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Cross words

The biblical doctrine of the atonement

Right on the nail

CROSS WORDS
The biblical doctrine of the atonement
By Paul Wells
Christian Focus. 254 pages. £7.99
ISBN 1 84550 118 7

Whoever it was who said Christians ought to read a book on the cross every year will be encouraged to find this new book on the topic of the atonement.

Paul Wells teaches systematic theology (at Faculte Libre de Theologie Reformee in Aix-en-Provence, France) and in this book he defends robustly the New Testament doctrine of the atonement in the face of modern challenges to it.

Chapters 1-6 outline the need for the cross (headings include ‘Lordship’, ‘Love and Justice’, ‘Crime and Punishment’). Chapters 7-12 present what Wells calls the ‘cross words’ — the New Testament terms that explain what the cross actually entails (such as ‘Victor’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Penalty’, and ‘Abandonment’). The final five chapters examine the results of the work of Christ on the cross (with titles such as ‘Mediator’, ‘Peacemaker’, ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Grace’).

Each chapter comes at the central topic from a different angle, and in that sense ‘stands alone’. Wells urges us to hold on to penal substitution and to reject false modern interpretations that seek to understand the cross another way. He writes with a combination of depth and freshness: he clearly wants not just to instruct the mind but stir the heart.

It’s written, it seems, for those who have some theological grounding (all the quotes on the back of the book are from seminary or college heads): readers will need to be at ease with talk of ‘different atonement models’ and so forth. Those who are will find much benefit here.

Al Horn