The cross and resurrection of Jesus is the central event of Christian faith, and the human experience. And as the central event, the cross and resurrection of Jesus bears talking about. And when we look at the cross, in many ways, we see ourselves coming to Jesus. In other words, we see the cross from different perspectives.
The Reformation gave us one dominant view- legal penalty/penal substitution theory. It followed a very simple line of thought. We are guilty, we cannot properly handle our guilt, the penalty of sinfulness is death and separation from God, Jesus took that on Himself (being guiltless) and the resurrection proves that the penalty is over. And it is a Scriptural description of the cross and resurrection of Jesus. It is also one that soared in the Reformation because the primary drivers of the Reformation (Luther and Calvin) were trained as lawyers. Reading the Bible through a legal lens would quickly give you this view of the cross. There are others, though, that are also pretty neat.
One is called "Christus Victor," and it is primarily lifted up in the Eastern Orthodox church. Christus Victor is a Latin phrase for "Victorious Christ," or "Christ the Winner." It takes very seriously the passage in 1 Peter that Jesus went triumphantly to the grave and the passage from Ephesians that Jesus went into the grave to rescue people. It also drives home the image from Revelation that Death itself will be bound and cast into hell.
Christus Victor highlights the central truth of the incarnation- that the Son of God emptied Himself and became a man (Philippians 2). When Christ emptied Himself, He stepped into a world ravaged by death and the fear of death (somewhere in Hebrews). And every work Christ did, from healing to teaching to exorcism to the cross, was all part of a calculated invasion of death. And a new world broke free- a world of resurrection and life, embodied by the victorious savior, Jesus Christ.
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