Christus Victor, a book by Gustaf Aulen, first published in 1931, shows that the early Christians believed Christ redeems us by destroying death, or freeing us from the dominion of Satan. It was expressed in different ways, but somehow Jesus destroys evil. In the third and fourth centuries the Ransom Theory became the most common explanation for how Christ frees us from the dominion of Satan. The Ransom Theory says that Jesus paid some kind of ransom to Satan.
Sometimes atonement was explained by saying that Christ descended unto death to defeat death. It is said that Christ descended unto death to retrieve the keys of death. There is no ransom paid to the devil, but Satan has something that God must retrieve. The devil still has some kind of leverage over God.
It needs to be understood that defeating the devil was the means of our redemption. This is what the early church overwhelmingly believed. The Ransom Theory became the most common explanation for the means. The weakness of the Ransom Theory is that the devil is said to have leverage over God.
Vicarious Atonement
In the eleventh century, over a thousand years after Christ, Anselm of Canterbury would write Cur Deus Homo (Why a God Human). This book caused the Church to reject not only Ransom Theory, but also the means of atonement that the Ransom Theory attempted to explain. The Church would no longer believe that Jesus redeems us by destroying the devil. Instead, the Church embraced the idea that Christ redeems us by paying the penalty for us. This was called Satisfaction Atonement. A few centuries later, the protestant reformers did not restore the original view of atonement, they modified Anselm’s theory into Penal Substitutionary Atonement.
God will not punish Christ for our sins. Both Catholics and evangelicals ignore clear statements in the Bible that God does not punish anyone for the sins of someone else. God told Mosses that everyone will pay for their own sins. Christians also ignore how the early church overwhelmingly viewed our redemption as being achieved by the defeat of the devil.
The ransom theory was not a good explanation for Christus Victor. The following is a much better explanation for how Christ redeems us by destroying evil. This explains what the early church believed.
Christus Victor and The Right Hand of God
Satan is not stupid enough to battle God. The devil hates God, but he must keep that hatred to himself. Satan destroys humans because that is the only way he can hurt God. God looked away from the crucifixion, and this is why Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” Satan believed he could openly curse God with no one to witness it.
The devil believed Jesus was a mere human. The devil is in Heaven, but Jesus is at the “Right Hand” of God. The Right Hand of God transcends Heaven, so unbeknownst to Satan, Jesus did witness the devil’s hatred of God. Jesus suffered on the cross as He is repulsed by evil. The physical pain was nothing to the Lord.
Satan is still in Heaven because Jesus transcends Heaven. It has not been revealed in Heaven that Jesus is Lord. When the Messiah is revealed in Heaven, Satan will be cast from Heaven.
This is how Jesus destroys evil. This explains Christus Victor far better than the Ransom Theory. The failure of the Ransom Theory led to Vicarious Atonement, but Vicarious Atonement is unbiblical. Now there is a reasonable explanation for Christus Victor.
This view of atonement may be unorthodox, but it is more consistent with the Bible than what is taught by evangelicals or the Catholic Church. It is clearly more consistent with the beliefs of the early Church.
How God Destroys the Devil (This presents the overwhelming Biblical evidence that Jesus destroys the devil as a witness.)
