to God. He acts as the one who is faithful to God through all the trials of life and even to death. The incarnation is then ‘inherently redemptive and redemption is inherently incarntional’.
All this is of course not held in isolation from what is going on in the death and resurrection. In the death of Christ we have the climactic clash of sin and life, of Jesus and the world. As Jesus is the one Light of the world, the one in whom the fullness of deity dwells bodily, sinful humanity rebells against the Light. This climaxes in the death of Christ. Christ is put to death as the one who claimed he was the King of the Jews, Yahweh himself. As such, he represents the clash of God with the world. Thus according to Torrance:
This means that ‘the joyful atonement made between God and man by Christ Jesus, by his death, resurrection and ascension’, is not to be understood in any sense as the act of the man Jesus placating God the Father, but as a propitiatory sacrifice in which God himself through the death of his dear Son draws near to man and draws man near to himself. It is along these lines also that we must interpret the statement of the Scots Confession that Christ ’suffered in body and soul to make the full satisfication for the sins of the people’, for in the Cross God accepts the sacrifice made by Christ, whom he did not spare but delievered him up for us all, as satisfication, thereby acknowledging his own bearing of the world’s sin guilt and judgment as the atonement.
So while we still understand the atonement in terms of Penal Substitution, this is reframed around what is going on between Jesus and the world. Jesus is not ‘placating’ the Father for anything, but is rather enduring the death which is the full consequence of sin, as one who need not endure it. It is in this light that we should understand the words of Jesus on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” this must be read in light of the entire Psalm (22) which culminates in hope that God will not, and ultimately never did, abandon Jesus in this moment. It is to be understood as Jesus standing at the depths of the fallen human condition, facing the ultimate trial: death. Yet he overcomes, and so “into your hands I commit my spirit” is the perfect response. Jesus does not give up on the Father’s love, even in the depths of death and pain and seeming abandonment. There is no Father heaping wrath upon Jesus at this point. It is not a picture of the Father unleashing on Jesus to make himself feel better, but rather Jesus is acting in solidarity with us to bring us back to God.
I am sure to have left a many things out which others will correct me on. But I think that this is the way in which Evangelical Calvinism begins to think about the atonement. In trying not to drive a wedge between the life of Jesus and the atonement, it becomes an understanding which is centered on the whole Jesus, his whole life, death and resurrection. What do you think? The next post will examine the vicarious humanity of Christ, which should elucidate this further.
Scott Kirkland
