The Atoning Cross

The Cross of Christ
By John R.W. Stott
InterVarsity Press, 2006
(380 pages, $25.00, hardcover)

John R.W. Stott's The Cross of Christ is widely considered a classic, a true “must read” for reflective Christians, and the masterpiece in his considerable body of work. Indeed, in this deep, comprehensive, but accessible book “not on the atonement only, but on the cross,” Stott writes like a maestro arranging and conducting a great symphony. I said “arranging” not “composing,” because I don't think Stott tries to put forward any novel ideas about his subject. Rather he selects and organizes, weaves and contrasts, weighs and balances vast theological resources (a crescendo here, a diminuendo there, and there, fortissimo!). These resources are the relevant passages throughout Holy Scripture, diverse doctrinal proposals in Christian history, and the virtuosities of a large number of theologians who preceded him.

Stott clearly has favorite virtuosi in his huge orchestra: Anselm, Luther and Calvin; Tyndale and Cranmer; Denney, Forsyth(!), and Temple; Barth, Brunner, and Jeremias; and his fellow Anglican evangelical Michael Green. As in classic symphonic form, The Cross of Christ consists of four movements, but Stott places the grandest movements not at the beginning and end, but in the middle.

In the three chapters of his introductory first movement, “Approaching the Cross,” Stott explores the “central importance” of the Cross, the actions and events that led to Jesus' crucifixion, and the deeper meaning of those events revealed in the Last Supper, Jesus' agony in Gethsemane , and his cry of dereliction on the cross.

Stott's second movement, “The Heart of the Cross,” paints the background for the third. Chapter 4 explains “The Problem of Forgiveness” by grappling with the gravity of sin, human moral responsibility, and the difficult truths about God's holiness and wrath. Chapter 5 explains the concept of “satisfaction” and its necessity. Chapter 6 describes the history of sacrifice and substitution throughout the Bible.

“What did [God] accomplish by his self-sacrifice, his self-substitution?” The three chapters of the third movement, “The Achievement of the Cross,” explore the three main answers given in the New Testament, “which may be summed up in the words salvation, revelation, and conquest.”

In chapter 7, Stott explains the four main concrete and complementary images of the atonement found in the New Testament, which he firmly denies are abstract theories or alternative explanations: “propitiation introduces us to rituals at a shrine, redemption to transactions in a marketplace, justification to proceedings in a court of law, and reconciliation to experiences in a home or family.” Stott powerfully argues that “substitution is not a ‘theory of atonement.' Nor is it even an additional image to take its place as an option alongside the others. It is rather the essence of each image and the heart of the atonement itself. None of the four images could stand without it.”

Chapter 8 investigates “in what way the cross was a word as well as a work.” Chapter 9 deals with the New Testament's “joyful confidence” that the crucifixion was actually the victory of Jesus over evil.

In his final movement, “Living Under the Cross,” Stott explores the themes of community and celebration, self-understanding and self-giving, loving our enemies, suffering and glory.