In the providence of God, here is a living example of what yesterday's post was concerning. I received an email from my friend and yokefellow from across the pond, Adrian Warnock, informing me of an important doctrinal issue that is brewing there. This article he has posted is a MUST read. It deals with the essential issue of: the vicarious penal substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. This is a theological, doctrinal and biblical nonnegotiable, beloved, when it comes to the gospel and Christ's saving work. You can read the story here. Both myself and Phil Johnson have commented in the meta at Adrian's which I also would encourage you to read. Also, Phil has written extensively on this subject and has produced some of the most helpful teaching on the atonement you could read. I highly commend him on this issue to you--it is excellent.
Doctrine matters; truth matters; the Gospel matters.
This is an issue worth defending, discussing and a hill to die on. Satan always attacks at the crucial - never the trivial. One of his primary targets throughout all of redemptive history has been to attack the nature, person, work and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. In specific, there is an onslaught of his darts aimed at undermining the once for all sacrifice for our sins; and that being vicarious penal substitution.
Defining the terms:
1. Vicarious: willingly done on behalf of another
2. Penal: punishment deserved under the Law
3. Substitutionary: Christ died in our place as our Federal Head
4. Atonement: the act by which God reconciled sinners to Himself through Jesus Christ
The Unmistakable Authority of God's Word on Penal Substitution
Is. 53:4 ¶ Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. Is. 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. Is. 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Is. 53:10 ¶ But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. Is. 53:11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.
2 Cor. 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Gal. 3:10 ¶ For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.” Gal. 3:11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” Gal. 3:12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.” Gal. 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”—
Heb. 2:9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. Heb. 2:10 ¶ For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. Heb. 2:14 ¶ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, Heb. 2:15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. Heb. 2:16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Heb. 2:17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Heb. 2:18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
1 Pet. 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
1 Pet. 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
The Issue: Cosmic Child Abuse or Divine Atonement?
One of the key words the N.T. writers use to speak of vicarious penal substitutionary atonement is propitiation (Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:2, 4:10, Heb. 2:17). This word carries two ideas: 1. to satisfy; 2. to quench, to assuage. Taken in context, Jesus Christ on the cross took not only the guilt and penalty of our sin, but the full wrath of God for His elect. That is what the Apostles Creed means when it says, "…He descended into hell." Jesus didn't go literally to hell after He died (the false teachings of the Word/Faith movement), but He endured God’s wrath for us as our Federal Head on the cross. “He descended…” by taking fully God’s wrath in our place. Hell is not the absence of God; hell is His wrathful presence being poured out upon all the ungodly, Satan and his demons forever. Hell would be “Club Med” if it were not for the presence of God’s wrath.
The wrath of God that you and I deserve to be poured out upon us in hell forever and ever in unmitigated gall without relenting was fully poured out upon Jesus on the cross. That was the punishment that Christ took on our behalf; that is penal substitution. This is not “cosmic child abuse” as one (who shall remain unnamed) author refers to it. This is a profound truth and mystery. Whatever eternal wrath comprises, the miracle was that it was compressed into time and poured it out on the Son for us as the Father faced the Son (Greek: pros ton theon - face to face - cp, Heb. 2:17) and the fullness of His anger was consumed, quenched, and satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin and sinfulness demands punishment; God is holy, we are by nature children of wrath--sinful to the core. Christ as our subsitute was punished on our behalf for our sins; God was propitiated, satisfied, and through Jesus we are redeemed.
Listen, the sins of the elect (every sin, that would ever be committed, by everyone, that would ever believe) was placed on Jesus. In addition, the guilt and penalty of those sins were thrust on Him as well. But also, the wrath of God that burns against our sin and us the sinners was poured out upon Jesus Christ. THAT was the cup that only Jesus could drink; that was the cup that He wrestled with in the garden. It was not the cup of dying. Wicked men had gone the way of the cross before and were rightly punished for their crimes. Many went laughing, mocking, scornful of their insurrections and offenses. But only God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ, could drink the cup of God's wrath; and He drained it! He drank it to the very dregs and redeemed us at Calvary.
Christ was punished in our place so that we may have peace with God forever (Rom. 5:1-2). He became, what Paul says in Galatians 3, “a curse for us.”
What were we saved from? Our sins? Yes. Hell? Yes. The sting of death? Yes. But those pale in comparison with this profound reality: on the cross, God through Christ saved us from Himself. That’s right – God through Christ saved us from Himself. From His wrath, His holiness, His justice. And Because Jesus Christ fully satisfied God (propitiation) on the cross as our Divine Substitute, we need to never fear of eternal judgment, condemnation, wrath or punishment for our sins. The penalty of our sins have been fully quenched in the once for all vicarious penal substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn’t that the Good News of the gospel beloved?
God treated Christ on the cross as if He lived our life, so that we by grace through faith in Him, can be treated as if we lived His life (2 Cor. 5:21). That is the great doctrine of imputation.
The fullness of the Lord being punished in our place (for the sins and the sinners) and the satisfaction of God being accomplished was when Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why has thou forsaken Me?" Christ was forsaken in that He bore our sin, its guilt and penalty. But also that He bore the wrath of God against us. The Father faced the Son and the Son faced the Father on the cross and He “took it—all of it” for His elect. When Jesus cried, "IT IS FINISHED" what had happened? He had fulfilled the Law; went beyond the veil; satisfied God's wrath; fulfilled all righteousness; exalted grace; took away the guilt and penalty of our sin; destroyed Satan's hold of death; abolished death and its sting; secured for us eternal life; brought us into intimacy with God; instituted a new covenant; and made for us peace with God forever!
THAT is the glory of the cross.
The death of Christ was both a propitiation and an expiation of sin. Propitiation refers to the turning away of wrath by an offering. God's wrath was satisfied and His justice meted out by Jesus’ once for all sacrifice on the cross. Expiation refers to covering sins and in specific, the guilt of sin. By the vicarious penal substitutionary atonement of Christ Jesus on the cross, our sins and their penalty are removed from us. The atonement satisfies both the demands of the Father and the needs of Christ's people (1 Pet. 1:2).
I close with Spurgeon:
"When Jesus gave himself for us, he gave us all the rights and privileges which went with himself; so that now, although as eternal God, he has essential rights to which no creature may venture to pretend, yet as Jesus, the Mediator, the federal head of the covenant of grace, he has no heritage apart from us. All the glorious consequences of his obedience unto death are the joint riches of all who are in him, and on whose behalf he accomplished the divine will. See, he enters into glory, but not for himself alone, for it is written, "Whither the Forerunner is for us entered." Heb. 6:20. Does he stand in the presence of God?-"He appears in the presence of God for us." Heb. 9:24.
Consider this, believer. You have no right to heaven in yourself: your right lies in Christ. If you are pardoned, it is through His blood; if you are justified, it is through His righteousness; if you are sanctified, it is because He is made of God unto you sanctification; if you shall be kept from falling, it will be because you are preserved in Christ Jesus; and if you are perfected at the last, it will be because you are complete in Him. Thus Jesus is magnified-for all is in Him and by Him; thus the inheritance is made certain to us-for it is obtained in Him; thus each blessing is the sweeter, and even heaven itself the brighter, because it is Jesus our Beloved "in whom" we have obtained all." |
