Christians have struggled with the question of atonement. How are we redeemed by the death and resurrection of Christ?

Here are some of the ideas that have been debated along with a new theory called Separation Theory which explains redemption in a way that will cause Satan to be cast out of Heaven.

• The Moral Influence Theory – Christ saves us by being a good example. By this theory we save ourselves by following His example. This means we are not actually saved by Christ, and so this theory conflicts with much of the New Testament.
• The Penal Substitutionary Theory – By this theory Christ takes the punishment for our sins, but this clearly contradicts the Bible. (Ezekiel 18:20, Exodus 32:33) God does not punish anyone for the sins of someone else. This is something Jews keep pointing out to no avail.
• The Satisfaction Theory – The death of Christ satisfies the justice of God. This came centuries before Substitutionary atonement, and it is only slightly different from Substitutionary atonement. It also claims that Christ is punished for our sins which is unbiblical.
• The Ransom Theory – By this theory Christ pays a ransom to the devil, but it seems impossible that the devil could have any leverage over God. Some say that Christ pays a ransom to God, but this would be a version of Satisfaction or Substitution atonement, both of which are unbiblical.
• Christus Victor – This is what the early church believed, but it is not a fully developed theory. According to Christus Victor, Jesus defeats evil, but it does not explain how Jesus defeats evil.
• The (new) Separation Theory – Christ is without sin so His resurrection was fully justified. On the Day of Judgment, Christ lays down His body, and this will make it completely fair for us to lay down our bodies. Our spirit is judged separately. Our spirit is a perfect angel of God, and we are each given a new body.

Christians will dismiss Separation Theory without consideration, in part because of Gnosticism. The Gnostics were deceptive; they presented themselves as a version of Christianity, while some of their beliefs were arrogant or blasphemous. The Gnostics believed that the spirit is good while the flesh is evil, but this feature of Gnosticism is not blasphemous. Jesus said the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The flesh is not evil, but it is weak and manipulated by evil spiritual forces. The spirit within us is perfect.

The Separation Theory is also rejected because of the degree to which we will be changed by discarding our body, and the fear that we will be so different from what we are now that it may not be us who are in Heaven.

In Heaven we will be who we are, but we will be perfect and without sin. We must have faith that God will take care of us, and we must realize that only those who are completely perfect can enter the perfect kingdom of God. Only Separation Theory explains how we are transformed into perfect angels, and there are many clues in the Bible to indicate perfection is necessary.

Christian opposition to this theory seems remarkable considering all the Biblical support. As if God causes Christians to be hostile to this idea, and God used Gnosticism as a distraction.

There is a great deal of separation in the Bible, and that separation is often connected to redemption. God even created the world by separating things, but separating our spirit from our flesh does not explain why Jesus had to suffer on the cross. There should also be an explanation for why God had to keep so many secrets.

To keep Separation Atonement secret, God had to keep secret the explanation for the Trinity.

We know from the Bible that God is outside of time, but we also know from the Bible that God moves in times since God responds to people.

Jesus was born into the world and lived as a human, so the Son of God moved in time.

God the Father transcends time, while God the Son moves in time. This explains the Trinity, but God has kept this explanation secret by causing the thought to vanish from the mind of every Christian who has considered it over the past two thousand years. God could not allow us to have this conversation. If we explore the idea that the Trinity is explained by God inside-of-time and God outside-of-time, we must consider the third God of the Trinity. There would have to be a second consciousness of God moving in time. The Holy Spirit would be a consciousness of God at a different level of reality than the Son of God.

The Holy Spirit may be at a level of reality that transcends the Son, or the Son may be at a level that transcends the Holy Spirit. God could not allow this conversation to take place.

God not only created time in a way that allowed Him to send part of Himself into time, but God also created time in a way that allowed Him to look away from an area of time and space. When Jesus was on the cross and He said, “My God, why have you abandoned me?”, this was because God had literally looked away from the crucifixion. When God looked away from the cross, the devil and all the evil spirits openly cursed God. This is what caused the suffering of the Son of God.

The Holy Spirit is in Heaven. Satan is in Heaven, but Jesus is at the “Right Hand of God”, which transcends Heaven just as Heaven transcends the Earth. The inhabitants of Heaven do not necessarily know about the “Right Hand of God”. To this day Satan does not know that Jesus is Lord and a witness against the devil and all the evil spirits. The idea that Jesus transcends Heaven had to be kept secret.

With the Separation Theory, Jesus redeems us by giving up His body like He said He would. Jesus also redeems us by destroying evil. Separation Theory explains Christus Victor which was the view of atonement that dominated the early church. Jesus is a witness against the devil.

It is this revelation that causes Satan to be cast from Heaven.