Why did Christ die?

Andrew Preslar 

 

Dr. Wallace,

You wrote:

“It would of course not do for Paul to say that God declares sinners righteous  ‘for a bribe,’ so an appropriate substitute is needed–one that is a cognate of…but does not use…or imply anything except that God acts freely when he justifies sinners.…It is not insignificant that we again see in the LXX of Isa 5.23…And again, we see that…must almost surely mean ‘declare innocent’ since the pronouncement is made on the ungodly who do not deserve it.” 

The first sentence presupposes that God does not take bribes. I agree. But in light of your concluding surmise (“Perhaps Luther and the Reformers got it right after all” ), it seems relevant to note that neither does God tell lies. I do not raise this point of theology by way of disagreeing with the point that God justifies the wicked by his free forgiveness and acquittal. Of course he does. Rather, I want to suggest that interpreters ought to consider whether God’s declarative word, as distinct from the legal declarations of human judges, is also creative, such that the divine declaration of righteous corresponds to reality; i.e., God’s speech-act is not merely forensic, it is also, after the pattern of Genesis 1, creative. If it is, then it would seem to oppose “making righteous”  and “declaring righteous”  would be a false dilemma, in cases where it is God who justifies.

I recognize that you were responding to NT Wright, whereas I am (pretty obviously) coming from a Catholic point of view. In any event, since you seemed to invoke theology proper as an exegetical criterion in the quote above, I would be interested in your take on my attempt to the same, re declaring righteous.

http://danielbwallace.com/2013/01/01/paul-and-justification-by-faith-the-real-jewish-evidence/#comment-2260

Preslar is a convert to Rome, so he’s duty-bound to defend the peculiar dogmas of his adopted sect. Wallace gives some good answers to Preslar, but for now I’d like to draw attention to something else.

Do Catholic really believe in vicarious atonement? Why did Jesus die on the cross? What did that accomplish? Did he die on behalf of others? Did he die in place of others?

If justification by faith is a “lie,” if God can only justify those who are actually righteous, then why did Christ die? To what end? Is that just a placeholder until God makes us righteous? Is the atonement an IOU until sanctification is complete?

If justification by faith is a “lie,” then isn’t the atonement of Christ superfluous in Catholic theology? If God would be a liar were he to justify sinners on the basis of Christ’s atoning death, then what’s the purpose of Christ’s atoning death? Does it actually atone for sin? Or is that a “lie”?