Christus Victor, a book by Gustaf Aulen, first published in 1931, shows that the early Christians overwhelmingly believed Christ redeems us by destroying death, or freeing us from the dominion of Satan. It was expressed in different ways, but somehow Jesus destroys evil. The most common explanation for how Christ frees us from the dominion of Satan was the ransom theory. The ransom theory says that Jesus paid a ransom to Satan.
Sometimes the ransom theory is explained by saying that Christ descended unto death to defeat death. It is said that Christ descended unto death to retrieve the keys of death. There is no ransom paid to the devil, but Satan has something that God must retrieve. The devil has some kind of leverage over God.
It needs to be understood that defeating the devil was the means of our redemption. The ransom theory was an explanation for the means.
In the eleventh century, over a thousand years after Christ, Anselm of Canterbury would write Cur Deus Homo (Why a God Human). This book caused the Church to reject not only ransom theory, but also the means of atonement that the ransom theory attempted to explain. The Church would no longer believe that Jesus redeems us by destroying the devil. Instead, the Church embraced the idea that Christ redeems us by paying the penalty for us. A few centuries later, the protestant reformers did not restore the original view of atonement, they modified Anselm’s theory making it even more unbiblical.
God will not punish Christ for our sins. Both Catholics and evangelicals ignore clear statements in the Bible that God does not punish anyone for the sins of someone else. They also ignore how the early church overwhelmingly viewed our redemption as being achieved by the defeat of the devil.
The ransom theory was not a good explanation. The following is an alternative explanation for how Christ redeems us by destroying the devil.
God looked away from the crucifixion, and Satan believed he could safely curse God with no one to witness it. The devil believed Jesus was a mere human. The devil is in Heaven, but Jesus is at the “Right Hand” of God. The Right Hand of God transcends Heaven, so unbeknownst to Satan, Jesus did witness the devil’s hatred of God. Jesus suffered on the cross as He is repulsed by evil.
Satan is still in Heaven because Jesus transcends Heaven. It has not been revealed in Heaven that Jesus is Lord. When the Messiah is revealed in Heaven, Satan will be enraged and will be cast from Heaven.
This could not be revealed until the time of the end because this revelation causes the end.
Jesus destroys evil. This is a key component in our redemption.
This view of atonement may be unorthodox, but it is more consistent with the Bible than what is taught by evangelicals or the Catholic Church. It is clearly more consistent with the beliefs of the early Church.