Curse Removed: A Look at Image-Based Atonement

The atonement is the central doctrine of our Christian faith. Today's most popular model--penal substitution--presumes Jesus took on the guilt of sins to pay for them with his death. But that courtroom scenario, lacking justice and open-armed forgiveness, is riddled with questions of how guilt is transferred and why punishing another for a crime is just. The recent revival of Christus Victor and mimetic atonement theories may properly deny the Father-to-Son wrath of penal substitution, but they, too, fall short in explaining the transference of the victory of Jesus's atonement to the sinner who needs rescue. Addressing these problems, Dan Salter's biblically faithful recast of a redemptive atonement highlights both our human physical essence and our spiritual identity as the beneficiaries of God's restoration. True justice and forgiveness can occur only with The Curse Removed.