Substitution and the Biblical Background to Cur Deus Homo

Anselm and others have frequently been criticized for one consequence of the notion of substitution implied in the theory of satisfaction: it appears to make the saving work of Christ a remote matter, alien from the human subject of salvation and appropriated remotely by that subject. Anselm is often blamed for introducing this notion into Christian theology. When the biblical background of Anselm's theory is considered and it is noted that substitution is a relatively accidental feature of Biblical models of human salvation through Christ, this criticism may appear to be mistaken. This paper will examine briefly several biblical images for salvation, identifying the relevance of substitution to each of them, as a preparation for a consideration of the relevance of substitution for Anselm's account. It will be argued that substitution is an inevitable feature of the model of satisfaction, which Anselm took from sources ultimately biblical, and it conveys an important truth about salvation in Christ. It does not necessarily become, however, on that basis, an inevitable feature of the theological account of Christ's saving work and is not unduly emphasized by Anselm, at least in comparison with some of his successors. This argument will involve a revisiting of the older position of Jean Rivière on the satisfaction of Christ.