Augustine of Hippo on Atonement

Augustine of Hippo

The Redeemer came and the deceiver was overcome. What did our Redeemer do to our Captor? In payment for us He set the trap, His Cross, with His blood for bait. Satan could indeed shed that blood; but he deserved not to drink it. By shedding the blood of One who was not his debtor, he was forced to release his debtors.

Sermon CXXX, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, page 504, Philip Schaff, ed., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994

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More from Augustine of Hippo

But he himself that justifies also deifies, for by justifying he makes sons of God. “For he has given them power to become the sons of God.” If then we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods.