Author: Kingsley Nyakagwa

Jason,
Thanks for our well-written post. I concur with you that the priority should be on the person of Christ. Knowing Christ provides us with a better understanding of his works. As Millard Erickson observes, “A thorough study of Christ’s person, his deity and humanity, enables us to better understand what his unique nature enabled him to do for us.”  Besides, concerning atonement, in my view, I do not think the atonement theory that bests fits with an understanding of the person and work of Christ is the Penal Substitution Theory. First and foremost, this theory seems to communicate an angry and vengeful God that is not only looking to punish sin but also daring to punish the innocents in place of wrongdoers. Some theologians have suggested that the idea of the wrath of God obscures the fundamental nature of God, namely, that he is love. 

Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology. 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 696.

^I Ibid., 745.