Pierced For Our Transgressions (Ovey et al)

Substutionary atonement: a note to preachers

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Critics of the doctrine of penal substitution, as well as a number of its more thoughtful supporters, have commented that the illustrations of it that preachers use are often misleading or even inept.

Tom Smail, for example, says that the story of ‘the judge who pronounces sentence on the criminal and then divests himself of his robe, comes down from his judgement seat and says, “I will bear this punishment in your place” is, in terms of justice, a quite scandalous story.’

Another illustration features God as a railroad switchman, who, on seeing that a train is rushing headlong towards a large crowd of people, causes it to switch tracks even though it will kill his own son.…

Biblical Foundations of Penal Substitution 8 – 1 Peter

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Christ bore our sins in his body, 1 Pet 2:21-25

The suffering of Christ is certainly presented in these verses as exemplary, but this does not exhaust the meaning.  For one thing, there are clear allusions to Isa 53, and to the Suffering Servant from whose sufferings we benefit.  The ‘bearing’ of sins in Isa 53 implies the bearing of punishment.  And the echo of Isa 53:5 in ‘by his wounds you have been healed’ highlight the fact that he suffered so that we might not – substitutionary atonement indeed. …

Biblical Foundations of Penal Substitution 7 – Galatians

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Galatians 3:10-13

The image of the crucifixion at ‘hanging on a tree’ in Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29 evokes the words of Deuteronomy 21:25 – ‘anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse’.

This raises the question, ‘Why would the sinless Christ be curses by God?’  Gal 3:10-13 supplies the answer.

The argument is simple: Jesus bore the curse that was due to others, thereby redeeming them from that curse.  He bore the penalty in our place.…

Biblical Foundations of Penal Substitution 6 – Romans

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Context

Paul teaches in Romans that the universal sinfulness of humankind provokes God’s righteous anger.  This has both a present (Rom 1:18) and a future (Rom 2:5) aspect.

Moroever, Rom 1-3 makes it clear that God’s wrath is personal and active, and not merely the impersonal outworking of some inevitable process of cause and effect, as C.H. Dodd and others have taught.  It is God’s wrath and it is from heaven (Rom 1:18).  It is God’s judgment, Rom 2:5f, 16; 3:5, and God’s verdict, Rom 2:26; 3:7; 3:19. …

Biblical Foundations of Penal Substitution 5 – John’s Gospel

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The Lamb of God

John the Baptist introduces Jesus as ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (Jn 1:29).  Later, a link is made between Jesus and the lamb sacrificed at Passover.  This amounts to John’s endorsement of the penal substitution categories found in Ex 12.

Deliverance from God’s wrath

In Num 21:4-9, the Lord rescues his people from a punishment he himself had imposed.  John 3:14-18 has a clear echo of this. …

Biblical foundations of penal substitution 4 – Mark

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Mark 10:45 – a ransom for many

Penal substitution is implied in the word lytron (‘ransom’), and suggested by an allusion to Isa 53 and the substitionary work of the Suffering Servant.  ‘The cup I drink’ (Mk 10:38) is, of course, the cup of God’s wrath (Mk 14:36; Psa 75:8; Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15f; Ezek 23:32-34; Hab 2:16).  This cup of wrath, according to the text just cited, is destined for the wicked, but is drunk by Jesus in their place, as ‘a ransom for many’. …

Biblical foundations of penal substitution 3 – Isaiah 53

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Isaiah 53 (more properly 52:13-53:12) constitutes the fourth ‘Servant Song’.  It has traditionally been regarded as teaching penal substitution, with this teaching fulfilled in the suffering of Jesus.  This interpretation has not gone unchallenged.  R.N. Whybraw, for example, argues that the Servant does not suffer instead of others, as their substitute, but alongside them, as their representative.

But the traditional interpretation is confirmed by the following considerations:-

1.  The Servant suffers ‘for’ others.  There is a repeated contrast between ‘he’, ‘his’, and ‘him’, on the one hand, and ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘we all’ and ‘us all’ on the other. …

Biblical Foundations of Penal Substitution 2 – Leviticus 16

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The Book of Exodus raises the question, ‘How can a holy God dwell in the midst of a sinful people?’  The Book of Leviticus answers this by saying that the divine/human relationship can been maintained only by sacrifice.

The rituals of the Day of Atonement, Lev 16, are central, and foreshadow Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice (Heb 9-10).  These rituals involved two goats, one of which was sacrificed to the Lord, while the other was driven into the wilderness. …

Biblical foundations of penal substitution 1 – Exodus 12

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“The doctrine of penal substitution states that God gave himself in the person of his Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment and curse due to fallen humanity as the penalty for sin.”  (Jeffrey, Ovey & Sach, Pierced for our Transgressions, p21).

A while ago, I summarised objections to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement as set out and responded to by Jeffrey et al.

I’d now like to examine the biblical basis for this doctrine, using the same authors as guides.…

Objections to penal substitution 6 – the Christian life

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Here’s the last in this series, summarising responses to objections to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement that relate to aspects of the Christian life:-

1. ‘Penal substitution fails to address the issues of political and social sin and cosmic evil’

Penal substitution seems occupied with the salvation of the individual but fails to address the need for reconciliation between peoples divided by political, ethnic, economic and social barriers. Nor does it provide for the redemption of the entire cosmos from its fallen state.…