Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20010708.htm

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY (ORGANIZED BIBLE KNOWLEDGE)
Part VI: Soteriology (Doctrine of Salvation)
B. The Work Of The Savior
  1. Introduction
    1. Nepaug Church is not part of an organized group of Congregational Churches in the area, a fact that has raised questions as to why it is separate!
    2. Understanding the differences of belief Nepaug Church has on the work of the Savior at Calvary explains some major theological reasons why Nepaug Church takes its unique stand!
  2. The Work Of The Savior (I am indebted to Chafer's Systematic Theology, vol. III, Soteriology, and to Leon Morris' The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, p. 167-174 for much of my content):
    1. There are False and True Theories on Christ's Atonement on the Cross:
      1. The False Theories of the Work of Christ at the Cross are as follows:
        1. The Marturial Theory - Some believe Jesus died as a martyr at the hands of evil men for His beliefs. Yet, John 10:18 reveals He gave His life -- it was not taken from Him. Jesus was not a mere martyr.
        2. The Moral Influence Theory - Socinus pushed this view that modern Unitarians adopt. It suggests Jesus died to influence others to reform their lives. Yet, 2 Corinthians 5:15 reveals Jesus died to change men so they would selflessly do God's will. Jesus died to do more than just influence men.
        3. The Identification Theory - Others teach Christ died to identify with man's sin so as to confess them adequately to God for man. However, 2 Corinthians 5:21 teaches Jesus took man's sin upon himself for man that man might graciously receive God's imputation of Christ's righteousness. The Savior was man's Substitute, not just a sympathizer for man's condition!
        4. The Rectal, or Governmental Theory - Grotius and Anselm pushed this view which was largely accepted by the New England Congregationalists when Liberal Theology swept America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It suggests Christ died vicariously for man, but not to intercept God's wrath! Since God is loving, it is assumed He could not express wrath against man! Yet, Morris (work cited) effectively argues "propitiation" (KJV) means the satisfaction of God's wrath in Romans 3:25 and 1 John 2:2. [The Governmental theory replaces an early patristic era theory that Christ's death paid a ransom to Satan for man, Strong, Systematic Theology, p. 747.]
      2. The True Theory of Christ's Atonement is as follows: The Satisfaction Theory - It argues Christ died to absorb the totality of God's wrath against man's sin, and that Christ thus died as man's Substitute out of God's love that sought to save the human race from God's WRATH! (Gal. 2:20 and 2 Cor. 5:21 picture this position well, Rom. 3:25.) We know it better as the Substitionary Atonement theory.
    2. Jesus accomplished fourteen known works on the Cross itself:
      1. He became the Substitute for sinners to judge man's sin, Galatians 3:13-14.
      2. He became the End of the Mosaic Law as a rule of life for man, Rom. 7:4-6. Seventh-day Adventism thus errs as it teaches God saves us to keep that Mosaic Law! (Seventh-day Adventists believe, p. 244)
      3. He made a redemption toward sin, fully paying for its cost to an outraged, holy God, Gal. 3:13.
      4. God became reconciled to man in the Cross so that He holds nothing against man for sins committed outside of the sin of rejecting sin's antidote, rejecting faith in Christ Himself, 2 Corinthians 5:19.
      5. Christ fully satisfied God's wrath against man's sin, 1 John 2:2 (Ibid., Morris).
      6. He judged the sin nature so believers should boycott its use and live by the Holy Spirit, Rom. 6:1-8:13.
      7. He opened the door for the believer's daily cleansing from sin, 1 John 1:1-2:2.
      8. He enabled God to defer quick judgment on man for acts of sin to give room for repentance, 2 Pet. 3:9.
      9. He removed the pre-cross sins that had only been covered until the cross, Romans 3:25.
      10. Jesus provided national salvation for Israel through the cross, Romans 11:25-29.
      11. He provided Millenial and Eternal blessings for Gentiles through the cross, Gal. 3:13-14; Rev. 21:24.
      12. He positionally spoiled evil angelic powers at Calvary, Col. 2:13-15. This opens the door for both temporal restraint and ultimate destruction of Satan's efforts, Romans 16:20; Rev. 12:7; Rev. 20:10.
      13. He supplied the grounds of peace with God for unsaved man, Romans 5:1.
      14. He purified things in heaven through the cross, Heb. 9:23. Satan has access to heaven, and this apparently counters that effectiveness of that Satanic access, Eph. 6:12; Rev. 12:7-8.