I have struggled with many religious concepts most of my life. An eternal hell from a loving God? How so? A loving Father killing his only begotten Son? Who can imagine! Who could love such a God? The theological concept of penal substitution never made sense to me. Simply put, how can a Jewish rabbi’s death some two thousand years ago effect my life, give me redemption, and allow me to overcome sin and death? It DID- but how? If you ask most Christians what penal substitution is, they haven’t a clue. It’s like asking a Christian to tell you HOW the 66 books of the Bible were put together. They know not!
How can a person BELIEVE in that which He knows nothing about?
We’ve been taught, by the church, to just BELIEVE! The Cross and what’s also known as the concept of atonement are at the heart of Christian beliefs. And while I embrace the reality and the consequences of the Cross I simply cannot reconcile the religious concept of penal substitution with the God is Love principle. God IS LOVE: Hell is not! So briefly………….
I do not believe:
1-God demanded the death of Jesus and punished Jesus- to balance the books.
2-Jesus died to appease an angry God.
3-Atonement is individualistic- to only a select few! (It’s cosmic)
4-Jesus died to change God’s mind (but to change ours).
5-Jesus died to pay Satan a ransom (as though Satan would keep any deal)
I do believe:
1-God is good, loving, forgiving, and non-violent.
2-The cross is not divine punishment, but an expression of unity-unconditional love
3-We, humanity, crucified Jesus, not God.
4-Sacrifice is not punitive, but an expression of gratitude
5-Justice isn’t punitive or retributive; it is restorative!
6-Jesus was more of a representation than a substitute
7-In Christ, God reconciles humanity to Himself (not vice versa)
In summary, rather than a propitiation (appeasing God), the cross must be an (expiation)taking away sin; replacing our disobedience with His obedience. The idea that an animal (or human) could be sacrificed to change the mood of a deity, or to manipulate him is an utterly pagan concept. Retribution does not cancel out the disobedience, but obedience does. Jesus deals with our disobedience – not by enduring retribution, but by his obedience, the Last Adam undoes the work of the first.
YES! 
Penal substitution assumes that God’s judgment is retributive and thus backward looking. And, this is why most eschatology that comes from penal substitution is preoccupied with the avoidance of hell, and not with the anticipation of the new creation of all things. But, God’s justice is transforming and forward looking. It is concerned with restoring right relationships rather than punishing wrong actions.
Sound too good to be true? It is GOOD NEWS!
A great article! Yours does a clearer job than explaining the issue than the link I left recently. Here’s why I think so. You really believe the ideas you have presented here. My friend Steve, who authored the article which I linked, was “in process” of coming to a position of belief from a very traditional background and education, not unlike you and I some years ago. Thank you for clarifying further this contentious issue.
2 Corinthians 5:21 states “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the rightousness of God in Him.” That is definitely substitution. According to the Greek scholar, Spiros Zodhiates, SC #2433 meaning propiatiation declares Jesus’ blood provides the satisfaction demanded by God’s justice whereby the removal of sins is attained. Hebrews 2:17, “He had to be made like His brethren in all things …to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” SC #2644 signifies not only the removal of the demands of justice, but God establishing a relationship of peace between Himself and man. 2 Corinthians 5:18 tells us God reconciled (SC 2644) us to Himself through Christ. So, both propitiation and expiation are used in the New Testament to show the goodness of a loving, holy God who reconciles us to Himself.
Linda-”Jesus’ blood provides the satisfaction demanded by God’s justice”
That phrase really bothers me. The One who is described in the Bible as love itself, demands a blood sacrifice to satisfy the demands of “justice”. Under penal subsitution, God forgives no one, He instead exacts payment from another as some twisted form of divine justice. As for me, I will not believe our Source chose to do that. Perhaps, you should listen carefully to what you are saying and ask yourself if you really, honestly believe that God would do what you profess he did.
Linda- Do you believe in eternal conscious torment? If so, wouldn’t it be true that Jesus should still be in Hell if as you stated:
““He had to be made like His brethren in all things” to be the propitiation for sin. For isn’t eternal conscious torment the result of unforgiven sin?
Linda-
It’s probably my fault for having taught Zodhiates for too long, as I now see him as one who through the “letter-tenses-etc.†of the word-law has missed the spirit of the word….A very good man to whom I owe much, but……
That said, I see II Cor. 5:18-21 (that you referenced) as affirming what I wrote, especially verse 19 between the two verses that you used that God was IN Christ, not that Christ WAS God. And once more depending on an individual’s point of view (everyone has one), Jesus was both a substitute and a representative. I like the latter primarily because the former lulls us into, He’s doing it- he sat in for us, whereas the latter says NOW YOU, FOLLOW ME AND GO DO LIKEWISE! He got the ball rolling, now it’s up to us to follow Him!
Propitiation (#2434) and #2644 (katallassoo) are used only 3x as the authors searched for words to describe the indescribable. Bottom line is from which “viewpoint†is one looking? When it says God reconciled us to Him does one interpret that as God changed His mind, or that through Jesus, God changed OUR mind? I take the latter or else we paint a very angry and violent God- one who would send people to hell for eternity- that He created and said was very good- in fact, in His image! I simply can’t go there. But, as I’ve said, I love your zeal, passion, and defense of your viewpoint(s).
I believe when Jesus said, “this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for FORGIVENESS OF SINS”, He meant it. (Matthew 26:28)
I do too Linda, but it was an ACT OF LOVE by Jesus and not an act of a violent, blood-thirsty God. We agree on the bigger picture, just not the method.