Quotes from Gustaf Aulén

First, we must ask in what relation the conceptions of sin and death stand to one another in Irenæus. We have already noted the assertion that he, in common with other Eastern theologians, places relatively little emphasis on sin, because he regards salvation as a bestowal of life rather than of forgiveness, and as a victory over mortality rather than over sin.

We have also here the explanation of his constant emphasis on salvation as a bestowal of Life. Life means for him primarily fellowship with God, the partaking of the life of God, and therefore also a deliverance from sin.

Christ came down from heaven because no power other than that of God Himself was able to accomplish the work that was to be done. Incarnation and atoning work are thus set in the closest possible relation to one another; both belong to one scheme.

The Spirit' assures us that God is not distant and that he is not in reality an extra-mundane being who sits enthroned in exalted eminence, and who from this eminence possibly sends a few messages down to the world; but, on the contrary, that God is near to us and that he is immediately and effectively active in our life.

My aim in this book has been throughout an historical, not an apologetic aim.

if the classic idea of the Atonement ever again resumes a leading place in Christian theology, it is not likely that it will revert to precisely the same forms of expression that it has used in the past; its revival will not consist in a putting back of the clock.