io8 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



realise that they are conspicuous by their absence from 

 the pages of the New Testament, and that where, in 

 one or two places, they might seem to appear, it is due 

 to a mis-translation or to a misunderstanding of the 

 author *s original meaning. 



But, for the most part, these expiatory ideas crept 

 in through a too literal interpretation of metaphor. 

 The Bible, like all Eastern writings, is full of poetic 

 imagery, which we more prosaic Western nations have 

 been far too ready to translate into the dogmas of prose* 

 Thus, for example, Christ spoke of His work as a ransom, 

 and no metaphor could have been more exquisitely 

 appropriate* His disciples must have felt its force, and 

 could not have misunderstood our Lord^s meaning* 

 They must have felt that they had been under the 

 dominion of sin, and that Christ had freed them from 

 its bondage* The effect of His work had indeed been 

 that of a ransom* But Augustine, with a cruel logic, 

 translated this exquisite metaphor into the appalling 

 doctrine that the blood of Jesus Christ was a price paid 

 to Satan to free us from his power* 



The metaphor was true and appropriate, the doctrine 

 was false and utterly revolting* 



Later still, Anselm, the great and noble Archbishop 

 of Canterbury, taught a forensic atonement, based on 

 feudal law* Anselm lived in feudal times, and based 

 his theory on the law with which he was familiar* He 

 taught that man is God*s vassal, and owes to God absolute 

 obedience which he has utterly failed to pay ; but God 

 became incarnate in Christ, who then paid the debt, and 

 thus did God's love give Christ as a sacrifice to God's 

 justice* 



There was a great deal more in Anselm's theory that 

 concerned the number of fallen angels which had to be 

 made good by a corresponding number of God's elect 

 in order that the symmetry of Heaven might be restored* 



