Pierced for our Trangressions

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It’s taken me two weeks, but I’ve finally managed to finish “Pierced for Our Transgressions“, the book on Penal Substitution that was written by three members of the Oak Hill teaching and student body. It’s not a “big” book in the style of Grudem’s Systematic Theology or the like, but neither is it a light read. It’s the kind of book that you need to have an interest in theology to get into, but you don’t need a doctorate to complete.

And you know what? It’s very, very good…

From the moment you read the recommendations for the volume which range over a number of pages and include important leaders from many different parts of the Evangelical Community on both sides of the Atlantic, you realise that this is not the work of a bunch of uneducated fundamentalists. Rather, there is a depth of engagement not just with the writings of the Reformers and their Protestant followers, but also an interaction with Patristic Fathers right back to Justin Martyr. For me this one of the book’s strengths, demonstrating clearly that Penal Substitution was not a 16th or 19th century creation but rather a key doctrine taught by leading Christian teachers down the centuries. When Alister McGrath updates his wonderful “Introduction to Christian Theology”, no doubt he will want to draw on some of the historical insights in this text.

The two other sections of the book that also bear mention are the 15 pages spent exegeting Isaiah 52-53 [show]Isaiah 52-53 Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says the LORD: "You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money." For thus says the Lord GOD: "My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore what have I here," declares the LORD, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail," declares the LORD, "and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I." How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." The voice of your watchmen--they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the LORD. For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Behold, my servant shall act wisely;(1) he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you-- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind-- so shall he sprinkle(2) many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us?(3) And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected(4) by men; a man of sorrows,(5) and acquainted with(6) grief;(7) and as one from whom men hide their faces(8) he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;(9) when his soul makes(10) an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see(11) and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,(12) and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,(13) because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. Footnotes 1. [52:13] Or 'shall prosper' 2. [52:15] Or 'startle' 3. [53:1] Or 'Who has believed what we have heard?' 4. [53:3] Or 'forsaken' 5. [53:3] Or 'pains'; also verse 4 6. [53:3] Or 'and knowing' 7. [53:3] Or 'sickness'; also verse 4 8. [53:3] Or 'as one who hides his face from us' 9. [53:10] Or 'he has made him sick' 10. [53:10] Or 'when you make his soul' 11. [53:11] Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll 'he shall see light' 12. [53:12] Or 'with the great' 13. [53:12] Or 'with the numerous'
and then the second half of the book that concentrates on answering objections to Penal Substitution. These answers are not facile and uneducated - they deal with the best arguments of those who object to Penal Substitution and provide Scriptural and historical responses.

There’s also a very helpful guide at the back on how to preach on Penal Substitution and how to avoid making mistakes in using analogies (especially useful as a large number of the criticisms of Penal Substitution tend to be based on the analogies invoked and NOT on the Biblical basis of the doctrine)

Even if you disagree with Penal Substitution, you need to read this book to understand the best arguments in favour of this doctrine. If you are sold on Penal Substitution then get this text to help you better explain and defend it. The argument over whether Penal Substitution is going to roll on and on (I’ve just done a piece for our church magazine which you can read below - a few thousand words less then “Pierced”) and we have an obligation to our churches to be able to rightly handle the word of God on this issue.

So to finish with, this is what I wrote for our church magazine (out next Sunday):

Penal Substitution is the name give to the explanation of what Jesus did on the cross that is favoured by Evangelicals and mainstream Anglo-Catholics. The doctrine, drawing chiefly but not exclusively on passages in Isaiah, John, Romans and Hebrews states that Jesus’ death on the cross pays the penalty that would otherwise go to us for our sin. When you accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour it’s as though your “bad slate in front of God” is transferred onto Jesus. You are left perfect in the eyes of God while Jesus takes the full penalty for your sins - hence “Penal Substitution”.

In the past few years the doctrine has been attacked publicly twice, with attendant media attention, first in the church press and then in the national papers. The first recent criticism was by Steve Chalke in his book, “The Lost Message of Jesus”. In the book Chalke criticised the doctrine as “a form of cosmic child abuse - a vengeful father, punishing his son for an offence he has not even committed. Understandably, both people inside and outside of the church have found this twisted version of events morally dubious and a huge barrier to faith.” More recently, Jeffery John (of St Albans Cathedral) used a BBC Lent talk to say that the doctrine made “God sound like a psychopath” and the doctrine “worse than illogical .. insane”.

Yes, some people have a problem with penal substitution, but often their problem comes from not getting the proper picture of penal substitution. For example, Chalke criticises the idea of a father punishing a son for things he hasn’t done. But such a criticism fails to remember that the labels “Father” and “Son” in the god-head are not biological descriptions but rather limited human language God has used to help us understand who he is. In penal substition God takes upon himself the punishment for our sin - the fact that the Father places it upon the Son is not the point here - human understanding of those words should not limit us in accepting what the Bible says is true.

As for Jeffrey John, his criticisms are (as I and others wrote about at the time) even more flimsy. Dr John quotes Julian of Norwich who wrote “For I saw that there is no manner of wrath in God, neither for short time nor for long” but then makes no attempt to handle verses like Romans 1:18 [show]Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (ESV)
or 2:5. (In fact, go to www.biblegateway.com or get a good concordance and look up the word ‘wrath’ in the Bible - you’ll see that it’s almost always used in terms of God exercising justice against humans who have sinned against him). Dr John also quotes Luke 13:4 [show]Luke 13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? (ESV)
(the tower in Siloam falling down) to show that Jesus taught that people don’t get punished by God for sin, but ignores the very words of Jesus a few lines later that indicate that very thing!! Go and look it up yourself if you don’t believe me.

While the opponents of penal substitution are correct that there are other things going on on the cross (and this whole magazine isn’t long enough to even begin to scratch the surface of the power of the cross), the fact remains that penal substitution stands at the centre of Jesus’ atoning work. When Dr John made his BBC talk, the excellent UK blogger Adrian Warnock began a series of posts outlining the biblical evidence for penal substitution. As he rightly pointed out, it’s hard to read verses like Isaiah 53:4-5 [show]Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
in context and not come up with penal substitution. I suggest a wander over to his website. For those who prefer a heavier read, a new book, “Pierced for our Transgressions”, has just been published which explores these themes in much more detail from an orthodox perspective.

Further Reading

Dr Jeffrey John’s Lent Talk - http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/lent_talks/

Adrian Warnock - http://www.adrian.warnock.info/

“Pierced for our Transgressions”; Jeffrey, Ovey and Sach; IVP (2007)