Atonement (Governmental view)

The governmental view of the atonement (also known as the moral government theory) is a doctrine in Christian theology concerning the meaning and effect of the death of Jesus Christ. It teaches that Christ suffered for humanity so that God could forgive humans without punishing them while still maintaining divine justice. It is traditionally taught in Arminian circles that draw primarily from the works of Hugo Grotius.

The governmental theory arose in opposition to Socinianism. Grotius wrote Defensio fidei catholicae de satisfactione Christi (Defense of the universal faith on the satisfaction rendered by Christ), in which he utilized semantics drawn from his training in law and his general view of God as moral governor (ruler) of the universe. Grotius demonstrated that the atonement appeased God in the divine role as cosmic king and judge, and especially that God could not have simply overlooked sin as the Socinians claimed.

Despite its origin, Grotius's atonement model is typically contrasted with the satisfaction theory formulated by Anselm of Canterbury (11th century), the view currently espoused by the Roman Catholic Church, which was further developed by the French Protestant reformer John Calvin (16th century) into penal substitution theory, the view advanced by Calvinists as well as some Arminian Evangelicals. Grotius's theory can also be contrasted with the Christus Victor model, most often associated with the Eastern Orthodox Church and held by many Lutherans and Anabaptists. The satisfaction view argues that Christ, by His sacrifice on the Cross, made general satisfaction to the Father for the infinite honor debt humanity owes God for its sinful offenses; penal substitution theory posits that Jesus received the full and actual punishment due to men and women, suffering the unbridled wrath of God on the Cross in their stead; while Christus Victor emphasizes the liberation of humanity from bondage to sin, death, and Satan by Christ's freely chosen and sinless submission to the power of death.

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