A premial understanding of the Atonement upholds the only proper relations among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is therefore the only authentically “trinitarian” position on the topic of these relationships, regardless of the long, convoluted history of the traditional “orthodox” formulation. With the virtually total loss of this ancient understanding of God’s justice as premial in the case of Jesus, the work of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit too often became torn asunder, and the motives of the Father and the Son became dissonant with one another. No amount of “trinitarian” whitewash could mask these internal rifts within Deity, since the very essentials of the Gospel itself had become obscured and forgotten in their true import. The core message of the original, apostolic, premial proclamation about the Lord Jesus Christ must dictate the contours of the relations among the Deity revealed in the Biblical Scriptures. Any other approach to the subject must be speculative and inconclusive, to say the least. [9/9/10]
When Jesus declared, “I have kept my Father’s directives and remain in His love” (John 15:9-10), he was enunciating exactly what the author of Hebrews declared in other words, “In the graciousness of God he should be tasting death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). Ergo: Jesus Christ our Lord never suffered the wrath of God in any respect, but ever stayed in God’s love and graciousness, even while on the cross, yes, even in Hades. No, never, ever was he outside of his Father’s favor! From this striking though paradoxical fact (for so it most certainly is in the truest literary sense of “paradox”: something that seems to be otherwise than it actually is) we can take our supreme comfort when facing the excruciating depths of our own trials–GOD IS FOR US! We submit to our Father’s WILL, NOT HIS WRATH. [9/9/10]
Christ’s exuberant self-sacrifice, in determined obedience to his Father’s plan for victory, necessarily embraced the wild card factor of love’s labor lost on multitudes of Adam’s children. Yet we behold just such superabundant “wastage” spread abroad throughout the entire created order. The analogies are profound and striking. Anders Nygren seems to have observed this factor in his idea of “lost love,” i.e., of Christ’s sacrifice being trampled by selfishness, yet coming back triumphant and omnipotent. [9/9/10]
The Premial Atonement 