What Did the Cross Accomplish?: A Conversation about the Atonement

by N.T. Wright

Fundamentally, however, the Lord’s Supper, like the Passover, is about deliverance. The focus of the exodus story is on God’s delivering Israel from bondage in Egypt because he is faithful to his covenant. God gave Israel a ritual meal to remind them of his faithfulness. Jesus gave his disciples a ritual meal to remind them of how his death delivered them from bondage to sin. Deliverance, however, can come in multiple senses. A criminal pardoned from a legal penalty or judgment experiences forensic deliverance. Such a criminal is delivered from the consequences of unlawful actions. An addict experiences a different sort of deliverance from bondage. That bondage is not a consequence of a legal verdict; the addict is in bondage even if never arrested! Such deliverance is rather an internal change that affects the person’s desires while going from a physical and emotional state of slavery to one of freedom. When delivered from the addiction, the former addict experiences not simply a change in status but also becomes a new person. Externally, sinners are forensically guilty; internally, they are spiritually broken and slaves to misdirected drives. Furthermore, there is also the bondage of a toxic environment. As I write, the world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic. We find ourselves in an environment of sickness and death. We self-isolate and practice social distancing in the hope that someday our environment will be more healthy. Sin not only condemns and corrupts our persons;...