Category Archives: Atonement

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. …

The doctrine of the atonement

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‘The atonement is the work Christ did in his life and death to earn our salvation.’

A.  The cause of the atonement

1.  The love of God, Jn 3:16.
2.  The justice of God, Rom 3:25.

B.  The necessity of the atonement

This does not seek to answer the question ‘Why did God purpose to save any people at all?’  But rather, ‘Having purposed to save some, why was the death of Christ the only way this could be achieved?’…

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.…

Is healing in the atonement?

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Physical sickness came as a result of the fall and the subsequent curse, and leads eventually to physical death.  By his atoning death, Christ lifted that curse, Isa 53:4f, and there is consequently both spiritual healing (1 Pet 2:24), and physical healing (Mt 8:16-17) in the atonement.  Christ purchased for us complete freedom not only from sin, but also from bodily infirmity; however, the full possession of these benefits will not be ours until he returns, 1 Cor 15:23.…

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.…

Objections to penal substitution 5 – God

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The next set of objections to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement cluster around our understanding of God:-

1. ‘Penal substitution implies a division between the persons of the Trinity’

Critics sometimes argue that the doctrine of penal substition violates the unity of the godhead by depicting the Father and the Son as acting independently. Whereas Rom 5:8 affirms that God demonstrates his love by means of what Christ did, penal substitution implies that in the atonement God did something to Jesus.…