Atonement, Justice, and Divine Hospitality
We’ve been arguing about who’s in the lifeboat, when the atonement was about calming the whole storm. In other words, Christ’s atonement is about more than who gets in and out of heaven; it’s about the whole cosmos.
These reflections came to me over the last few months as I have been researching and reflecting afresh on the doctrine of the atonement in view of a debate, a plenary talk I recently gave, and the foundations for a book. In what follows, I will share some of those reflections with you as I put forward a case that the atonement really is more about the cosmos than a ticket to heaven, and, as such, this has important implications for the Church as a whole and should provide some lens’s or framing on society, justice, and politics more generally.
The discussion of the atonement is often treated as an insular theological debate, a matter of exegetical precision confined to the academy or to in-house doctrinal disputes. However, its significance reaches far beyond the walls of the church, shaping our understanding of justice, the good, and God’s benevolence toward humanity. Recent reflections on this issue have revealed the extent to which one’s view of atonement impacts not only theological coherence but also the broader public sphere. The atonement is not merely about the mechanics of salvation; it is about God’s redemptive intent for creation, His justice, and His radical hospitality extended to the world.
The Creation Blueprint and the Covenantal Trajectory
The atonement is best understood within the full narrative arc of Scripture, beginning with creation itself. From the first moment of divine fiat, God’s intent is manifest: He gives life and blesses that life. Creation is not an arbitrary act but a structured, purposeful expression of divine benevolence. This original act of generosity establishes the blueprint for all of Scripture, threading through the Old Testament covenants and culminating in the New Testament covenant in Christ, the elected One.
Covenants, as divine actions, are filled with content about God’s intentions for the world. God’s disposition is not one of seeking loss, destruction, or mere retributive justice; rather, His actions are ordered toward goodness, blessing, and ultimately hospitality. The Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants all reflect this pattern, revealing a God who calls, forms, and preserves a people, not merely for their own sake but for the extension of His goodness to the nations. The Old Testament covenantal economy finds its fulfillment in Christ, whose atoning work is not a departure from divine hospitality but its fullest realization. In Christ, God’s electing purpose is made manifest, not as an arbitrary restriction but as the extension of life and blessing to the world.
This divine movement has profound implications for how we engage the world. If creation sets the pattern for divine goodness and blessing, then redemption is the means by which that goodness is restored and expanded. The atonement, then, is not a mere forensic transaction; it is the act by which God ensures that His initial intent for creation—life, blessing, and flourishing—is accomplished.
Justice, Divine Hospitality, and the Public Demonstration of Righteousness
Yet, this movement of blessing and life is met with a profound tension: the presence of evil, corruption, and injustice. If God is truly good, then how can He allow injustice to persist? If He is truly hospitable, how can He not expel the unworthy from His presence? This is the perennial tension that the doctrine of atonement must address: How can God be both just and merciful?
God’s answer is not through the mere execution of retributive justice but through the public demonstration of His righteousness in the atoning work of Christ. The atonement is the means by which God reconciles the tension between His goodness and the corruption of the world. In the cross, we see not only the cost of sin but also the radical hospitality of God, who, rather than exacting immediate judgment, absorbs the burden of sin Himself. This is not an abstract legal fiction but a tangible, historical event that reorients the moral structure of the universe.
The patience of God in withholding judgment is itself an expression of divine hospitality. In delaying His final justice, He provides space for repentance, for the extension of His grace, and for the unfolding of His redemptive plan. This patience has direct implications for the public sphere, particularly in how Christians approach justice. It calls us away from simplistic, retributive models of punishment and toward a more comprehensive vision of justice—one that seeks restoration, reconciliation, and ultimately the reflection of divine benevolence in social structures.
The Eschatological Horizon and the Political Witness of the Church
The atonement not only addresses the present condition of sin but also directs our attention to the eschatological hope that transcends the limits of natural law. Michael Allen has rightly critiqued what he calls “eschatological naturalism”—the idea that the final hope of humanity is found merely in the natural development or refinement of human society. Scripture presents a far more radical vision: not a mere continuation of the present order, but its transformation. The atonement points beyond the immediate concerns of justice and reconciliation in this world to the ultimate reality of God’s kingdom, where justice and hospitality find their full realization.
This eschatological hope is not escapist; it is the framework that allows Christians to engage meaningfully in the world without being consumed by its failures. The atonement teaches us that justice will ultimately be enacted, but it also teaches us that in the present, we are to embody the same divine hospitality that God has shown in Christ. The Church’s public witness, then, is not one of mere condemnation but of invitation—an invitation to see in Christ the fulfillment of all justice, the resolution of all corruption, and the realization of all divine blessing.
The final hope is not in human governance, social progress, or even moral reform. Rather, it is found in the theocentric reality of the new heavens and new earth, where the domains of creation and redemption are not merely integrated but elevated. The atonement, then, is not just about individual salvation—it is about the renewal of the entire created order. And it is in that renewal that Christians find their marching orders for the present: to live as bearers of divine hospitality, as witnesses to true justice, and as people who, in light of the atonement, proclaim the goodness of God to all creation.
The atonement is not an isolated doctrinal concern; it is the hinge upon which the entire story of Scripture turns. It reveals the depth of divine benevolence, the patience of divine justice, and the ultimate reality to which all history moves. If the Church is to speak meaningfully into social and political life, it must recover the full scope of the atonement—not merely as a mechanism for salvation but as the central demonstration of God’s justice and hospitality. It is in this vision that we find our true calling, to bear witness to the One who, in giving His life, has shown the world what true goodness, true justice, and true hope really are.
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