"Thinking Eternally, Acting Locally." - Neal August
I continue to study the Biblical concept of the atonement, corporate natures and original sin.
All of these issues are interconnected in the Scriptures among the various writers in both the Former and Latter Testaments.
1) The atonement of Christ was not a matter of God punishing Jesus Christ for our sins. Such an idea is nonsense! The idea of the penal substitutionary atonement is complete bollocks. It has absolutely no Scriptural, theological or logical basis in reality. Such an idea runs completely counter to the Scriptural witness and truth and is completely contrary to what actually occurred in the atoning work of Christ. The idea of penal substitutionary atonement runs completely counter to the justice and grace of God as He Himself continually states throughout Scripture. Of all the bosh of Reformed Calvinism (including perseverance of the believer, limited and unlimited atonement theories, irresistible grace, etc.) this is the most nonsensical and is really the basis for most of the bosh that follows.
2) The idea that mankind is punished for the sin of Adam is complete nonsense. Granted, it has more evidential weight than penal substitutionary atonement theories, but it is equally wrong. We as humans are not punished for the sin of Adam. That is a theoretical line of thinking that is rejected by the prophets, by Jesus, and by Paul explicitly. We as humans are punished because we have sinned like Adam. If we had not sinned like Adam God would not have punished us.
Really, why would God punish someone who has not sinned? Do we really think that God punishes those who are innocent? What kind of god is that? What hope do we have in salvation if the innocent are punished? Yahweh is a god of justice, patience and mercy and is not vindictive upon those who are innocent. A god who punishes the innocent is no better than the powerful who prey on the poor and weak. And it is these powerful ones who God frequently denounces and punishes for such actions? Would God then not need punishing if he afflicted the innocent?
Does this go against how many of us view the God of the Bible? Read Ezekiel 18.
Now what does this inspired, infallible, inerrant, authoritative passage say about our concept of a God who punishes humans for the sin of Adam? Are we out of whack about who God is? What does this passage have to say about US as believers of God in Christ? What does this passage have to say about the theory of penal substitutionary atonement?
3) Yes, this is just one reason why penal substitutionary atonement is an incorrect theory. God is not going to punish a son who does His will. God is not going to punish a son for the sins of his father. God is not going to punish a son who is innocent.
God rewards His Son for his faith and devotion to God in the face of punishment BY MAN. Jesus bore the suffering of being subjected to rejection, beatings, insults and crucifixion unto death BY MAN. Jesus bore the sins that MAN inflicted upon him in the form of rejection, beatings, insults and crucifixion unto death, etc.
“Father forgive THEM for THEY do not know what they are doing.”
Perfect and absolute devotion and obedience unto death. Jesus was perfect and sinless and never wronged but always followed the will of God. He did not inherit ANY “sinful nature” from Adam and was not punished for any “inherited” sin. He had the capacity to sin but ALWAYS withstood its temptation and always followed the will of God … yet he died.
But what was the result of such a blameless and devoted life?
GOD RAISED HIM UP FROM THE DEATH UNTO ETERNAL FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER.
That was his reward.
But what of humans who are ALL sinners and who are guilty of their own sins? What becomes of us? We were created as mortals from dust and never created to be immortal. We have no natural right to live. That we have sinned and rebelled against God completely negates any hope of an idea that we can enjoy eternal fellowship with God.
Yet, God by grace has deemed that His Son Jesus Christ will be the means of grace to humans. All who follow Christ shall be saved despite their sins because they are seen THROUGH Christ. The believer is seen by God through the prism of the perfect Christ and thus we share in the inheritance (the reward) that God has given to Christ. We shall be raised up from death unto eternal fellowship with the Father.
We are not saved because God has punished Christ; we are saved because God has rewarded Christ. God did not punish Christ. God does not punish those in Christ.
What happens to the sins that should be punished? We deserve punishment for our sins. Our sins deserve punishment. What happens to our sins? God FORGIVES them. He does not count them against us. We are declared righteous in Christ.
THOSE SINS GO UNPUNISHED!!!
You Reform-minded Calvinists may have a very tough time with the idea that God allows sins to go unpunished but that is what God says he does. That’s GRACE. Yep, they disappear unto the void. They go completely unpunished. No one in Christ is duly punished for their sins and Christ is also not duly or unduly punished.
What is the point of this article, again?
JESUS WAS NOT PUNISHED BY GOD FOR THE SINS OF HUMANITY
3 comments:
Good thoughts...
What do you believe about the atonement of Christ?
Travis
Explain further:
What did Christ really die for then? It wasn't my sin, it certainly wasn't HIS :-), so why the need to die? We already had good examples and the law to live by and be judged by. What DID happen on the cross?
How does it help me if He's not taking my punishment.
How does that go along with verses like Rom. 6:23 etc.
How does this view fit with the lamb being sacrificed to pay the penalty for the sins of a specific person all through the old Testament?
Athosxc
What do you believe about the atonement of Christ?
and
What did Christ really die for then? It wasn't my sin, it certainly wasn't HIS :-), so why the need to die?
The atoning work of Jesus Christ began at his incarnation and ended with his death, it wasn’t simply an atonement limited to his death. Jesus led the perfect human life. He was one to whom God said, “This is my son of whom I am well pleased.” This satisfaction of God for Jesus never subsided or ended or even paused. What is the ultimate evidence of God’s satisfaction with Jesus? The resurrection.
The perfect human life is one marked by complete love and obedience to the will of God. This is an obedience which must be complete, even unto death. This is a self—denying obedience and love which means the real possibility of that death. The perfect man with perfect obedience to the will of God is willing to die, to lose his life.
Thus, we see much of Jesus’ teachings about denying one’s self, obedience unto death, leaving behind all other things (including family), the Greatest Commandment, “take up your cross and follow daily”, “he who desires to gain his life must lose it”, etc.
That last one is the key: salvation comes from denying one’s self to the will of God even when it means death. Jesus wasn’t receiving any punishment. At least not from God! Men were punishing Jesus. They punished him because he was obedient to God. Thus, God rewarded his obedience.
We already had good examples and the law to live by and be judged by. What DID happen on the cross?
Because we could never ever obey the law (and thus God) to the point that we could achieve our own salvation. There is no way that we can earn salvation by works – thus God said grace by faith in Him through Jesus Christ. By this we can very generally mean that we our identified with Christ in his life and death. Thus, Jesus’ perfect obedience and his due reward is given to us by grace.
What did happen on the cross? Jesus was put to death by men who rejected him and his obedience to God (thus they rejected God!). The death of Jesus in such a manner appeared to seal the idea to all men (both Jew and Greek) that this man was not the messiah, he was not right with God, he was not THE way.
Yet, God raised him up! God raised Jesus up into eternal glory with the Father. This resurrection proved God’s approval of Jesus, his mission and his message. He had been completely and utterly vindicated by God for eternity. And because God has thus vindicated Christ, God has made Jesus Christ the method by which grace is offered to all men who cannot achieve salvation themselves. Those who follow Christ are thus undeservingly saved. Their sins are forgotten. Their sins are not given the due punishment. They are not given their due punishment.
How does it help me if He's not taking my punishment.
It helps you because though he is not taking your punishment, you are receiving his reward. No man can earn a reward for eternal life with God because all men have sinned. Only complete obedience to God earns eternal life. We are hopeless and doomed. However, because God loved man and desired eternal fellowship with Him He offered His son as the means by which man could be saved. Not because he would take our punishment but because we could accept his reward.
How does that go along with verses like Rom. 6:23 etc.
“For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Just as it says: one who sins will die. The punishment for sin is eternal death. We have all sinned and we all deserve death. But we can receive eternal life through Jesus Christ because it is only he who death can not overcome. Why? Because he did not sin.
What is the appropriate penalty of a man’s sin? The answer is eternal damnation. But Jesus was only dead for 3 days. That’s not even a sliver of the eternal punishment of just one man. If Jesus was taking the penalty for our sins he should BE ALWAYS dead. But he’s not. He isn’t eternally damned because he wasn’t receiving an eternal punishment – he wasn’t receiving any punishment. At least not from God! Men were punishing Jesus. They punished him because he was obedient to God. But since he was perfectly obedient to God unto death – God rewarded his obedience with resurrection and a glorified body.
How does this view fit with the lamb being sacrificed to pay the penalty for the sins of a specific person all through the old Testament?
OT sacrifice is not about punishing the sacrifice but about man showing to God that the person is sorry for his or her sins and desires to make reparations. Thus the person takes something of value and offers it up to the Lord. The person takes a prized lamb and sacrifices it – burns it up – completely destroys it to show his sorrow.
Notice that it is not simply about killing the lamb but consuming it. If the idea was simply about death then there would be no need to burn it up.
Notice that not all sacrifices involve death of an animal. There are grain sacrifices and other vegetation sacrifices. Notice that Cain offered a sacrifice from the field to God. Notice, God did not reject his sacrifice because it wasn’t a lamb but because Cain’s heart was not in the right place.
Notice that Noah offered a sacrifice to God following the Flood. Why? He had not sinned. He was simply thanking God and showing his love for God. And to God it was a sweet aroma. Why would God consider punishment a sweet aroma? Really, God says that he takes no joy in the punishment of the wicked. Of course, the sacrifice of Jesus was also called a sweet aroma to God. Would God delight in the punishment of His beloved son? Of course not! God saw how much Jesus was willing to do to show his love for God and obey His will (and show his love for humans). Such a self-sacrifice was extremely pleasing to God.
Look throughout the OT. Sacrifices are often done by people who are not seeking God’s forgiveness of a particular sin but because they want to show their thanks and love to God. OT sacrifice is not about punishment but about showing love to God.
The attempted sacrifice of Isaac was not at all about appeasing the wrath of Yahweh by making Isaac be punished for the sins of Abraham. Rather, this was a test of God to see how much Abraham loved God.
Sacrifices are negated if the one making the sacrifice does not have his heart right. In fact, God hates such sacrifices because they are nothing to him because they mean nothing to us. If the point of such sacrifice was simply penalty then it would not matter if man did not care.
I am convinced that this is the correct interpretation of the atoning work of Christ. It solves so many problems and so perfectly conforms to the OT view, the teachings of Paul and Hebrews, and perfectly conforms to the teachings of Christ.
Remember also how we were crucified with Christ and will be raised with Christ. The corporate nature of Christ in which we are seen by God through his Son necessitates that in some spiritual manner we ourselves were present with Jesus on the cross. Paul is adamant about this point in Galatians, Romans, etc. If Christ was receiving a punishment, then so were we because we were there in a corporate sense. Also, the obedience to God unto death of Christ is also expected of us as believers. We are called to “take up our cross daily,” we are called to be obedient unto death as martyrs if necessary, and we are called to lose our life. Such expected obedience to take up our cross and follow Christ is not so that God can punish us but because it is that perfect obedience to God that is perfectly exemplified in the life and death of Christ.
Other posts on the subject:
The Problem With Penal Substitionary Atonement
A Discussion On The Atonement
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