Life‐giving Flesh: Deity, Humanity, and the Efficacy of the Atonement – Part Two

Abstract

AbstractThe life‐giving power of Christ's flesh and the unique efficacy of his atoning death is grounded in the fact that the flesh belongs to a divine person, the eternal Word. The previous article critiqued an attempt to explain the life‐giving power of Christ's flesh by way of a divine suffering on the cross and instead sought to ground the efficacy of Christ's atoning death in the proper and instrumental power of Christ's humanity. This second article argues that the efficacy of Christ's atoning death is grounded also in the infinite worth of the ransom that he pays on the cross. The claim that the infinite worth of Christ's ransom is derived from his deity, which itself does not suffer or die, will be articulated in dialogue with several patristic, medieval, and early modern theologians.