Christus Victor (‘Christ the Victor’) names the atonement motif that sees Christ’s death and resurrection primarily as a cosmic battle and victory over the powers of sin, death, the Devil, and all enslaving powers. Gustaf Aulen’s 1931 book Christus Victor recovers this theme from the early church fathers (especially Irenaeus) and argues it is the oldest and most deeply biblical atonement framework — present throughout the New Testament but eclipsed in the West by Anselm’s Satisfaction theory. Key texts: Colossians 2:15 (‘He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him’), 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (‘Death is swallowed up in victory’), Hebrews 2:14-15 (‘through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death’). Christus Victor understands the cross not primarily as a transaction (satisfying divine justice or paying a ransom) but as an act of warfare and liberation. The atonement liberates humanity from bondage — to sin, to the law, to death, to demonic powers — through Christ’s victorious defeat of these enslaving forces.