This is the completion of a post I wrote on March 5 addressing Christus Victor and Jesus’ ransoming us.

My exposition from the Scriptures on the atonement can never be the final word. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the most momentous event of human existence. No one can explain it in fullness.

Finally, this post includes a (partial) retraction of the stance I have taken against Penal Substitutionary Atonement.

What caught my eye as I was preparing for this post was Hebrews 9:15:

… a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant …

I have always objected to the teaching that Jesus “paid for our sins: past, present, and future.” It is not taught in Scripture, and it is contradicted by dozens of verses (e.g., Eph. 5:5).

In fact, I object to “Jesus paid for our sins”; the New Testament repeatedly says that he paid for us (e.g., 1 Cor. 6:20). In fact, every time we say we are “redeemed,” we are saying that Jesus bought us. You probably don’t need me to tell you that Merriam-Webster’s first definition of “redeem” is “to buy back: repurchase.”

One of the main reasons I write about the atonement is to refute the idea that God cannot forgive sin without sacrifice. There are a lot of Old Testament passages objecting to the idea. On of my favorites is Micah 6:6-8 because a lot of of us know verse 8, but not verses 6 and 7:

How shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
   He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

There are many other passages like this. For example, we all know that Samuel told Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22). Hosea 6:6 says that mercy is also better than sacrifice. Lots of things are better than sacrifice, but if you have sinned, the most important thing better than sacrifice is repentance (e.g. 2 Pet. 3:9; Isa. 1:11-20; Ezek. 18:21-23).

Okay, back to offerings. Jesus’ death was a sin offering. In Romans 8:3 and 2 Corinthians 5:21, “on account of sin” and “he was made sin for us” can both be rendered “a sin offering.” Interestingly, though, the sin offering was for “the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant” (Heb. 9:15). 

In the next few verses (Heb. 9:16-24), the writer of Hebrews teaches us that Jesus’ death was also to inaugurate the New Covenant. He did so by bringing his blood into the heavenly temple. Just as Moses’ sprinkled the book of the covenant in Exodus 24 and the priests sprinkled blood in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, so Jesus cleansed the heavenly temple with his own blood (Heb. 9:23).

Okay, now I’m going to dive into Jesus as our  substitution.

Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA)

I have always objected to this term, but I am seeing that rather than objecting to the term, I should have objected only to how the term is used. Again, many say that God cannot forgive sin without sacrifice, and I have shown throughout my posts on this blog and on Facebook that this is constantly contradicted in Scripture.

However, when Paul writes …

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” [Gal. 3:13 (quoted from Deut. 21:23)] …

… he is telling us that Jesus was at the very least our substitute when it comes to the Law of Moses. Being crucified is “penal” (“of, relating to, or involving punishment”), so becoming a curse for us is, by definition, penal substitution.

This is a retraction for me. My objection  to the application of PSA (God can’t forgive sin without sacrifice), does not justify my throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

That said, I do want to throw out the bathwater. We can begin with Isaiah 53 and address the meaning of the whole chapter with just verse 5:

But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed. (Isa. 53:5)

Jesus was pierced and crushed for what we did. That is substitution, and being pierced and crushed is definitely penal. However, we have to ask the purpose of penal substitution. Peter quotes Isaiah 53:5 in telling us the purpose:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds. (1 Pet. 2:24)

This is important. Jesus was not wounded to pay for sins, nor so that God could could vent his wrath, but so that we might live righteously. Only one thing appeases God, and that is repentance and obedience (Isa. 1:8-20; Ezek. 18:21-23; 2 Pet. 3:9).

Our Father was pleased to bruise him (Isa. 53:10), not because he was angry and had to vent his wrath, but because he desires repentance. Without the healing that was brought by Jesus’ wounds, we would never live a life of repentance and righteousness. Isaiah 53:10 is not telling us that God can’t control his temper; it is telling us what Romans 5:8 tells us: God loves us so much that he gave his own Son in suffering and death in order to heal us from our wickedness (Acts 3:26) and to make us alive in Christ even though we were dead in trespasses (Eph. 2:5).

Back to Offering: Sin and Sins

One other important passage in Hebrews’ deep dive into the atonement is Hebrews 9:26:

But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

I was puzzled by “put away sin,” so I looked up “put away.” The Greek word means that Jesus “canceled” sin. In the same way you might cancel your subscription to Netflix, Jesus canceled sin. How does one cancel sin?

First, we have to note the difference between “sin” and “sins.” In Romans 8:3, the offering of Jesus “condemned sin in the flesh.” In Romans 6:6, “the body of sin” is said to “stop working” [katargeo; also “bring to naught; sever; abolish”] because our old man was crucified with him.

Without trying to delve into nuances that I’m certain I’ll never understand, the “sin in the flesh” described in Romans 7 was canceled and condemned and the “body of sin” stopped working because our old self was crucified with him. Surely this is what the writer of Hebrews means when he says Jesus appeared to cancel sin.

Let’s try to bring the condemnation of sin in the flesh, the breaking of the body of sin, and the cancelation of sin into the practical realm. Everything is easier to understand when we talk about what we are supposed to do with our theology. There is a great passage for that:

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Php. 2:12-13)

Because God has done all these things for us, freeing us from sin in the flesh so that we can serve him (Rom. 6:7-14), let’s work out or salvation with fear and trembling. Why fear and trembling? Because one day we are going to be judged by what we do with this “great salvation.”

Therefore we ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard. (Heb. 1:1-3)

If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:17-19)

Those two passages are possibly terrifying and, indeed, they are meant to inspire fear. Philippians 2:12 does say “fear and trembling.” There is a proper place for fear, though, so let me now point out that …

I Am Not Calvinist (and neither were the apostles)

Calvinists teach that the smallest sin deserves eternal condemnation. This is horrific nonsense and an insult to God.

Whatever John MacArthur or other Calvinists might say, the apostle Paul says that when God judges, he will give eternal life to those who “by patiently continuing to do good seek after glory, honor, and immortality” (Rom. 2:6-7). In other words Jesus and the apostles taught that a righteous person lives in a pattern of good works, not necessarily sinless perfection.

We all sin (Jam. 3:2; 1 John 1:8-10). The Epistle of James and John’s first epistle are both notable for their emphasis on obedience. First John 3:7-12 is as frightening as any passage in the Bible, but both epistles, James’ and John’s emphasize that we all sin. Not only is it false that the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation, but a person who only does small sins but lives righteously deserves eternal life!

Paul repeats his claim that a pattern of good works will be rewarded with eternal life in Galatians 6:7-9, but adds that this pattern of good works is produced by “sowing” to the Spirit:

Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don’t give up. (Gal. 6:7-9)

Here, Paul is warning those who do not try. We know what God does with the lazy (Matt. 25:26-30). As the pastor of my church likes to say, God is looking for progress, not perfection.

Mercy

God’s attitude toward sin is not Calvinist. In fact, it is not even evangelical because it is not true that he “must punish sin.” Instead …

“But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord GOD, “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?” (Ezek. 18:21-23)

Seek Yahweh while he may be found.
Call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him,
to our God, for he will freely pardon. (Isa. 55:6-7)

For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.
You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.
O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart. (Ps. 51:16-17)

That is what the Old Testament says about the God who supposedly cannot forgive sin without sacrifice. God has always desired repentance and righteousness. He has always had ongoing mercy on the righteous.

Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.

This passage is not just found in Romans 4:8. Paul quoted it from Psalm 31:1-2. The righteous can expect God to forgive the “stumbling in many ways” that James describes (James 3:2).

Don’t get me wrong. Second Peter 1:10 tells us that if we want assurance (“to make our calling and election sure”), we have to be diligent to do “these things” (the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1:5-7). As we saw, Philippians 2:12 tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Nonetheless, it is also true that “these things” in 2 Peter 1 are to be “yours and increasing.” Our diligence is working out our salvation is progress and not perfection.

My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. (1 Jn. 2:2)

This post is already long, but this passage is so wonderful that I have to talk about it. The word “Counselor” in this verse is parakletos. It is the same word used 4 times of the Holy Spirit in John 14-16. It can be used of a person who helps, comforts, and consoles, but also of one who admonishes and corrects. In other words, in being a “Counselor” with the Father, Jesus will comfort and console if that is what is needed. He will warn and rebuke if that is what is needed. He will gently teach and instruct if that is what is needed.

What parakletos never means is punishment. I am not saying that God does not chastise us (Heb. 12:6) for our disobedience, but in this verse, towards the beginning of a letter that demands righteousness throughout, John tells us that if we sin, Jesus will provide us whatever help we need.

And then there is the term “atoning sacrifice.” The meaning of the Greek word in John’s letter, hilasmos, is disputed, with words like appeasement and propitiation used as well as the “atoning sacrifice” that is in the World English Bible that I use for all my posts.

The word “atonement” is literally “at-one-ment.” It is reconciliation, two becoming one in heart or coming into agreement. The note in my WEB version says hilasmos is “the sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath because of our sin,” but we have seen that sacrifice does not turn away God’s wrath. I think it is fair to say that Isaiah 1:2-15 is God’s tirade against those who think his wrath can be turned away by sacrifice.

Isaiah 1:16-20 tells us what will appease his wrath. This is a beautiful picture of our patient, merciful God whose lovingkindness endures forever:

“Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean.
Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.
Cease to do evil.
Learn to do well.
Seek justice.
Relieve the oppressed.
Defend the fatherless.
Plead for the widow.”
“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”