Proof Texts for Atonement

It seems to me there is not a good way to find proof texts for a certain topic within the biblical text. I am trying to find proof texts for atonement in the Epistle to the Romans. I have read the whole book and it sems to me Romans 3:21-26 is a proof text. How can I find other proof texts?

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Bill Anderson

How about Romans 8:1-4, especially verse 3: "For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering" (NIV).

The ESV has, "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh".

Bill Anderson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1276992#Comment_1276992

Be sure to consider indirect references or allusions, and not just direct ones. Romans 12:1-2 is a good example: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship" (NIV). The words "God's mercy" and "living sacrifice" allude to the atonement.

Concerning these verses, John Stott says, "It is through the cross that the world has been crucified to us and we to the world (Rom 12:1–2; Gal 6:14), so that we are freed from its tyranny" (John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2006), 238).

Dave Hooton

I have read the whole book and it sems to me Romans 3:21-26 is a proof text. How can I find other proof texts?

Look up Atonement in Factbook or Topic Guide.

Rosie Perera

Hmm... I've always understood "proof text" or "prooftexting" in a negative sense, as an erroneous way to approach the Bible: taking verses out of context to prove something that you believe a priori and want to find evidence for in Scripture. But I won't go further with this line of thinking. I'd just encourage you to do a search on "prooftexting" in your Logos library. (Not that the Atonement isn't in Scripture, but maybe I wouldn't use the word "proof text" in talking about it, because of its negative connotation.)

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277026#Comment_1277026

You can virtually find “proof texts” for any topic in the Bible.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277026#Comment_1277026

I've always understood "proof text" or "prooftexting" in a negative sense

Thanks for saying what I was thinking ... you're so much better at diplomatic.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277032#Comment_1277032

You can virtually find “proof texts” for any topic in the Bible.

Yes, as some of the hits in my Logos Library showed humorously:

"You can find a Bible verse to support anything if you look long enough, especially if you check out a number of different English translations. Consider Philippians 3:2 in the NKJV, which warns: 'Beware of dogs.'"

Richard L. Schultz, Out of Context: How to Avoid Misinterpreting the Bible (Baker Books, 2012)

"Several years ago I was browsing through some commentaries in my favourite bookstore. A dear lady whom I had recently visited in the hospital entered and walked toward me. Greeting her, I remarked how well she looked. She responded, ‘By His stripes I have been healed—praise God there is healing in Christ’s atonement.’

"Immediately I decided that the bookstore was no place for a theology discussion. I didn’t want to dampen her new joy, nor did I want to rob her of her confidence that somehow God had been involved in her physical restoration. However, her prooftexts—Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24—just did not describe what had happened to her."

Richard L. Mayhue, How to Study the Bible (Christian Focus, 1997)

Bill Anderson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277037#Comment_1277037

You can virtually find “proof texts” for any topic in the Bible.

Yes, as some of the hits in my Logos Library showed humorously:

"You can find a Bible verse to support anything if you look long enough, especially if you check out a number of different English translations. Consider Philippians 3:2 in the NKJV, which warns: 'Beware of dogs.'"

Richard L. Schultz, Out of Context: How to Avoid Misinterpreting the Bible (Baker Books, 2012)

"Several years ago I was browsing through some commentaries in my favourite bookstore. A dear lady whom I had recently visited in the hospital entered and walked toward me. Greeting her, I remarked how well she looked. She responded, ‘By His stripes I have been healed—praise God there is healing in Christ’s atonement.’

"Immediately I decided that the bookstore was no place for a theology discussion. I didn’t want to dampen her new joy, nor did I want to rob her of her confidence that somehow God had been involved in her physical restoration. However, her prooftexts—Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24—just did not describe what had happened to her."

Richard L. Mayhue, How to Study the Bible (Christian Focus, 1997)

Rosie, your story reminds me of battles I had with a friend about proof-texting the very topic of healing in the atonement over 40 years ago when my friend was caught up in the Kenneth Hagan/Kenneth Copeland movement.

In Christian's defense, when I responded to him, I interpreted his use of the term in his question not in the perjorative, negative sense. I read it as him wanting "references" to the atonement.

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277039#Comment_1277039

Rosie and Bill,

When I went door knocking with a group of students, I had to give a short devo before going out into the neighborhood. I concluded the lesson (jokingly of course) with Phil. 3:2, “Be ware of the dogs!” 😂 And man, we came across some big dogs and some little aggressive dogs! One of the students almost got bit by an ankle biter 😂

DAL

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277039#Comment_1277039

Rosie, your story reminds me of...

Not my story; I was quoting from How to Study the Bible.

In Christian's defense, when I responded to him, I interpreted his use of the term in his question not in the perjorative, negative sense. I read it as him wanting "references" to the atonement.

Yes, I knew that's what he meant. I was just cautioning about the use of the term "proof-text" for what he was asking about, since it does tend to be used more often for the negative practice.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277042#Comment_1277042

Rosie and Bill,

When I went door knocking with a group of students, I had to give a short devo before going out into the neighborhood. I concluded the lesson (jokingly of course) with Phil. 3:2, “Be ware of the dogs!” 😂 And man, we came across some big dogs and some little aggressive dogs! One of the students almost got bit by an ankle biter 😂

DAL

Intentional silly proof-texting can of course be the source of much levity. One of my favorite jokes come from doing this:

A pastor was on his way home and decided to stop at a church member's house.

After ringing the doorbell the pastor was sure that he saw movement inside the house. He rang the doorbell again and then noticed someone moving quickly from one room to another. He pulled out a tract, scrawled on it "Revelation 3:20, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock'", left it wedged in the door, and left.

When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that the pamphlet was in the plate. Under what he had written was added, "Genesis 3:10: 'I heard your voice and I was afraid for I was naked, and I hid myself.'"

Sorry to hijack the thread from your original question, though, Christian. Here's my answer to your underlying question, even if I don't care for the term "proof-text" for what you were asking:

Factbook's entry on "Atonement Cultural Ontology, Preaching Theme" (which has much better results than "atonement Noun Sense") includes many verses. These are the ones from Romans:

Romans 3:21–26; 5:1–11; 8:1–11, 31–39

GaoLu

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277053#Comment_1277053

The need for proof texting:

We use Logos so we can find passages to learn something or to test an idea. Resources in Logos are chock full of ideas which need tested. For this reason, many authors provide footnotes and Bible references. Whether the source is ChatGPT or a seasoned scholar, we (ought to) test their ideas.

The problem with proof texting (is both semantic and genuine)

Proof texting is the method by which a person appeals to a biblical text to prove or justify a theological position without regard for the context of the passage they are citing. At its worst, for example, "theologian A claims to have a more 'biblical' theology than theologian B, based upon counting up verse in parentheses (on a random page from each work) and claiming to have three times as many." The result can be that certain portions of Scripture are more heavily treated than others (e.g. Pauline texts). Yet, while the method of proof texting can be problematic, nevertheless theology must still maintain a thoroughly biblical character. The New Testament authors support this idea in their own citations of the Old Testament text. Thus, the main criticism of proof texting falls on its method rather than its desire and motivation to base theology on the canonical text. But in one's interpretation of a text, the genre and context should never be ignored. As the saying goes, "a text without a context is a pretext for a proof text."

Proof: Proof texting | Theopedia

David Thomas

to find proof texts for a certain topic

Perhaps you are looking for "citations" or "allusions" if you are looking for legitimate occurences.

DMB

a good way to find proof texts for a certain topic within the biblical text.

Not disagreeing with the above comments. And if you web-search, the first umpteen entries are warnings about proof-texting.

But the whole recommended sequence presumes 'writing', and then an author's argument (vs a single statement). And prior to the late 2nd-century, neither were of interest. They even warned against 'writings' as being sources of subtle (and key proof-test) 'changes' Indeed, arguing with single quotes taken out of context was the name of the game ... presumably the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus proved the resurrection by a single hebrew word (completely removed from the narrative).

But I suspect Christian's vocabulary might have meant 'support', and I have a whole 'dataset' on doing just that ... what's the basis for the theological claims.

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277053#Comment_1277053

Rosie and Bill,

When I went door knocking with a group of students, I had to give a short devo before going out into the neighborhood. I concluded the lesson (jokingly of course) with Phil. 3:2, “Be ware of the dogs!” 😂 And man, we came across some big dogs and some little aggressive dogs! One of the students almost got bit by an ankle biter 😂

DAL

Intentional silly proof-texting can of course be the source of much levity. One of my favorite jokes come from doing this:

A pastor was on his way home and decided to stop at a church member's house.

After ringing the doorbell the pastor was sure that he saw movement inside the house. He rang the doorbell again and then noticed someone moving quickly from one room to another. He pulled out a tract, scrawled on it "Revelation 3:20, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock'", left it wedged in the door, and left.

When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that the pamphlet was in the plate. Under what he had written was added, "Genesis 3:10: 'I heard your voice and I was afraid for I was naked, and I hid myself.'"

Sorry to hijack the thread from your original question, though, Christian. Here's my answer to your underlying question, even if I don't care for the term "proof-text" for what you were asking:

Factbook's entry on "Atonement Cultural Ontology, Preaching Theme" (which has much better results than "atonement Noun Sense") includes many verses. These are the ones from Romans:

Romans 3:21–26; 5:1–11; 8:1–11, 31–39

That was a good one 😂

Christian Alexander

Good morning everyone. Thanks for this advice. I was looking for a good bouncing pad to launch some ideas. For a pre class assignment in the seminar I told the forumites about I have to write a paper on Atonement in Paul and pick 4 passages less than 10 verses from a book in the Pauline Corpus. This paper has to be 26-32 pages and I have to use biblical theology, exegesis, historical theology and apply the paper with systematic theology. I chose Romans. I did not mean prooftexts in a negative sense. I am sorry if some understood it that way. I wanted to use the proof text method to use quotations from a document for the purpose of exegesis. This forum has helped me a lot. I have still got to formulate my ideas but right now I have 3 passages. Romans 3:21-26; Romans 8:1-11; Romans 12:1-5. I think Romans 5 might be a good passage but I am not sure yet. What does everyone think about Romans 12? Thanks again