THE ATONING WORK OF THE CHRIST .

C. THE ATONING WORK OF THE CHRIST .
1. Man's Fallen Nature and the Need of an Atonement.
What makes a man acceptable to God? Is it a measure of self-
righteousness obtained through an observance of fixed rituals
plus a belief in true doctrines of faith, coupled with an attempt
to keep God's moral laws to the best of a man's ability? Or is it
the redeeming grace of God in sending his own Son in human
form to become an atoning sacrifice so that fallen men might
be forgiven of their sins and receive the Holy Spirit by which
they might become heirs of the hope of eternal life? Islam
advocates the former, Christianity declares the latter. The
concepts are so far apart that it is not surprising to find
Muslims levelling all kinds of arguments against the Christian
position. We shall consider the subject in principle before
pressing on to assess two of the typical kinds of arguments
Christians are likely to across in Muslim writings.
In the last section we considered the Biblical teaching that
God originally made man in his own image. When Adam and
Eve sinned this image was defaced and they were chased
from the Garden and away from the presence of the Lord. In
their sinful state they could no longer commune and fellowship
with the All-holy God. Right here, at the very beginning, Islam
and Christianity part ways though both acknowledge the event
that led to our first parents being expelled from the Garden.
Islam teaches that no man is sinful by nature and that all
Adam and Eve had to do was repent and ask forgiveness.
Accordingly man's duty is to strive towards a relative degree
of self- righteousness by developing his personality according
to God's revealed laws and by trusting God to forgive the rest.
Christianity, however, declares that the only righteousness
acceptable to God is his own perfect righteousness and that
when men sin they immediately fail to attain the mark - not a
relative degree of self-righteousness but the absolute standard
of God's own righteousness. "Since all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God" (Romans 3.23) is the Christian
concept of the effect of sin and one which creates the need of
an initiative from God to reconcile men to himself through an
atoning sacrifice. Islam fails to see the full extent of sin - that
it is not only a punishable offence but a separating influence
that destroys a man's relationship with God - and it
accordingly asks why God cannot just forgive men as he
pleases. Why can he not just say "Be" (kun ) and accomplish
whatever he purposes as he wills?
In reply we must first point out that the question arises
from a total misunderstanding of man's nature, condition,
and spiritual needs, and also from failing to comprehend
the great fact that God is Holy. Sin is not only in itself
contrary to and hateful to the Divine Nature, but it is also
ruinous and destructive to the true, original, spiritual nature
of man made in God's likeness. (Pfander, The Mizanu'l
Haqq (Balance of Truth) , p. 168).
For what purpose was man created? It seems highly
improbable that he was made for his own destiny and that he
was set a course of attaining a relative standard of
righteousness (like a 51% pass-mark in an examination) before
being rewarded with the pleasures of a material paradise. It
seems far more likely that if God chose to make man at all, he
made him for his own glory . It is self-evident that man was
made in the image of God as we saw in the last section and
he was therefore obviously created to reflect the glory of God
and work out his attributes to perfection. One act of defiance
against God, just one declaration of independence from him,
was enough to spoil the image completely. Adam and Eve fell
when they sinned, something to which the Qur'an willingly
testifies ("We said: Fall down, one of you a foe to the other" -
Surah 2.36).
Man therefore possesses a fallen nature from which he needs
to be delivered. It was necessary that another man, Jesus the
Son of God, should restore that di