Reflections Along the Jesus Way

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April 13, 2024 – Quote for the Day:

 “…the penal substitutionary theory of the cross Christ introduces some questions:

  1. The cross of Christ was violent.  The penal substitutionary theory (taught in the majority of churches) explains that the violence unleased at the cross of Christ was the pouring out of God’s wrath on Jesus, instead of us.  Jesus took our place and substituted for us.  

First question or problem:  The penal substitutionary theory pits God the Father against God the Son – a bad cop against a good cop, if you like.  But many Scriptures affirm that the One God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in complete unity and harmony.

  • The theory of penal substitution explains that while God is One, because he loves us, he put himself under his own law. Jesus died on the cross because God the Father could not let sin go unpunished. Because he didn’t want to send us to hell, he paid the penalty himself.

Second question and dilemma:  Is God actually a God who seems to need to see justice paid in the way we humans need justice? Are we assuming God is more like us than he actually is? The Bible speaks of a God who does not need or demand payback or vengeance – indeed, Jesus overturned the idea of an eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth.

Beyond that, by definition, the God of the Bible is not beholden to anything – if God must do something, then the something God must do is greater than God. God is not God if he must obey his own law.

God is not God if he does not have the power to forgive and let sin go unpunished. God is God because he is greater than anything he creates – God is God because he has no needs. God is God because he does not need to see retribution to satisfy what some humans believe is his sense of justice.”  

Originally published in:

Spiritual Soup for the Hungry Soul, Volume 2

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