Ran,
My view of the atonement is that Jesus was sent not so much to do what we couldn’t do, but rather to do what God couldn’t do. As the ultimate human representative agent/emissary of God, Jesus demonstrated in his own life and death the unsurpassable love of God for sinners, thereby effectively doing what God could not do himself. I understand Jesus’ death to be the ultimate demonstration of how far God’s love would go in order to save us. By sending his “only begotten Son” into the world, God demonstrated the depth of his love for sinners and made known the resolve of his heart to reconcile us to himself. The death of Christ was not an act to appease an offended deity. Nor was it a commercial or legal transaction to satisfy the demands of retributive justice. It was, above all else, an act of love. Jesus declared, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). To die on behalf of one’ friends was to show the fullest extent of one’s love for them (John 13:1). But Jesus died not only on behalf of his friends, but on behalf of all who were, at the time, his enemies (Luke 23:34; Rom 5:8; 2 Cor 5:14-15; Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2; 1 Pet 3:18; 1 John 3:16).
Good thoughts, Justin. This fits with my understanding of the atonement quite well. And if this is what Ran meant when he said that Jesus “punished himself,” then I can agree with that.