Booklet
An Orthodox Priest’s View of Christ Dying for Our Sins
At a March 2026 panel on “Three Views of the Atonement,” an Orthodox priest explained that Orthodoxy sees sin as sickness to be healed and rejects the teaching that Christ died as a substitute paying the penalty for our sins. This booklet sets out his comments and his answers to four questions, then responds point by point from Scripture: we are under God’s wrath for our guilt, Christ gave His life as a ransom, and through Christ God remains just in declaring believers righteous.
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What’s inside
- The priest’s comments: sin as sickness, the prodigal son, and “at one ment”
- His answers on Leviticus 16, God’s justice, assurance and forgiveness
- Sin is breaking God’s law, and we are under wrath (Ezekiel 18:4; John 3:36; Romans 1:18)
- Christ came to give His life as a ransom (Mark 10:45)
- The language of sacrifice is God’s language (Leviticus 1:4; Revelation 5:9)
- Atonement is not merely an English word (Leviticus 16; Romans 3:25)
- Assurance rests on Christ’s finished work (John 5:24; Romans 5:1–11)
- Some summary notes