The following is a quote on the Atonement fromby J. Rodman Williams' book, "Renewal Theology" (page 366-367)
Next is the very heart of the atonement: Christ our Lord on the cross with love incomprehensible so voluntarily identified with sin and evil on the cross as actually to become sin (2 Cor. 5:21), thereby willingly subjecting Himself to the wrath of Almighty God. For the God of infinite love and compassion who receives man’s vicious attacks and yet goes on loving, the God who identifies Himself with the agony of the world, is at the same time the God of holiness and righteousness. Therefore when His only Son becomes wholly identified with the sin of all mankind with its accompanying guilt and misery, the God of “purer eyes than to behold evil” (Hab. 1:13) pours out on Him the judgment and condemnation that all people deserve. Jesus Christ as the Son of man—man of every time and place—alone could take the place of every man who ever lived. As the Son of God and therefore one with Almighty God, He alone could receive the total weight of the divine judgment. So did He—the Lord Jesus Christ—suffer our sin, our judgment, our condemnation, our death, our destruction.
The glorious result: in Christ and through Christ we have been set free! Jesus Christ in our place has done it all. In bearing our judgment and condemnation we have been liberated—ransomed, redeemed, bought with a price—from the ravages of sin and evil. Through the blood of Christ our guilt has been expunged, our sin taken away. We no longer are in bondage to death, the devil, or the curse of the law. Throughout time and eternity we will ever sing: “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift” (2 Cor. 9:15) in our Lord Jesus Christ.
