Examining Incarnation and Atonement: Anselm's Satisfaction Theory

This essay delves into the relationship between the concepts of incarnation and atonement within Christian theology, with a particular emphasis on Anselm's Satisfaction Theory. It begins by defining incarnation as the belief that Jesus, the Son of God, became human, bridging the gap between humanity and divinity, and atonement as the reconciliation of humans with God through Jesus's sacrifice. The essay then explores Anselm's Satisfaction Theory, which posits that human sin disrupts the cosmic order, requiring a suitable act of satisfaction. Anselm argued that only a God-man, both divine and human, could repay the debt of sin, highlighting Jesus's role in restoring balance and offering redemption. The essay references key theological concepts like obedience, sacrifice, reconciliation, and redemption, drawing on insights from various scholars to explain the significance of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection in Christian belief.

Running Head: Christianity Theories
Incarnation and Atonement

Christianity Theories 1
The connection between incarnation and atonement
In order to understand the relation between an incarnation and atonement along with the
special focus on idea of satisfaction given by Anselm, the meaning of both the terms must be
identified in the Christian faith. The incarnation theory says that the redemption depends on
the truth that son of God came on earth as a man. If God’s son did not exist on the earth then
the human beings could not be saved on this planet (Dawson, 2004). By becoming the
human, Jesus has adopted humanity and crossed the gap between a human being and a deity.
Jesus has forgiven the human sins. Moreover, Jesus chose a path of living faithfully which
was almost beyond the normal capacity of other human beings existing on earth. The
obedience of Jesus had led to his death as a punishment of human sins. Not merely god had
died for the humans by allowing him to be hung over the cross where he was crucially
stabbed, but he has also given humans on planet earth, a new life for the redemption.
Therefore, incarnation is the concept which denotes the Christian belief that Jesus has
adopted a human body and turned into human being as well as the god (Hick, 2006).
Atonement is another Christian theological theory which explains reconciliation of human
beings with the god. Basically, atonement is the forgiveness of sins created by the humans on
earth by way of death as well as resurrection of Jesus (Gunton, 2003). The said sacrifice of
Jesus which was made by him voluntarily made it possible to create reconciliation between
human and god. The core nature of atonement is that it consists of various important elements
such as obedience sacrifices reconciliation as well as redemption. The concept of atonement
can be segregated into various theories. One of the main theories of atonement is the
satisfaction theory as developed by Canterbury’s Anselm. Anselm suggested that the human
sins led to unbalanced order of justice in the entire universe. If any sin has been created by
any man on earth then it requires something good or pure to be done on earth by on or the
other man so as to reinstate the balance on the planet. The way god satisfied the system of

Christianity Theories 2
sacrifices and reconciled man with the god, changed entirely the human lives on earth. For
instance, a sin is typically the incurrence of obligation to the god and such obligation must be
fulfilled by way of true repentance. According to this theory, the Christ has the responsibility
to repay for the human breaches which caused occurrence of sins. It was argued by Anselm
that this responsibility can only be assumed by the God-human which is equally divine and a
human (Albl, 2009).
The theory of incarnation cannot be explained by making an appeal to any particular
obligation on part of God so as to give due regards to the rights of the devils over humanity.
Since, devils did not possess any such rights it is apparent that Jesus would have acted
unfairly if he had sanctioned human beings the devil’s powers. It was also believed by
Anselm that son of god died for the sins of humankind on the earth and was sent to earth not
for his own purposes but to serve the mankind (Habets, 2016).

Christianity Theories 3
References:
Albl, M. C., 2009. Reason, Faith, and Tradition: Explorations in Catholic Theology.
Winona: Anselm Academic, Christian Brothers Publications.
Dawson, G.S., 2004. Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ’s Continuing Incarnation. New
Jersey: P&R publishing.
Gunton, C.E., 2003. The Actuality of Atonement: A Study of Metaphor, Rationality and the
Christian Tradition. A&C Black.
Habets, M., 2016. Theosis in the theology of Thomas Torrance. Routledge.
Hick, J., 2006. The metaphor of God incarnate: Christology in a pluralistic age. Westminster
John Knox Press.