Atonement by vicarious satisfaction is at the center of all Christian doctrine. It is the foundation of the forgiveness of sins, justification, and faith. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession says, “We are justified only when we receive Christ as the Atoning Sacrifice and believe that for Christ’s sake God is reconciled to us. Neither is justification even to be dreamed of without Christ as the Atonement.”
The importance of the atonement cannot be calculated. Therefore it is the principal target of attack. It is a unique object of derision. It arouses the fiercest resentment and opposition, a concert of hostile criticism. We must expect the devil to attack it in every generation. He has done and continues to do so in our time.
Many notable contemporary Lutheran voices have raised concerns about the teaching of Christ’s work of atonement “in our circles” and “in our church.” In the Silver Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy, Abraham Calov invested considerable effort refuting the teachings of the Socinians and others against vicarious satisfaction. Those errors bear significant similarities to the errors of our day. Thus Calov remains significant, current, and needed.
That so few contemporary pastors can read material like Calov on the atonement in Latin and German is one of the factors cutting off today’s Lutherans from their Lutheran spiritual inheritance. The contributors to this volume raise awareness of the importance of delivering this inheritance into English. To produce a translation worthy of Calov and the matters at stake, we engaged esteemed and prolific translator Matthew Carver.
When Synoptic Text published Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Johannes Quenstedt, the church was fortunate to have already the commentary on atonement in his theology by Robert D. Preus. We were able to publish Preus’ commentary with Carver’s outstanding translation. Prior to this new volume, no corresponding commentary on atonement in Calov existed in English. The church is fortunate that it has a theologian living today, Jack D. Kilcrease, that we could engage to produce the commentary paired here with Carver’s translation of Calov that can rank with the commentary on Quenstedt by Preus.
Timothy R. Schmeling contributes an engaging biographical introduction to Calov. His rendition of Calov, his life, and work is lively in multiple dimensions. In vivifying Calov for us, he vivifies the truth of Christ in the atonement. The commentary of Kilcrease and the biography of Schmeling complement and augment one another.
We present Calov’s teaching on atonement under his topic “De Officio Christi Sacerdotali,” (The Priestly Office of Christ) from his Systema locorum theologicorum (System of theological places). Because of their numerous benefits, we add two examples of Calov’s disputations on the atonement. Benjamin T. G. Mayes provides an explanation of what a 17th century disputation in a German university was. This will help the reader understand the disputations presented here.
Calov on the atonement is a powerful antidote to poisonous errors in Lutheran circles.
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