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Tracts and Literature
To Help You Reach the Lost, Grow In Christ, and Sound a Faithful Warning
©Fundamental Evangelistic Association
Barabbas' Theory of the Atonement
by C.I Scofield
BARABBAS
WAS CONDEMNED to die. No one has ever questioned
the justice of his sentence. He was a rebel against the law, a robber and a murderer. And
now the outraged law had laid strong hands on him, and he lay bound, under the sentence of
death. He was not under probation, but under doom. He was not awaiting trial, but
execution. Just before him, as his only prospect, was the awful death of crucifixion. He
knew what that meant: long hours of unspeakable agony; the hands and feet torn by great
spikes; the wrists and shoulder joints dislocated by the dragging down of the body's
weight; each quivering nerve a separate torture through tension; a burning, unquenchable
thirst; and all around him, a jeering, taunting mob. The entire horizon of his life was
narrowed to that. The only question was, "When?"
Even this was soon answered. The jailers prepared three
crosses. Ah! He knew of the three sockets cut into the hard rock of the Place of the
Skull. Was one of these crosses for him? The very thought gave him a sense of suffocation
and of something clutching at his heart. Then he was told, "Yes, you are to suffer in
the morning." Two malefactors were to die with him, but he, as the greatest criminal
of the three, was to have the place of eminence, the middle cross.
Then the night fell. But it was a disturbed night. Even in
the prison it was perceived that something unusual was occurring. Confused noises,
outcries, the tramping of feet penetrated the thick walls. Perhaps it was another
malefactor such as he, risen against the majestic, inflexible Law. But the night continued
on, and at last it became daylight - the light of his last day! And then he heard
footsteps. The key rattled in the lock. His prison door swung open, but just as he was
summoning all his brute fortitude to face the ordeal that awaited him, he heard the joyful
words: "Go free! Go free, Barabbas. Another takes your place. Another is to die
between the two transgressors."
As Barabbas emerged into the free, glorious sunshine, the
crowd was already surging out toward the Place of the Skull. He must have thought,
"Who is condemned to die in my place, and what offence could be greater than mine
?" One can easily imagine how Barabbas followed the throng, striving eagerly to see
the Man who was to die for him. Perhaps Barabbas did not see the Sufferer until the sound
of the hammer driving the nails had ceased, and the cross - Barabbas' cross - had been
reared up, bearing its awful burden. We can only imagine that Barabbas, moved by a strange
irresistible drawing (Jn. 12:32), pressed his way through the howling mob and stood
looking up into the face of Jesus.
Barabbas knew Him, of course. His substitute, hanging in
agony on the cross, was the new Teacher from Galilee, the Man whose life had been
absolutely sinless. Adam sinned. So did Abraham, Moses and all the prophets, but not this
Man. Besides, He healed even leprosy by a touch or a word. One day when the crowd got
hungry He created enough food for five thousand men, not to mention women and children,
out of five loaves and a few small fishes. Because of these miracles, Barabbas was
probably convinced that this Man was the Messiah, the Son of God, God manifest in the
flesh, but he had not yet become His disciple because he loved sin.
It is easy to see that Barabbas had no need to be a
theologian in order to form a good working theory of the atonement.
First, he knew that he was a guilty
wretch, under the righteous condemnation of the law (Lk. 23:25). And in both these
respects, Barabbas was a representative of all men (Rom. 3:10-20; Gal. 3: 10).
Second, Barabbas knew that the Sufferer
before him had done no sin (Jn. 8:46; Jn. 19:4" 1 Pet. 2:22). He was the perfect Lamb
of God.
Third, he knew that Jesus was, for him, a
true substitute. He was actually dying in his place and in his stead. He knew that Jesus,
an innocent and Holy Being, the Son of the Almighty God, was bearing the very penalty that
the Roman law had decreed to him, Barabbas. Whereas others in the coming ages might
question whether the Lord Jesus Christ's death was actually vicarious and substitutional,
he could never question it (2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:22-24, 3:18; Isa. 53:5-6).
Fourth, he knew he had done nothing to
merit the marvelous interposition of that substitutional death. It reached him as an act
of pure grace (Psa. 69:19-20; Eph. 2:4-9; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 2:1 1; Rom. 4:4-5).
Fifth, he knew that Christ's death for
him was perfectly efficacious. There was, therefore, nothing for him to add to it. Just
because Christ was dying, he was living. The only question before Pilate was whether
Christ should die or Barabbas. When it was decided that Christ should die, Barabbas was
set free. His assurance was complete that instant when his Substitute said, "It is
finished," and gave up the ghost (Jn. 19:30; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1: 14; Rom. 5:9; 1 Jn. 1:
7; Col. 1:20; Heb. 10:10, 14).
John McNeill, the great Scotch preacher, said: "My
brethren, let me commend to you Barabbas' theory of the atonement. It is a good theory to
preach on, pray on, sing on, die on. Do you know any other theory that will stand the
tests?" -C. L SCOFIELD
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