Through penance comes redemption, but without atonement the relationships will always be skewed.
From eternity, in effect, the demands of justice have been met without the need for a vicarious atonement.
The thesis that moral faith must take precedence over the historical knowledge of the atonement emphasizes that which is in our power.
Inevitably, the day of national atonement always provides a foil for the day of national joy, and vice versa.
If atonement could not blot out the feeling of guilt, forgetfulness might.
If we choose not to make atonement for hurting others in the only relevant way - namely directly to them - we must live with this failure.
I shall label this alternative theory the merit theory of the atonement.
Its traditional stress on biblical authority and substitutionary atonement did not slacken.
