.
Thus we find the old church creeds reciting--and still reciting--that
"he was crucified, dead, buried and descended into hell, and the third
day rose," etc. This idea may look strange to present day Christians;
but all they have to do is to consult the early church literature to
find that it was almost the universal belief as to the meaning of the
atonement during the first few centuries of Christianity.

The next view that gradually developed as the older one waned, was the
old Jewish idea of _substituted suffering_ and to which was added that
of imputed righteousness. That is to say, that in order to save
mankind and yet appease the divine wrath, and satisfy the vengeance of
an offended God, God sent his son into the world to bear the brunt of
his wrath instead of mankind, and tho innocent, to suffer as tho
guilty; and finally to die as a malefactor, tho innocent of sin; and
because of the dignity and character of the victim and the intensity of
his sufferings in both life and death, they were sufficient in both
quality and quantity to satisfy the divine vengeance against all
mankind; _provided_ man would avail himself of these provisions for his
release by accepting by faith the Son of God as his suffering
substitute; whereupon, God would forgive the sins of the faithful and
_impute_ to them the benefits of the righteousness of Christ. This
doctrine of the atonement dominated the Middle Ages. Upon it was based
the doctrine of supererogation, whereby the surplus stock of good works
of the holy saints might be laid up for the benefit of the less worthy,
who might receive the benefits of them thru the process of indulgences,
sold by the church for a money consideration. It is still held in a
somewhat modified form in a large part of Christendom to this day.

The more modern doctrine of the atonement is that called the
Governmental Theory. That is to say, that God was not so mad with
mankind after all; but having once ordained the law that "the soul that
sinneth, it shall die," the law could neither be abrogated nor
suspended, but must have its penalty. As no mortal man could fulfill
it for any one but himself, and that only by his eternal death, only
the Son of God could satisfy it for mankind. Therefore the Eternal Son
of God became incarnate in human flesh, but still remained "Very God of
Very God," in order that he might meet the demands of this divine law
for all mankind, by not being amenable to it himse