**4. "Forward, to the Fathers!"**

This motto is ascribed to the well-known Russian Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky who once called for a creative appropriation of the patristic legacy: "'Following the fathers' always means moving forwards, not backwards; it means fidelity to the patristic spirit and not just to the patristic letter. One must be steeped in the inspiration of the patristic flame and not simply be a gardener pottering around amongst ancient texts" (Florovsky 1972, p. 294). It appears that Aulén's Christus Victor proposal indicated the same intention not only in turning us to a "well-forgotten old" patristic thought on the atonement, but in presenting to us new perspectives relevant to our realities.

At the end of his study, Aulén prophetically stated that "no form of Christian teaching has any future before it except such as can keep steadily in view the reality of the evil in the world, and go to meet the evil with a battle-song of triumph" (Aulén 2003, p. 156). All the contemporary Christus Victor versions, surveyed above, accept this Aulén challenge.

As we have seen, the Christus Victor model and its contemporary interpretations underscore that the main problem of redemption is human bondage to sin, death, and the devil. Consequently, the atonement is not directed at satisfying God's justice, but at conquering the devil, snatching man from the power of evil, and making him available for God's transformational activity. Thus, the atonement is seen as God's continuous act through Christ in the Spirit, where all the persons of the Trinity are united for one purpose bringing man back into fellowship with themselves. Without the radical in-breaking of God through Christ, His multifaceted ministry of undoing the grip of evil on human life, and His death and resurrection, it would be useless to conceive of human salvation and the consequent possibility for people to advance God's Kingdom in everyday life. As we have seen, unfortunately, not all presented contemporary interpretations of the Christus Victor motif are consistent in this respect. Ray's and Weaver's "demythologized" views of evil seem to seriously downplay the ethical and doctrinal advantages of this atonement model.

Secondly, the deliverance from the human predicament is not achieved exclusively by the death of Christ. Contrary to that, the Christus Victor view of the atonement holds all aspects of Jesus' ministry (incarnation, life, death, and resurrection) as valuable for human salvation. As Christ successfully opposed the evil powers throughout His ministry, He continued the struggle in his death and resurrection. While Jesus' life and teaching gave a substantial background for Christian discipleship, His resurrection had important ontological significance, because it destroyed death and made the powers of the coming age available to believers.

Finally, we have pointed out that the logic of the Christus Victor model is incompatible with the conventional concept of retributive justice, and thus avoids accusations of promoting ideas of violence. The Gospel narratives as well as patristic interpretations of the atonement demonstrate that God achieves His victory over the devil exclusively through nonviolent means. As all contemporary Christus Victor versions show, this concept has a marked ethical potential, because it assumes that one has to participate in the life of the risen Lord through His Spirit. The Christian is to continue the redemptive work of Christ in everyday life by loving, showing mercy and forgiveness, and by opposing all kinds of evil instead of simply enjoying his personal salvation. Thus, this model of the atonement proves to be more relevant to responding to the challenges of today's world, and providing a substantial background for Christian spiritual life and ethics.

Undoubtedly, the Christus Victor paradigm of the atonement meets the concerns associated with the penal substitution theory. It appears that, having gone the full circle, contemporary Protestant theologians have more or less successfully returned to a balanced biblical teaching on the atonement as it was appropriated and explicated by the Church fathers. One may hope that this tendency will provide a common ground to address different doctrinal paradigms of the Christian East and West and contribute to promoting unity among the followers of Christ.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data sharing is not applicable to this article.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.

#### **Notes**


see the crux of God's redeeming work in satisfaction of God's justice through Christ's death on the Cross: "Yet to define the way of salvation more exactly, Scripture ascribes this as peculiar and proper to Christ's death ... But because trembling consciences find repose only in sacrifice and cleansing by which sins are expiated, we are duly directed thither; and for us the substance of life is set in the death of Christ (Calvin, II.16.5; cf. Luther, WA 40.I, s. 281).


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