My current theory of atonement (part 1)

So after some ruminations on the nature of the atonement, and I have come to the conclusion that the Christus Victor approach is the closest, if not precisely, what Jesus and the apostles taught. But in order to show this, I will work from the idea of penal substitution (although I know penal substitution isn't the only type of the satisfaction theories) and how it does not accord with Scripture and then progress onward to establishing the case for Christus Victor.

First, lets look at Colossians 2:14

Colossians 2:9-17 (NASB):

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

The bolded section is perhaps the seemingly strongest case one can make for penal substitution by attributing our transgressions as debts that need to be paid for by God. However, there comes a problem with that translation exegetically speaking. From verses 9-15 Paul draws the conclusion ("Therefore" in verse 16) that no one is to act as a judge in regard to food, drink, a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath day. All these things are related to Jewish customs. But from what part of 9-15 (which I believe to be poetic or like a hymn of some sort) can this conclusion be drawn from? None of the other verses can seem to be viable to draw the idea of freedom.

However, it is possible the bolded section can be rendered differently and in such a way to make it clear where Paul draws the conclusion of verses 16-17. And it isn't an unheard of rendition of it either. The KJV renders verse Colossians 2:14 as "handwriting of ordinances that was against us." I would render it as "the writing against us consisting of laws." In this translation, Paul is not talking about debt but rather regulations and codes, codes such as about food, drink, festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths.

However, this still leaves some further study of the passage to be done. In the translation provided above, the beginning of verse 14 is seen as relating to "having forgiven us all our transgression" in the end of verse 13. If this is how it is to be rendered, then we should translate verse 14 as the NASB does above. And it is indeed possible because EXELAPHIS is an aorist participle. But I believe the structure of 12-15 would indicate differently. If one notices the structure of verses 12-15, the verbs are ordered as participle-indicative-participle and starting over with the PIP structure on the following line. Because of this I believe these verses are poetic or hymnic. And because the structure, I am of the opinion that the participle immediately before and after the indicative are related to that verb is some manner. Furthermore, I am of the opinion that the first participle is describing the condition or time for which the second verb becomes fulfilled, with the third participle relating to how the middle verb was completed.

Now all this might be a bit confusing, so let me just give me translation of the text (based upon the NASB)

Colossians 2:9-17

For:
"In Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

Also, you are full in Him, who is the head over all rule and authority.
Also in Him you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by the removal of the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

When you were buried with Him in baptism, in that you have also been raised through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.
When you were dead in your transgressions and uncircumcision of the flesh, he made you alive together with him while having forgiven us all our transgressions.
When he erased the writing against us consisting of laws, which was hostile to us, he took it out of the way by having nailed it to the cross.
When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made public display of them by having triumphed over them through him."

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

In this rendition, the "writing against us consisting of laws" is taken out of the way by the cross, which aligns with Ephesians 2:15 where it says "he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in the laws." And Ephesians probably parallels Colossians in reflecting similar language and thought since they were written around the same time probably with similar themes.

Finally this gives a fuller explanation of the meaning of Colossians 2:20 where Paul writes " If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees [or laws]." This statement is essentially a combination of the writings of laws being nailed to the cross in verse 15 and Christians being baptized into Jesus death from the cross in verse 13.

So in short, I think Colossians 2:14 does not teach a penal substitution or view our transgressions and debts being paid by the cross. My next post will be the relation between atonement and forgiveness and Matthew 26:28.