The New Covenant and the Atonement

By Dallas M. Roark, Ph.D.

Is it possible to be influenced by a thinker so much that one may feel that his words are the only true interpretation of Scripture? Of course it is! One may sit in almost any Protestant church Sunday after Sunday absorbing the sermons and not realize that they reflect not the New Testament, but a view about the New Testament as seen through the eyes of John Calvin.

Calvin has had great influence in a variety of doctrines. Some of these
doctrines are more pertinent to some churches over others. For example, Calvin's views on baptism are seen more in Presbyterian than Baptist Churches. His doctrine of predestination has influenced not only the Presbyterians, but Baptist, and Reformed Churches.

Calvin's explanation of the meaning of the death of Jesus has probably permeated more Churches than any of the specific items above. In almost any conservative church Calvinism is preached when it covers the doctrine of the atonement. But it is never called Calvinism. It is preached as the true doctrine of the New Testament.

Calvin's views have been proclaimed in a multitude of sermons by
illustrations of someone taking the place of someone else. Consider the story of a teacher who sets up the rules of the class and everyone agrees to abide by them. Order and justice are necessary for the class. But a young boy steals a lunch from one of his class mates. The class has agreed that all infractions of the rules must be met with punishment regardless of who it is. This young lad is guilty, and as his story is told it becomes obvious that he is poor and hungry, and that is the reason for his stealing the lunch. Regardless of the compassion of the class, for justice sake, he must experience the punishment of his crime. But then, there steps forward the boy whose lunch has been stolen, and he agrees to take the punishment deserved by the boy.
When he receives the punishment, justice is served, and the guilty boy goes free. He is humbled by the fact that someone has taken his punishment.This story illustrates what Calvin says about the death of Jesus.

Consider some of the statements of Calvin.

"Our acquittal is in this--that the guilt which made us liable to punishment was transferred to the head of the Son of God (ls.liii.12). We must specially remember this substitution in order that we may not be all our lives in trepidation and anxiety, as if the just vengeance, which the Son of God transferred to himself, were still impending over us." ( Institutes, Vo!. I, p.439)

"Wherefore, in order to accomplish a full expiation, he made his soul אשם ie., a propitiatory victim for sin )as the prophet says, Is.liii 4,10(, on which the guilt and penalty being in a manner laid, ceases to be imputed to us." )ibid.

"For, were not Christ a victim, we could have no sure conviction of his
being απόλύτρώσις, αντιλυτρον ,και ιλαστηριον, our substitute-ransom and propitiation. And hence mention is always made of blood whenever Scripture explains the mode of redemption: although the shedding of Christ's blood was available not only for propitiation, but also acted as a laver to purge our defilement." p.440

Calvin makes continual reference to Isa. 53. He also refers to other
Scripture passages in his chapter on the meaning of the death of Jesus: Mt. 1:21; Rom. 5:10; Gal. 3:10,13, Col. 1:21,22; Eph 1:3-4; Johne 3: 16, Rom. 5: 10, Rom 5:8; Rom 5:19; Gal. 4:5, Mt. 20:28; Rom 4:25; John 1:29, Rom. 3:25. Rom 5:9.2 Cor. 5:21; Phil 2:7; John 10:15,18; Isa 53:7; Heb. 10:5; Mk 15:28; Ps 69:4; 2 Cor. 5:21 ;Rom 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3: 13, 14; I Pet 2:24; CoI2:14,15; Heb. 9:14; Heb. 2:9; Heb 2:14,15; Rom 6:5; Gal 2:19, 6:14; Col 3:3.

I list these verses to make two points. First, Calvin refers six times to the Isaiah 53 passage and constructs his theory of the death of Jesus on that passage. The passages above are quoted to lend support to his Old Testament interpretation. Second, there is no reference at all to the words of Jesus concerning his own death .

Calvin's explanation of the meaning of the death of Christ is not much
improvement on the view of Anselm. It will be recalled that Anselm regarded the importance of Jesus' death in paying back the honor broken by man in sinning against God. Jesus paid the debt owed by man who could not pay it, and it was paid by Jesus, one who did not owe the debt. In Calvin we have a penalty due to man and the sinless man Jesus took that penalty thus buying forgiveness of sins.

Calvin's view about the death of Jesus are inadequate for a number of
reasons.

Let us begin by saying that Calvin is off to a bad start because he ignored the words of Jesus explaining his own death. At the last supper Jesus gave his disciple an object lesson concerning the meaning of his death. In his death a new covenant was to begin. In this new covenant there is nothing said about buying forgiveness. The three Gospels, Mt. Mk, and Luke, along with I Cor. 11. tell of Jesus's words concerning a New Covenant.

The Old Covenant was established with the blood of animals as described in Genesis 15 in which God made the first covenant with Abraham. Covenants were made with blood. The taking of the life of the victim sealed the covenant. In the case of Jesus, he sets forth his last will and testament and it becomes valid only when his life is over. The cup symbolized his life that would be poured out for the New Kingdom. Any theology that starts anywhere else than the words of Jesus is suspect.

What Calvin has done, seemingly, is to stress the passage in Isa 53 and impose its meaning on other New Testament passages. Calvin never alludes to Jesus' words at all. In fact, the only references to these passages comes in a discussion of the sacraments, not in the literature on the atonement.

Now, if we are going to talk about a covenant of forgiveness, as Jesus
did, we must take the word forgiveness seriously. Forgiveness is acquittal as though one had not committed any sins. To forgive does not involve payment. We are taught to "forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors." This forgiveness does not require payment. Payment and forgiveness are mutually exclusive. If I pay a debt, I don't need forgiveness. If I have been forgiven, I don't need to pay.

Calvin has the reputation of an exegete par excellence. Ironically. Calvin does a terrific job of proof-texting to make his view of the death of Jesus seem plausible in his theory. In regard to the book of Hebrews, a book that says much about the new covenant, Calvin never touches those texts. The very passages that would be related to the words of Jesus are ignored.

But let us consider the book of Hebrews and see what light we can gain on the basis of its comments about the New Covenant.

We encounter the word covenant in Heb. 8:6 where we are told that the covenant which "he arranged between God and his people is a better one, because it is based on promises of better things." Heb. 8:7 continues to point up that if there had been nothing wrong with the first one, "there would have been no need for a second one." Jeremiah 31:31-34is quoted indicating that God would make a new covenant and this new covenant would guarantee the forgiveness of sins.

Chapter 9 contrasts the earthly temple and the heavenly temple. In
contrast to the earthly priest, "When Christ went through the tent and entered once and for all into the Most Holy Place, he did not take the blood of goats and bulls to offer as a sacrifice; rather, he took his own blood and obtained eternal salvation for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a burnt calf are sprinkled on the people who are ritually unclean, and this purifies them by taking away their ritual impurity. Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered
himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God. 12-14

The conclusion is then drawn: "For this reason Christ is the one who
arranges a new covenant, so that those who have been called by God may receive the eternal blessing that God has promised. This can be done because there has been a death which sets people free from the wrongs they did while the first covenant was in effect." Heb. 9: 15

One may speak of the sacrifice of the life of Christ, but he sacrificed his life to establish a new covenant which guarantees forgiveness of sin. Where there is forgiveness of sin, there is cleansing of the soul of man. This is not a sacrifice in the sense that Calvin means it in which "the guilt which made us liable to punishment was transferred to the head of the Son of God." p.439

Hebrews continues to relate the way a covenant is made. It was made
in the blood of animals, beginning with Abraham, and reaffirmed with Moses and other leaders of Israel. Now, in contrast, Christ did not go into a man-made Holy Place, but into heaven itself, 9:24. In contrast to repeated offerings in the Temple, "he appeared once and for all, to remove sin through the sacrifice of himself." 9:26   We have been told that the covenant was made by the sacrifice of his life, and with it comes the forgiveness of sin.

Hebrews 10 contrasts the sacrifices made daily and yearly, but notes that "the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins." v.4 A quote from the Psalms 40:6-8 is taken to show that God does not want sacrifices and offerings, but "you have prepared a body for me." In this body of Jesus Christ, with his death, a new covenant comes into being. Verse 16, again a quote from Jeremiah, is taken to show that this was God's plan, and "we are all purified from sin by the offering that he made of his own body once and for all."v.10

The conclusion of this is that we now have "complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus. He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain--that is, through his own body." v. 19
Why is this? He made a new covenant with us that brought forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We can trust God "to keep his promise" v.23 and the promise is the covenant.

Another passage appears in the book of Hebrews about the new
covenant. There was terror when God appear to Moses and the Israelites at Sinai. Instead of that old covenant and its terror, "you have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem with its thousands of angels. You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born sons, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God who is the judge of all mankind, and to the spirits of good people made perfect. You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel." 12:22-24

The final reference to the Covenant in the book of Hebrew declares that God has raised the Lord Jesus, who isthe Great Shepherd of the sheep as a result of his sacrificial death, by which the eternal covenant is sealed.13:20

At this point, we may make the obvious observation that the book of
Hebrews and the words of Jesus do not give us the meaning of the death of Jesus that Calvin gives us. There has been a lot of good preaching based on Calvin, and people have been converted by it, but it is not the Gospel of the New Covenant.

One practical consequence of the New Covenant is the forgiveness of
sins. This is described in an important way in which the New Testament talks about being justified by faith. Paul declares that "God's way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it. God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ."Rom 3:21-22 This passage should have warned Calvin that beginning with the Old Testament to explain
the meaning of the death of Jesus was the wrong place to begin. Verses 3:25-26 indicate that God offered him, so that by his sacrificial death he should become the means by which people's sins are forgiven through their faith in him.

The concept of forgiveness and justification by faith are pointed up in
Rom.4 where the contrast is made between working for wages and a gift. A wager earner deserves his wages. A gift is not paid for by the receiver. The gift that we receive through faith is forgiveness of sins. "The person who depends on his faith, not on his deeds, and who believes in the God who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is his faith that God takes into account in order to put him right with himself."4:5
Justification by faith means we have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 5: 1 Once we were outside of hope, we now have hope of the glory of God. The new Covenant brought us the gift of God's spirit, into our hearts. "By his sacrificial death we are now put right with God.... he made us his friends." 5:10-11

All of these passages may be read in light of the new covenant that we
are forgiven, and when God has forgiven us we are reconciled to God who has made us his friends.

There are some other phrases and words that relate to the meaning of the atonement. We are primarily interested in these words as they occur in the New Testament and its context. First, is the word redemption. Thayer's Greek Lexicon defines απόλύτρώσις, one of Calvin's words, as "deliverance effected through the death of Christ from the retributive wrath of a holy God and the merited penalty of sin." .Joseph Henry Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon, )New
York: American Book Co., 1889, p.65 What did Christ effect? A new
covenant and the forgiveness of sin.

It appears as we ponders certain passages of Scripture with examples
below that "the blood" was regarded as a summary phrase linking the life of Jesus to the New Covenant. Colossians 1:13-14 is such an example. It reads: God "who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." We have been told that there is forgiveness in the covenant and the covenant was made with his life, his blood. This redeems us or brings us back into a forgiven relationship with God. In Eph
1:7 we have a similar passage with the redemption through his blood being the forgiveness of sins. Along the way we should note that Calvin gives to us a substitutionary view of the atonment, based mainly on Isa. 53. If we take seriously the words of Jesus about his death, there cannot be a substitutionary
atonement. Under no conditions could I make a covenant with God. Only God can make a covenant of forgiveness. We can indicate that He did this for us, in our behalf, but He did not take our place there. We had no place, no position, no rights, and nothing to offer. This is a unilateral covenant like the first one. Abraham was given the covenant. He received it in faith, and was thereby
accepted by God. The new covenant is given to us in Christ, and we receive in in faith. Cf. Rom. 4: 13-25   In Galatians3: 13 we aretold that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become for us a curse. How are we redeemed from the curse of the law except through the New Covenant which supersedes the old covenant.

Paul declares in Galatians 4:5 that God sent his son "to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." We become sons because he sent His Spirit into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Father! my Father."v. 6-7 The Spirit is the promise of the New Covenant, and the benefit of it.

Titus 2: 13-14 speaks of redemption, that Jesus Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness. This giving can only refer to the death of Christ himself, but there is not enough context to either affirm or disallow a thought of the new covenant.

There are some terms yet needing attention. These relate particularly to what Calvin based his opinions on.

First, there is the noun,λυτρόν, meaning a ransom; Thayer defines the
word-phrase, "to liberate many from the misery and penalty of their sins."

Second, there is the verb λυτρόώ, which is defined as "to redeem, liberate by payment of ransom." This word occurs in I Peter I:18 saying that we are not redeemed by corruptible things, but by precious blood of Christ without blemish and without spot." This passage affirms the words of Jesus concerning his own death that he was pouring our his life's blood for the new covenant and the result was forgiveness of sins and bringing mankind back to God.

Third, there is the noun, λυτρωσις, a ransoming, or redemption. The appearancein Heb. 9: 12 is in the discussion of the new covenant and affirms the result of the new covenant as eternal redemption. The word occurs in Luke 1:68 where Zacharias spoke of the beginning of God's act of redemption in his day with the coming of the Messiah. A similar use in Luke 2:38.

Fourth, there is the word απολυτρωσις.. Thayer defines the NT use as deliverance effected through the death of Christ from the retributive wrath of a holy God and the merited penalty of sin." p.65

The word occurs in Romans 3:24 and is connected with justification by
faith, or forgiveness in Christ. The phrase is... "being justified gratuitously by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." This does not involve a penalty view as Calvin held.

Another occurrence is in Eph 1:7. We have redemption through his
blood, the remission of offenses, according to the riches of his grace. Of course, grace is in contrast to a penalty view of the death of Jesus. There are other occurrences of the word but they do not relate directly to the meaning of the actual death experience of Christ.
.
Another word, translated, redeem, is αντιλυτρον, and occurs only in I Tim 2:6. The phrase speaks about Christ who gave himself a ransom for all. The word is defined as "what is given in exchange for another as the price of his redemption, ransom." p.50 Since this is the only use of the word in the New Testament, one should have great reservations about the payment of a price for redemption, especially in light of Jesus' own words concerning the meaning and purpose of his death. There is an exchange that takes place in that we are forgiven and He takes our sins away. But there is no payment to anyone, not even to God.

The last important word of Calvin is ίλαστριον, which may be defined as "an expiatory sacrifice." This is a word that can be defined as propitiation. Propitiation relates to appeasing an angry God. Christ is our propitiation, according to Calvin. There are several passages in which this word or a form of the word occurs in the New Testament. In Heb 9:5 the word is used to describe, not propitiation, but the mercy seat of the temple. This is the place where sins were forgiven. Romans 3:25 also sets forth the same word and its translation is up for grabs. The KJV following Calvin translates it propitiation.
The RSV uses expiation. Others translate "whom God set forth a mercy seat, ίλαστριον, through faith in his blood .... "

A similar word occurs in Heb. 2: 17, the word ίλασκεσθαι, translated by KJV as reconciliation, but it can also bear the meanings of expiation or propitiation. The RSV translates it expiation.

Still yet another form is ίλασμος, defined as "the means of appeasing, a propitiation." In I John 2:2 it is translated propitiation in the KJV and expiation in the RSV. The same translation options are in I John 4:10. The Good News ignores both words and declares that "he is the means by which sins are forgiven." One of the Lexicons defines ίλασμος as "expiation, propitiation."
Willam F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Chicago: University of Chicago Press:, 1957, p. 376.

Websters Ninth edition says expiation is "the act of making atonement, the means by which atonement is made." Propitiation is defined "to gain or regain the favor of goodwill of" someone, in this case, God. The tendency to reject propitiation is due to the implication of God being bought off from his anger by the death of his Son. This thought comes through in Calvin. "We must bear in mind, that Christ could not duly propitiate God without renouncing his own feelings, and subjecting himself entirely to his Father's will." p. 438
But even Calvin talks about expiation on the same page. "To satisfy our ransom, it was necessary to select a mode of death in which he might deliver us, both by giving himself up to condemnation, and undertaking our expiation."p.438 This thought comes after he has quoted Isa 53:5, "the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and that"with his stripes we are healed."

Clearly, Calvin builds much of his exposition of the meaning of the death of Jesus on the Old Testament rather than the New. But even in the New Testament materials he ignores the most important words and the fullest words concerning the meaning of Jesus' death.

Can we observe that Calvin has taught us an inaccurate view of the death of Jesus. Our Lord's words are the most gracious words filled with assurance. He guarantees to us, by his covenant-death, that we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we are remembering his covenant with us.