June 7, 2010 issue
Let Scripture speak
By Carl Wesselhoeft Logan, OhioI respond to Reta Halteman Finger’s comments on the penal substitutionary atonement theory.
Theories depend on the viewpoints of those proposing them. We need to turn to the Scriptures and let them speak. In Isaiah 53:5-6 we read: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed… . The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Christ’s agony in the garden was not the anticipation of the crucifixion. His agony was that the Father God “made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). The Sinless One was burdened with the sin of humanity.
On the cross Christ represented us with all our sin and guilt, since he “bore our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). The cross reveals both the love of God and the wrath of God: “The punishment that brought us peace was upon him” (Isaiah 53:5).
Each age has a tendency to distort God’s character. We have made him a benign deity, harmless, incapable of hurting anyone. Our God is love, but he is also a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31).
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