The advocates of this theory, which is distinctively New En- gland and New School, agree with the Socinians in their funda- mental propositions.
1st. That sin does not intrinsically deserve punishment, i. e., the true end of punishment is rather to prevent sin, than to sat- isfy vindicatory justice, and, 2d, that there is no principle in God which demands the punishment of all sin for its own sake alone.
On the other hand, they differ from the Socinians in denying that God can consistently forgive sin upon the mere repentance of the sinner, since such a habit, on his part, would be inconsis- tent with the good government of the universe, by removing all the restraints which fear of punishment presents to sin. They re- gard the sufferings of Christ, therefore, as designed to make a moral impression upon the universe, by the emphatic display of God's determination to punish sin, and thus to make the forgive- ness of sinful men consistent with the good government of the moral universe as a whole.
7. How may that system he disproved ?
1st. This system regards the ill desert of sin as resulting from its tendency to produce disorder in the universe. But it is an ultimate fact of consciousness that virtue intrinsically deserves well, and that sin intrinsically is ill desert. (1.) Every awakened conscience feels this. (2.) God constantly asserts it, Jer. xliv., 4 ; Deut. xxv., 16. (3.) It is implied in all punishment. For any man to be hung for the good of the community is murder, and for any soul to be damned for the sake of an example would be an infinite outrage.
2d. This system resolves the justice of God into a mode of his universal benevolence, and denies that his perfect righteousness unchangeably demands the punishment of all sin, simply as such, in exact proportion to its ill desert. This is contrary to Scrip- tures, Heb. i. 13 ; Ps. v., 4, 5 ; Prov. xvii., 15 ; Heb. xii., 29, vi., 10 ; Kom. iii., 5 ; 2 Thess. i., 6, 8.
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3d. It represents God as deriving the motives of his acts from the exigencies of his creation, and not from the inherent princi- ples of his own nature, which is derogatory to his sovereignty and independence.
4th. It degrades the infinite work of Christ to the poor level of a governmental adjustment, whereas it was the most glorious exhibition of eternal principles.
5th. This system makes the atonement a theatrical inculca- tion of principles, which were not truly involved in the case. For if Christ died, not that the sins of his people which he bore should be truly punished in him, but only to manifest to the moral uni- verse that sin must be punished, it is very evident that then sin was not punished in this case, and that Christ's death conse- quently could not teach the really intelligent portion of the uni- verse any such lesson as that sin must be punished, but rather the reverse.
6th. It has no support in Scripture, it is advocated simply on the principles of rational science, so called.
7th. It is absolutely inconsistent with the positive teaching of the Scriptures respecting the work of Christ, Is. liii. ; Gal. iii., 13 ; Kom. via., 3 ; 1 Pet. ii., 24 ; 2 Cor. v., 21 ; Heb. ix., 28. For only through this satisfaction to justice was it possible for God to be both just and the justifier of the transgressor, Kom. iii., 26.
8th. If Christ's death is merely designed to produce a moral impression on the universe ; if it did not really render satisfaction to divine justice, in what sense can we be said to be united to Christ, to die with him, or to rise again with him ? " What is meant by living by faith, of which he is the object ? The fact is, this theory changes the whole nature of the gospel ; the nature of faith, and of justification, the mode of access to God, our relation to Christ, and the inward exercises of communion with him." — Hodge's Keview of Beman on the Atone- ment.
8. State the common orthodox doctrine of the atonement.
The Socinian theory sets forth the sufferings of Christ as de- signed to produce a moral effect upon the heart of the individual sinner.
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The governmental theory claims that that work was designed to produce a moral effect upon the intelligent universe.
The orthodox view, while embracing both of the above as incidental ends, maintains that the immediate and chief end of Christ's work was to satisfy that essential principle of the divine nature which demands the punishment of sin. This theory em- braces the following points :