"kissed" #1; Christ Bore our Deserved Wrath of God on the Cross. Romans 3:21-26.

Psalm 85:10; "Mercy and truth are met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

The doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement is the humbling truth that Christ bore our deserved wrath of God on the cross.

Charles H. Spurgeon issued a warning in 1888 concerning the penal substitution: “If ever should come a wretched day when all our pulpits shall be full of modern thought, and the old doctrine of a substitutionary sacrifice shall be exploded, then will there remain no word of comfort for the guilty .... The gospel speaks through the propitiation for sin, and if it be denied, it speaketh no more.”[1]

The doctrine of the penal substitutionary death of Christ is not only rejected by liberal theologians but even in the evangelical camp there is the claim that penal substitution is ‘cosmic child abuse’ and contrary to the love of God.”[2]

Gregory Boyd expressed his openness to all views of atonement in the book The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views: “Each model legitimately expresses a facet of what the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Christ accomplished.”[3]

Boyd can accept all the atonement models except penal substitution: “The Christus Victor model [Gregory’s view] need not hold that our individual sins, guilt, and deserved punishment were somehow legally transferred onto Jesus, that Jesus literally experienced the Father’s wrath or that the Father needed to punish his Son in order to be able to forgive us.”[4]

N. T. Wright contends that penal substitute advocates must interpret John 3:16 to say that “God so hated the world that he killed his son.”[5]

The doctrine of penal substitution is supported by many other core doctrines of God’s Word as illustrated in one of the most important texts in Scripture.

This very theologically packed and significant passage in God’s Word is Romans 3:21-26.

21 "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24 "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25 "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

26 "To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

Paul like an expert theologian summarizes to some degree the biblical theology of the Old Testament on penal substitution.

Leon Morris stated that verses 21-26 are “possibly the most important single paragraph ever written.”[6]

Alva McClain said that if he could only have six verses out of the entire Bible, it would be [7]

Martin Lloyd-Jones conferred, “It is no exaggeration to say of this section that it is one of the greatest and most important sections in the whole of Scripture.”[8]

In this theologically loaded text are nine doctrines that support the doctrine of penal substitution:

the doctrine of the wrath of God,
imputation,
prophets,
faith,
sin,
the deity of Christ,
justification,
redemption,
and the doctrine of propitiation satisfying God’s wrath.

We will look at each of these nine subjects and will highlight each of these doctrines that buttress the Biblical truth that Christ bore God’s wrath in our place.

from: Doctrines that Defend Penal Substitutionary Atonement (Part one) — Dr. Tim White

[1] Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Blood of Sprinkling (part 1)” Sermon no. 1888 in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit: Sermons Preached and Revised by C. H. Spurgeon during the Year 1886, vol. 32 (London: Passmore & Alabaster), 129.

[2] Steve Chalke and Alan Mann. The Lost Message of Jesus (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2019), 182-183.

[3] Gregory Boyd, “The Christus Victor” in The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views, 23, “The Christus Victor model is able to encompass the essential truth of other atonement models” (ibid., 42-43).

[4] Ibid., 43.

[5] N. T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’ Crucifixion (New York: Harper One, 2016), 43.

[6] Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 173.

[7] Alva McClain, Romans: The Gospel of God’s Grace (Winona Lake: BMH Books, 1979), 101.

[8] Martin Lloyd-Jones, Romans: An Exposition of Chapters 3:20-4:25 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970), 31.

 

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:
for he shall save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21.

"If there is anything plainly taught in the Scripture, it is that the sacrifice of Christ was made for those only who shall eventually be saved by it (Alexander Carson, The Doctrine of the Atonement and Other Treatises, p. 196).


"It cannot be, that one soul for whom He (Christ) gave His life and spilled His blood; whose sins He bore and whose curse He sustained, should ever finally perish. For if that were the case, divine justice, after having exacted and received satisfaction at the hand of the Surety, would make a demand on the principal; in other words, would require double payment" (Booth, The Reign of Grace, p. 235).


"Can a God of infinite ethical perfection, who with His own hand laid the awful burden of the sinner's guilt upon the adorable Surety, repudiate His own covenant engagements and withhold from Him the reward purchased at the cost of His most precious blood? To say so, is tantamount to an impeachment of the truth and justice of our covenant-keeping God" (Prof. Robert Watts, Sovereignty of God, comprising articles of Pres. C. W. Northrup, published in the Standard of Chicago, and those of Prof. Watts in reply, which latter articles were written at the suggestion of T. T. Eaton and published in the Western Recorder during Eaton's editorship).


"They [certain 'divines'] believe that Judas was atoned for just as much as Peter; they believe that the damned in Hell were as much the object of Jesus Christ's satisfaction as the saved in Heaven; and though they do not say it in proper words, yet they must mean it, for it is a fair inference, that in the case of multitudes, Christ died in vain, for He died for them all, they say; and yet so ineffectual was His dying for them, that though He died for them they are damned afterward. Now, such an atonement I despise- I reject it. I may be called Antinomian or Calvinist for preaching a limited atonement; but I had rather believe in a limited atonement that is efficacious for all men for whom it was intended, than an universal atonement that is not efficacious, except the will of man be joined with it" (Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 4, p. 218).


"I believe that election elected the elect; that foreknowledge foreknew them; that they 'were ordained to eternal life,' and 'foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son;' that redemption redeemed them; that regeneration regenerated them; that sanctification sanctifies them; that justification justifies them; that preservation preserves them; that providence provides for them, and so on to glorification. Hence those to be glorified are those foreknown and redeemed. I don't believe in a general redemption and a special glorification (J. B. Moody, Sin, Salvation, and Service, p. 40).


"Here are the five points of Calvinism: unconditional election or predestination, limited atonement or particular redemption, total depravity necessitating prevenient grace, effectual calling or irresistible grace, and preservation or perseverance of the saints. And the writer does not hesitate to subscribe to all five points" (C. D. Cole, Definitions of Doctrines, Vol. 1, p. 131).

The Truth as to the Substitutionary Nature of the Atonement.


The following passages show that the suffering of Christ was a substitute for the suffering that believers would have undergone in Hell:


"Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows ... was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:4-6). ". .

. being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forebearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at the present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:24,25).

Propitiation is a synonym of expiation, which means "enduring the full penalty of a wrong or crime."

Propitiation appeases the lawgiver by satisfying the law in the rendering of "a full legal equivalent for the wrong done."


". . . Christ died for us. Much more then, being justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him" (Rom. 5:8,9).


"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" (Rom. 8:33).

The implied answer is, No one. And the implied reason is, because Christ has paid their sin debt by suffering the penalty of the law in their stead.


"Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. 10:4).


". . .our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ" (1 Cor. 5:7).


"Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21).

We become the righteousness of God in Christ, not through any moral influence of the death of Christ upon us, but by the imputation of righteousness to us through faith apart from works. See Rom. 4:1-8.


". . . Christ. . . gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God . . . "Eph. 5:2).


". . . offered one sacrifice for sins for ever . . ." (Heb. 10:12)"


"Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God . . . "(I Pet. 3:18).


E. The Truth as to the Redeeming of Ransoming Features of the Atonement.


Note the following passages:


"The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28).


"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30).


"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13).


"God sent forth his Son . . . that he might redeem them that were under the law" (Gal. 4:4,5).


" . . . in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph. 1:7).


". . .who gave himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2:6).


". . .who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity" (Titus 2:14).


". . . through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:12).


"Ye were redeemed . . . with precious blood . . . even the blood of Christ" (I Pet. 1:18,19).


". . . thou wast slain, and didst redeem unto God with thy blood, men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Rev. 5:9).

 

ELECTION IS UNTO SALVATION


This truth is declared in 2 Thess. 2:13, which reads:


"God chose you from the beginning unto salvation."


Note three things from this passage:


1. ELECTION IS NOT SALVATION

"Arminians charge that unconditional election means unconditional salvation, and that we teach that men were actually saved in eternity. Both charges are groundless, for election is not salvation.

"We were unconditionally elected in eternity to a conditional salvation in time. And when we speak of salvation as being conditional we do not mean that the salvation of the elect is in any way fortuitous or uncertain, but only that certain conditions (repentance and faith) must be fulfilled before they come to possess salvation.

"A condition is "something that necessarily precedes a result, but does not produce it." In eternity the salvation of the elect was purposed, and the elect are spoken of in the purpose of God as called, justified, and glorified (Rom. 8: 29, 30), but this is simply the language of Him, who in His purpose, "calleth the things that are not, as though they were" (Rom. 4:17).

"Many passages clearly teach that actual salvation takes place in time. For this we strongly contend. We have no patience whatsoever with the theory that the salvation which takes place in time is only temporal salvation, or salvation as it respects this life."


"THE END OF ELECTION IS INSEPARABLY CONNECTED
WITH ALL THE MEANS NECESSARY TO ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT."

"At the same time God chose His people He ordained all the means necessary to accomplish their full and final salvation. See Rom. 8:29,30.

"These means were inseparably joined to election in the decree of God. We have no sympathy with Hardshellism, hypercalvinism.

"To say that the elect will be saved whether they ever hear the gospel or not is to misunderstand completely the connection between election and the means God has ordained for the accomplishment of the end of election.


"Salvation- spiritual, temporal, and eternal- is by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-10; Rom. 5:1; Gal. 8:26). All the heathen that die without hearing the gospel will be lost (Rom. 1:19,20; 2:12). Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).


"Wherever God has an elect soul, in the fullness of His own time, He will in some way send the gospel to call that one from darkness to light. See 2 Thess. 2:14.

Thus Philip was sent to the elect eunuch, and thus it was given to Paul to endure that the elect might obtain eternal salvation (11 Tim. 2:10). Thus we have the divine tie between election and missions.


"Some charge that unconditional election makes all means useless. They say if the case is so with man that he cannot by nature receive spiritual things and must be quickened by the Spirit before he can turn from sin, being sure to turn when he is quickened, then why preach to him?

"We preach to him, first of all, because God has commanded it. We accept God's Word whether we can reason out why He speaks thus and so or not. We do not make our reason the standard of obedience or truth, as is the case with Arminians.

"But, on the other hand, we find God's Word to teach that God calls His elect by the Word, since the Word is the instrument of the Spirit in regeneration (John 3:5; Eph. 5:25,26; Titus 3:5; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23).

"There is no more incongruity in preaching the gospel to the spiritually dead than there was in Christ's standing before the tomb of Lazarus, dead four days, and saying, "Lazarus, come forth."


"As long as he remained dead Lazarus could not hear, much less obey, the command. But the life-giving power of God accompanied the Word of God, and Lazarus both heard and came forth.

"It is ours to preach the gospel to every creature, for so has Christ commanded. It is God's part to bring the dead to life. See also the parable of the dry bones in the valley, where we have a picture of conversion through preaching (Ezek. 37). The dry bones represent the state of sinners by nature. The bones were lifeless; yet preaching to them was not in vain.


"And Arminians ask, "'Why pray for the lost, since all God's elect will be saved and none others can be saved?"

"We pray for the lost for the same reason that Paul prayed for men, even though he taught unconditional election. We pray for the lost for the same reason that Christ prayed for the security of believers, even though that security was already certain. See John 17:11.

"Christ also prayed for a restoration of His former glory with the Father. See John 17:5.

"Was that in any sense uncertain? Prayer, as well as preaching, is a means of God in carrying out His will His purposes are sovereignly fixed and eternally immutable, but He did not fix them independent of means."


"ELECTION IS INDISSOLUBLY JOINED TO THE GOSPEL
AS GOD'S MEANS OF CALLING HIS ELECT TO SALVATION"

"This is proved by the Scriptures given above that show that regeneration is through the Word. And it is also proved by 2 Thess. 2:13,14.

The elect have been chosen to "salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." To this, Paul says, they are "called by our gospel."

"Typical Hardshells deny the indispensable necessity of the knowledge of the gospel in regeneration. For that reason they show little concern in the carrying out of the great commission."


"ELECTION IS NOT TWO-SEEDISM."

"This is another epithet that Arminians delight to apply to the Bible doctrine of election. In brief, two-seedism holds that Adam and Eve brought forth two seeds, one the seed of God and the other the seed of the serpent. Daniel Parker, who gave currency to this doctrine, taught that the seed of God "were actual sons of God from eternity," and that the seed of the serpent were "begotten of the devil" (Minutes of General Association of Baptists in Kentucky, 1837, p. 11).


"No such teaching as this is involved in unconditional election. We have shown that election is unto salvation, and, therefore, is not salvation. Salvation takes place in time. All men are children of the devil until they become children of God by regeneration and faith. 1 John 3:9,10."