An Overview of the Biblical Doctrine of Penal Substitution

The atonement of Jesus Christ is under attack both within and without Evangelical Christian circles today. A plethora of books, articles, and blogs have been written on the subject. Countless sermons have been preached, seminars held, and papers presented both defending and attacking the linchpin doctrine of the gospel: penal substitution (a.k.a. substitutionary atonement). Penal substitution, simply put, declares that Jesus Christ, God the Son, suffered and died, being punished by the Father, in the place of and on behalf of sinful mankind to pay the penalty of the Law incurred by our violation of it in sin and to satisfy the wrath of God against sin and sinners. It is penal in that Christ suffered to pay the penalty of the Law. It is substitutionary in that Jesus took each sinner’s place on the cross when he bore our sins and became sin on our behalf.

Several, within and without evangelical circles, despise penal substitution. Authors like Joel Green and Mark Baker have stated that the penal substitutionary atonement has little to offer by way of explaining properly the message of Jesus. Steven Chalke has stated that the belief that God the Father punished the Son for an offence He did not commit is nothing short of cosmic child abuse. Chalke is joined by a host of feminists in this sentiment. Jeffrey John stated that the doctrine of penal substitution, “is repulsive as well as nonsensical” and that, “it makes God sound like a psychopath.” In defense of the truth of penal substitution, Steve Jeffrey, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach have produced one of the clearest and most thorough works available today, Pierced or Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution (2007). My aim is not to rehash what these men have produced; their work is one of the clearest defenses of this cornerstone doctrine. My intent is to provide an overview of the biblical material pertaining to the doctrine of penal substitution, so that those reading here might understand that it is not only biblically based, but that penal substitution is the preeminent means of describing the atonement in Scripture. As such, it must continue to be upheld and defended.

Punishment for Sin Is Necessary

God cannot simply overlook sin; it’s not in his nature. As well as being loving, gracious, and merciful; God is also holy, just, and righteous. For Him to simply overlook man’s sin would be to deny who He is, to violate His own nature and attributes, and, thereby, to deny Himself. If God were to simply overlook our sin He would cease to be God. No, this God cannot do. What He can do is forgive sin, but there must be a just basis for that forgiveness. Since God is the One who declared that sin must be punished and that that punishment is death (Gen. 2:16-17), that punishment must be met in order for God to be able to justly forgive the sinner’s sin. The fact that sin requires punishment, and that the only punishment God will accept is death, has been declared time and again throughout Scripture. Not only is it declared in the Garden when Adam sinned (Gen. 2:16-17), but is illustrated in the Flood when God punished mankind for its sinfulness (Gen. 6), and demonstrated time and again in the Hebrew sacrificial system (Lev. 4:1-6:7). The New Testament is even clearer than the Old in its declaration that sin must be punished by death (Rom. 6:23; Heb. 9:22, 27).

Why would God declare that death be the only accepted punishment for sin? God is holy and sin is a personal affront to Him and rebellion against His very nature (Psa. 51:4; Lk. 15:21). Sin rightly provokes God’s wrath against both sin and sinner. Several times the Bible reports that men sinned against God and that the result was death in punishment for that sin (Deut. 9:8; Ex. 32; Num. 16:46; 2 Sam. 6:7; Acts 5:1-11). Scripture also identifies a future aspect of God’s wrath against sin (Rom. 2:5; Col. 3:6; 2 Thess. 1:8-9) which will cause Him to pour out this wrath in punishment against sinful, unbelieving mankind and many will die (Rev. 14:14-20). God, in His justice, does not simply acquit sin, but must punish it (Ex. 34:7; Lev. 26:14-39; Matt. 22:13-14; Rom. 1:18). Scripture is clear; sin must be punished and the only acceptable punishment for sin is death.

Jesus Took the Sinner’s Punishment

The Old Testament foreshadowed, in the Mosaic sacrificial system, what Jesus would fulfill in His death on the cross. Animal sacrifice was the method by which sinful Jews were reconciled with a holy, yet merciful, God. The penalty for sin has always been separation and death. Nowhere was this illustrated more vibrantly than in Old Testament Israel. Sinning Jews were either removed from the camp of Israel to die or executed at the hands of their brethren in punishment for their sin. Either choice meant they were alienated from God and excluded from covenant standing. The sinner was to die unless the God ordained animal substitute took his place (Lev 4-7;16).  At the heart of the sacrificial system was the Passover where a lamb died as a substitute for the first born sons of Israel to avert the wrath of God (Ex 12).  The system, however, was never intended to be a permanent atonement for sin. It was only a copy, a shadow, a foreshadowing of the reality which was to come in Jesus (Heb 8:4,5; 10:1). They had to be continually repeated and did not secure permanent atonement for sin (Heb 10:4). The truth that there was a coming Messiah who would suffer and die as the once for all Passover Lamb is nowhere more beautifully pictured than in the Messianic prophesies of the Old Testament. None of those prophesies is more poignant than Isaiah 53. Here, the Servant willingly takes on Himself the sin and punishment of others; suffering in their place according to the will of God. The truth that Jesus, the Suffering Servant prophesied in Isaiah 53, would be punished by God for sins He did not commit on behalf of mankind who stands guilty before a holy God is beautifully declared in these words, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa 53:4-5).

The New Testament is even clearer than the Old with regard to Jesus being punished for sin he did not commit, on behalf of sinful mankind. The connection between Jesus and the Old Testament sacrificial system which required death to atone for sin is absolutely clear in the New Testament. John the Baptist calls Jesus the “Lamb of God who will take away the world’s sins” (John 1:29).  Paul declares that Jesus is our Passover Lamb; the only One who could fulfill all the Law required for sin (1 Cor. 5:7). The New Testament is crystal clear that believers are reconciled to God based on  Jesus’ death in our place, through His bloody, violent death in sacrifice for our sin (Rom 5:9; Eph 1:7, 2:13; Heb 9:11-28).  Furthermore, the Gospels make the connection between Jesus as our substitutionary atonement sacrifice in their depictions of the Lord’s Supper (Matt 26:17-29; Mk 14:22-24; Lk 22:14-23). The New Testament uncompromisingly declares that Jesus Christ died on behalf of sinners to redeem us from the curse of the Law; having actually become that curse on our behalf (Rom. 5:8; Gal. 3:13). Jesus was born for the purpose of giving His life as a ransom in place of many (Mark 10:45). Jesus’ death paid the price the Law requires as a substitutionary payment. He paid the penalty of what our sin demands on our behalf because we could not pay it ourselves. 1 Peter 2:21-25 connects this New Testament truth with Isaiah 53, while the Book of Hebrews repeatedly states that Jesus and His substitutionary atonement were better than the temporary sacrificial system of Moses. What the Old Testament predicted, through illustration and prophesy, Jesus fulfilled in the New. Taken as a unit, it is clear that Jesus is the ultimate sacrificial lamb who died in place of sinful humanity.

Penal Substitution Appeased God’s Wrath

As I said at the outset, mankind sinned against a holy, eternal God. Thus God, who determined, before sin ever entered human existence, that death would be the penalty for sin (Gen. 2:4), was offended by His creation. Our sin, therefore, incurred God’s wrath (Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6; Rev. 19:15). Because we are sinners, we are incapable of appeasing the wrath of an eternal God either by works of our own righteousness or by keeping the Law (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:10-20; 5:20-21; Titus 3:5). The only means by which we might appease God’s wrath on our own is by suffering personal, individual, eternal death (Mark 9:43-48; 2 Pet. 2:5-9; Rev. 20:13-14). Because we, sinful mankind, are incapable of appeasing God’s wrath, either corporately or personally, someone else had to do it on our behalf; He had to do it for us and to our benefit. God took the initiative to propitiate (satisfy, appease) His own wrath by sending His Son, Jesus, who willingly came, to die in sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sin and thus become that propitiation of God’s wrath (Rom. 3:25-26; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). The nature and meaning of propitiation hearkens back to the Old Testament sacrificial system. The word translated propitiation is the word ἱλαστήριον (hilasterion). It is translated as propitiation (atoning sacrifice/sacrifice of atonement – NIV) in Romans 3:25-26, 1 John 2:2, and 1 John 4:10. Elsewhere, the term is translated as mercy seat (atonement cover – NIV) in Hebrews 9:5. The context of Hebrews 9 is the Old Testament worship of God. There was a tabernacle (later the Temple) which contained the Holy Place and Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies) which were separated by a curtain. The high priest, after ceremonially washing, putting on his clean priestly vestments, and sacrificing for his own sin, would sacrifice for the sins of all of Israel on the Day of Atonement. He would then, only once per year, part through that curtain to sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial animal that had died on behalf of Israel, for the sins of its members, on the Mercy Seat which rested on top of the Ark of the Covenant. This would appease God’s wrath and allow Him to forgive Israel’s sin for that year. The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus’ sacrificial death was much better than that, for He accomplished once and for all by his own death what the blood of bulls and goats could not, eternal redemption – the once for all appeasing of God’s wrath against sinners by paying the only debt sin incurs, death (Heb. 9:11-12). This appeasement of God’s wrath against sinners (propitiation) and the satisfaction of the debt required by sin (death) allows God to demonstrate His mercy and grace to all who would receive it by coming to Jesus Christ in faith (Eph. 1:6-7; 2:8-9; Col. 1:12-14).

Conclusion

It is clear, from the biblical evidence, that penal substitution is the cornerstone of the gospel. Misunderstanding this watershed doctrine impacts what we preach and what sinners believe. The doctrine of penal substitution is the only doctrine which provides the most biblical answers related to the reasons for the incarnation and Jesus’ crucifixion. God was not obligated to save mankind from His wrath. His justice would have allowed Him to have rightly chosen to save no one, but allow mankind to remain confirmed in their lost estate, as He did with the rebellious angels (2 Pet. 2:4). Yet, God loved the only creation to be made in His image. Because of that love, God was moved to send His Son, who willingly came, to die for us. Jesus, the eternal Son of God and unique God-man, had to die in our place to pay the penalty for sin we could not pay and appease the wrath of God on our behalf. God is a just and righteous God and cannot merely turn a blind eye to sin, but instead of inflicting the punishment we so rightly deserve, the eternal God-man, Jesus Christ, endured the penalty of sin on our behalf. We must understand this cornerstone doctrine and refuse to allow the doctrine of penal substitution to become watered down; resulting in an unbiblical faith and an illegitimate presentation of the gospel.