victorious high priest in the African context

Scholars have proposed several atonement theories to describe what Christ has achieved through the incarnation, particularly through his death—Recapitulation, Example, Moral Influence, Ransom, Christus Victor, Penal Substitution, and Government theories. However, the discussion of atonement theories reveals that scholars favour and advocate for one theory. The Christus Victor and Penal Substitutionary atonement theories are often pitted against each other. This article examines Hebrews 2:14–18, using a historical, grammatical, and literary method. The passage depicts Jesus’s sacrificial death for the sins of God’s people and his victory over the devil and death through his incarnation. Contrary to the common tendency of scholars to pit the Christus Victor model and Christ’s atoning substitution against each other, in the present pericope, the author of Hebrews illustrates the integration of Christus Victor and substitutionary atonement theories as complementary aspects of Jesus’s incarnation. The article also showcases the integration of victory and sacrifice in African Christian songs that perceive Jesus as a victorious High Priest who died as a substitute and freed his people from the domination of the devil and death. The article proposes that the Christus Victor and Penal Substitutionary atonement models are not mutually exclusive but should be understood synergistically.