While there are many different aspects to the atonement in Catholicism it’s my understanding that the view developed by St. Thomas Aquinas is the standard view. According to Aquinas, Christ takes on a satisfactory punishment for the sins of the whole world. The punishment here is remedial but it also pays for the sins of the whole world. In other words, what Christ was doing was penance in our place. God wasn’t pouring His wrath out on Christ but Christ was restoring sinners to a state of harmony with God by restoring in the sinner what sin has damaged. Jesus’ life and death are offered up as a sacrifice to the Father and the Father accepts that sacrifice as sufficient satisfaction for original sin. Christ does this out of love for the whole world. It wasn’t for His sins that Christ suffered and died. He never sinned. It was for ours. The Bible says He who knew no sin became sin. This is why Christ underwent the discipline for our well being. The debt He paid for sin was death. He was doing penance for the sins of the world.
The Roman Catholic Apologist James Akin states:
Penance - voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong.
I think it fits best with the Bible. Especially the idea of Christ doing penance for the sins of the world. Penance involves paying a debt but it’s also for disciplinary reasons. This fits with Isaiah 53:5 -
The chastening for our well being fell upon Him
The Hebrew word for chastening here is musar:
Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Definition
discipline, chastening, correction
a. discipline, correction
b. chastening (To correct by punishment or reproof)
It wasn’t for His sins that Christ suffered and died. He never sinned. It was for ours. The Bible says He who knew no sin became sin. This is why Christ underwent the discipline for our well being. The debt He paid for sin was death. He was doing penance for the sins of the world.
We ought to go much farther back to get the historic Catholic teaching. The penal substitution view was that of the Roman Catholics and Protestants of the middle ages.
The Eastern Orthodox Church sticks with the older Catholic view of the atonement. Please consider this first of 12 videos by Hany Mikhail of the Coptic Orthodox Church on the subject:
Once you view the first, I am sure you will be interested to continue with the 2nd, and eventually perhaps with all 12.
I’ve seen them all, and I am positively impressed.
The Catholic view isn’t exactly the same as penal substitution. While Christ was paying the debt for sin the punishment was also remedial. The chastening for our well being fell upon Him. In other words, Christ was doing penance for the sins of the world. This is taught in Isaiah and it’s an element that the Eastern Orthodox leave out.
I’m glad the Orthodox don’t teach Christ doing penance for the sins of the world. It wasn’t the view of the early church — or even the early Catholics.
I fail to see much difference between Christ doing penance for the sins of the world and Christ paying the penalty for sin instead of us.
The difference is penance is for disciplinary purposes as well as penal purposes. The Bible tells us that Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered:
Indeed, God disciplines those He loves:
This is the discipline Isaiah 53:5 speaks of that fell on Christ:
The Hebrew word for chastening here is musar:
Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Definition
discipline, chastening, correction
a. discipline, correction
b. chastening (To correct by punishment or reproof)
It wasn’t for His sins that Christ suffered and died. He never sinned. It was for ours. The Bible says He who knew no sin became sin. This is why Christ underwent the discipline for our well being. The debt He paid for sin was death. He was doing penance for the sins of the world. This is why the suffering was so severe. It was the collective sin of all people that caused Christ’s suffering. That’s a lot of sin! We should expect the suffering to be so severe. Christ was restoring sinners to a state of harmony with God by restoring in the sinner what sin has damaged. Jesus’ life and death are offered up as a sacrifice to the Father and the Father accepts that sacrifice as sufficient satisfaction for sin. Christ does this out of love for the whole world.