Source: “SACRIFICE AND ATONEMENT: Psychological Motives and Biblical Patterns”, By Stephen Finlan, Fortress Press, 2016.
Rescue And Disgust In Paul.wav
This podcast explores how the concept of "sacrifice" has evolved over time, particularly in Pauline theology, moving from its original context of ritual slaughter to a more abstract and moralized understanding of self-giving. It emphasizes that Paul’s use of sacrificial imagery, alongside scapegoat and redemption metaphors, does not imply a literal payment to God or a penal substitution, but rather highlights purification, reconciliation, and the universal availability of salvation. The author argues that later interpretations, which solidified these metaphors into literal doctrines, distort Paul's original intent by introducing manipulative and crude notions of God requiring a violent "payment" for sin, ultimately undermining the concept of free forgiveness and divine love. The text concludes by examining Paul's personal psychology, including his sense of disgust with sin and his experience of shame, as potential influences on his adoption of these powerful, though ultimately problematic, atonement metaphors.
Topic 1: The Abstraction and Redefinition of "Sacrifice" in Paul's Theology The modern understanding of "sacrifice" has evolved significantly from its original meaning in ritual slaughter and blood-sprinkling. Today, it signifies effortful self-giving involving some loss or pain, exemplified by soldiers sacrificing their lives or athletes sacrificing comfort. This abstraction and moralizing of the concept were already evident in Greek playwrights and Jewish Maccabean authors who used sacrificial imagery for martyrs. Paul further heightened this connection, picturing Jesus' death as a heroic act of self-giving for others, but with a unique and far-reaching soteriological (saving) meaning that superseded animal sacrifices. When Paul's audience read his words about Christ as a new place of atonement "in his blood," they would have understood it as Christ functioning as the new mercy seat or a more perfect purification offering, accomplishing reconciliation and purification that the Jewish cult was believed to provide. This implies a transformation of the concept, taken metaphorically, not literally as human sacrifice, but preserving the logic of cultic effectiveness.
Topic 2: Ideational Supersession A crucial distinction is made between ideational supersession and ethnic supersession. The sources clarify that Paul or Hebrews do not teach ethnic supersession, meaning they do not suggest that Gentiles have replaced Jews. Instead, they repeatedly present ideational supersession. This concept means that certain new realities supersede older ones. Examples include the Messiah as the new mercy seat superseding the literal mercy seat, and the Christian community as a new "temple" superseding the Second Temple. The sacrificial imagery Paul employs implies that Christ's death achieved either purification from sin or compensation for human sinning, signifying a shift in the way these core religious concepts are understood and embodied.
Topic 3: Paul's Use of Cultic Imagery and the Mercy Seat (Hilasterion) Paul frequently employs sacrificial metaphors at critical points in his discussions of salvation, most notably in Romans 3:25, where he refers to Jesus as "hilasterion." This term is often mistranslated as "sacrifice of atonement" in modern versions, driven more by doctrine than accurate lexical work. In ancient Jewish and Gentile Greek literature, "hilasterion" never denoted an animal victim; instead, in the Septuagint, it consistently referred to the mercy seat – the gold lid of the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place. This was the geographical center of the sacrificial cult where the high priest sprinkled blood on Yom Kippur to cleanse the temple. Thus, Paul is forming a metaphor of Christ as the new mercy seat, the place where atonement occurs, rather than an active verb or an animal sacrifice. The word's etymology suggests a "place of propitiation," where God is made "propitious" or "appeased." This highlights Christ as the concrete "place" of atonement, marking a continuity in cultic concept but a discontinuity with literal practice.
Topic 4: Conflation of Sacrifice with Martyrdom The idea of martyrdom, or "noble death," is strongly linked to cultic imagery in Paul's theology. Forgiveness, a key aim of the sacrificial cult, gains emotional depth when combined with the moral and tragic emotions of a heroic death. This conflation was present in Greek literature, where characters like Iphigenia express dying for their nation, and in Jewish texts like 2 and 4 Maccabees. In Maccabees, martyrs make speeches expressing the vicarious saving effect of their deaths, using sacrificial language to describe their blood as purification or their lives as a ransom for the nation. This concept of courageous self-giving saving the community, often with an emphasis on payment and substitution, anticipates Pauline thought. While similarities between 4 Maccabees and Romans 3 are notable, the dating prevents a definitive claim of literary influence. For Paul, this merged concept was widespread enough for his audience to understand Jesus' death as a sacrificial martyr, with a cleansing and forgiving overflow benefiting others, without needing extensive explanation of the cultic logic.
Topic 5: Universal Salvation vs. National Cult in Paul Paul introduced a radical change by suggesting a universal cultic idea, departing from the national cult of Judah. While universalistic thinking was a minority position within Judaism, Paul strongly affirmed it, asking, "Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also?" This aligns with Jesus' affirmation of universal faith. The maintenance of a national purity system, which often codified disgust for foreigners, would have made it impossible to promote the universal availability of salvation. Therefore, Paul's metaphorical "sacrifice" of Christ carries universal, not national, significance. He uses the logic of a superseded cult to preach God's open offer of salvation to "everyone," Jews and Gentiles alike, demonstrating a profound shift from a limited, national religious system to a broadly accessible one.
Topic 6: Critique of Penal Substitution Theory The text argues against the widespread notion that penal substitution is the primary or sole explanation for atonement in Paul's theology. While acknowledging the presence of substitutionary ideas, it emphasizes that these are primarily cultic substitution (from "hilasterion") and economic substitution (from "apolytrōsis"), rather than penal substitution, which posits Christ suffering someone else's penalty or God's wrath due to human sin. The penal substitution theory, often attributed to later theologians, suggests that God could not simply forgive sin without punishment and that Christ paid humanity's sin debt. The text argues that this theory exaggerates and distorts Paul's thinking, neglecting other crucial elements. Paul's emphasis in Romans 3 is on God's righteousness and believers being rectified "apart from the law," through "the law of faith." Moreover, a purely penal interpretation would not explain deliverance from the power or appeal of sin, which Paul clearly teaches as transformation and new life.
Topic 7: Paul's Use of Scapegoat Imagery The scapegoat ritual, a central purification rite on Yom Kippur, is presented as an expulsion ritual where sin or impurity is literally transferred onto a victim and carried away. This is distinct from sacrifice, as the scapegoat is mistreated and driven into the wilderness, rather than offered to God. Paul finds this expulsion imagery particularly vivid, applying it to Jesus' death and even to himself and other apostles, whom he describes as becoming "rubbish" or "dregs" like the Greek pharmakoi (human scapegoats). The scapegoat image transforms from its original meaning of banishing impurity into the notion of a representative victim dying for the community, adding heroic and exemplary meaning to Christ's death. It illustrates how Christ's body bears away sin and serves as a model for believers to break sin's hold over their own bodies, leading to spiritual transformation and the destruction of the "body of sin."
Topic 8: Paul's Use of Redemption Metaphor The concept of "redemption" in Paul's writings draws primarily from secular, economic contexts rather than cultic ones. The Greek term "apolytrōsis" refers to the ransoming of hostages or the freeing of a slave through a manumission payment. This powerful image would have resonated deeply with slaves in Paul's audience. Paul uses related terms like "you were bought with a price" to signify believers coming under a new Lord's domain and being freed from the slavery of the law. While the idea of a costly payment is present, some scholars argue it intends to picture God's goodness and the arduous nature of redemption, rather than a literal payment to the devil or the Father. However, the text acknowledges that the "afterlife" of this metaphor, its interpretation by generations of believers, has often led to the problematic idea of a literal blood purchase, suggesting God was paid off or bribed, which undermines the concept of free forgiveness.
Topic 9: Paul's Blending of Atonement Metaphors and their Implications Paul's approach to atonement is characterized by a deliberate and vivid mixing of metaphors: sacrificial, scapegoat, and redemption images. This blending stimulates reflection and allows the various metaphors to interpret each other. For example, he links social/economic redemption language with cultic terminology. In Romans 8:3, a judicial notion ("condemned sin") is blended with a scapegoat image ("sinful flesh") and a sacrificial metaphor ("a sin offering"). This intentional ambiguity means Paul does not offer a rigidly logical or simplistic account of how atonement takes place. What matters most to him is the saving effect of Christ's death, not the exact mechanics. However, the text points out that Paul's successors often simplified and literalized his complex vision, hardening these metaphors into dogmas that led to problematic interpretations, such as God being appeased by a "ritual murder," which contradicts the loving nature of God as taught by Jesus and Paul himself.
Topic 10: Paul's Psychology (Disgust, Shame, and Transformation) Paul's theology is deeply intertwined with his personal psychology. He expresses an intense inner conflict between sin and his desire to obey God, feeling a deep need to expel "sinful passions" and a profound disgust with his "body of sin." His cry, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" reflects this emotional urgency for transformation, to have the old self removed and replaced. This asceticism is linked to his desire to overcome the power of sin. Paul also understands shame, the feeling of being flawed or exposed, distinct from guilt. He frequently confronts and transcends shame, embodying the idea that "power is made perfect in weakness." His experience of Christ provided him with secure attachment, enabling him to overcome anxiety and face shame fearlessly, even to understand Christlike service as enduring shame for others. While Paul's atonement ideas might cater to a psychological need to manipulate, reflecting ambivalent attachment, his ultimate emphasis is on liberation, spiritual renewal, and Christlike transformation through participation in Christ's death and resurrection.