Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

pardoning whom He will without demanding any satisfaction. The death of Christ did
not atone for sin, neither did it move God to pardon sin. Christ saves men by revealing
to them the way of faith and obedience as the way of eternal life, by giving them an
example of true obedience both in His life and in His death, and by inspiring them to
lead a similar life. This view really establishes no direct connection between the death of
Christ and the salvation of sinners. Yet it holds that the death of Christ may be said to
expiate the sins of man in view of the fact that Christ, as a reward for His obedience
unto death, received power to bestow eternal life on believers. This theory is
objectionable for various reasons.
1. It is really a revival and concoction of several ancient heresies: of Pelagianism,
with its denial of human depravity and its assertion of the natural ability of man to save
himself; of the adoptionist doctrine, with its belief that the man Christ was adopted to
be the Messianic Son of God on account of His obedience; of the Scotist doctrine of an
arbitrary will in God; and of the emphasis of some of the early Church Fathers on the
saving efficacy of the example of Christ. Consequently it is open to all the objections
that militate against these views.
2. It is entirely un-Scriptural in its conception of Christ as a mere man of exceptional
qualities; in its view of sin, in which the character of sin as guilt, so strongly emphasized
by the Word of God, is entirely ignored; in its one-sided emphasis on the redemptive
significance of the life of Christ; and in its representation of the death of Christ as a
martyr’s death, while failing to account for the unmartyrlike anguish of Christ on the
cross.
3. It fails to account for the salvation of those who lived before the incarnation and
of infants. If the life and sufferings of Christ merely save men by their exemplary
character, the question naturally arises, how they who lived prior to the coming of
Christ, and they who die in infancy can derive any benefit from them. Yet there is clear
Scriptural evidence for the fact that the work of Christ was also retrospective in its
efficacy, and that little children also share in the benefits of His atoning death.
4. Moreover, while it is perfectly true that Christ is also represented as an example in
Scripture, He is nowhere represented as an example after which unbelieving sinners
must pattern, and which will save them if they do; and yet this is the necessary
assumption of the theory under consideration. The example of Christ is one which only
His people can follow, and to which even they can make but a slight approach. He is
our Redeemer before He can be our example.
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