Introduction

• Matthew 27:46

⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

• Classical way of explaining 

Theological Reminders

• Theories of Atonement
  • Christus Victor
• Necessity of Jesus being fully human
• Necessity of Jesus being fully God
  • If Jesus is not both fully human and fully God salvation falls apart 
• Trinity
  • The necessity of Jesus being fully God means that Jesus is fully a part of the Trinity. 
  • The necessity of Jesus being fully human means that Jesus’ human essence and God essence were joined, as not to be separated. If they could be separated, so could salvation. 
  • The doctrine of the Trinity states that God is both three and one in a way that does not destroy God’s oneness or threeness. 

So, for the Father to abandon the Son on the cross, in the traditional sense of the Father turning his back or separating himself from the Son as the Son bore the sins of the world, would mean either that the two parts of the Trinity (i.e., Father and Son) were separated, becoming two distinct gods and thus leading to polytheism, or that the Son ceased being fully God, destroying our salvation. 

Psalm 22 – Original Context

What Happened? 

• The Father “abandoned” the Son to the power/consequences of sin. 
• Similar to the idea of God “gave them up” in Romans 1:24
• As the Son bore the sins of the world, he suffered at the hands of the power/consequences of sin, death. The Father “abandoned” him, in that the Father did not save the Son or prevent the Son from suffering from the consequences. By facing the power/consequences of sin, and conquering them through the resurrection, the Son defeated sin (i.e., Christus Victor).