Christ honoring God in the Atonement

 I'm reading a recently-released book, Jonathan Edwards on the Atonement, by Brandon Crawford. While I haven't gotten to the main part on Edwards yet, several nuggets have stood out in the historical overview, particularly from the pre-Reformation period. I thought I'd post them as it is the week when we particularly recall Christ's work of atonement. These quotes derive from the thoughts of Athanasius and Anselm, and these particular ones emphasize the work of Christ in relation to God's honor and the shame brought by sin.

“He alone, being Word of the Father and above all, was in consequence both able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be an ambassador for all with the Father. For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world.”

(quote from Athanasius) 

Sin dishonors God because it belittles his glory; it declares that God is not the kind of being who deserves loving obedience. For this reason, the penalty of God’s law—death—must be carried out. God would dishonor himself if he ignored the demands of his own law and allowed men’s sins to go unpunished. By sending his Son to pay sin’s price for men, God upheld his own honor, answered the demands of his law, and made it possible for sinners to have life.

(summary of Athanasius' theology of the atonement)

On the other hand, “the man who does not render to God this honour, which is His due takes away from God what is His own, and dishonours God.” This, Anselm argues, is the essence of sin. It is failing (or refusing) to give the entire self to God in wholehearted worship and obedience. And sin demands “satisfaction.” Making satisfaction for sin means not only restoring what was wrongfully taken, but also giving back above and beyond what was taken—for only then is the honor of the offended one truly restored, Anselm says.

(emphasis mine)

 Each of these sections are well said, but the final highlighted sentence is a fresh thought for me, at least phrased in this way. Christ was not only restoring or repaying God's honor, he was increasing it!