Substutionary atonement: a note to preachers
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.’…