This document discusses two versions of the gospel: penal substitution and an alternative view.
The penal substitution view, articulated by John Calvin, holds that God's wrath against sin required punishment, and Jesus accepted God's full wrath on our behalf. However, the document argues this was not the view of early church leaders. It also lists negative consequences of this view, such as seeing God as intrinsically wrathful.
The alternative view presented is that Jesus suffered from human wickedness and rejection, not the Father's wrath. Jesus bore the world's sadness and darkness on the cross to receive us into relationship with the Father. This presents a gospel of love with God continually turning towards humanity.
5. Did God Pour Out His Wrath
on Jesus?
The image of a righteously angry God punishing
Jesus for our sins permeates much of Western
Christianity.
This was not the view of early Church leaders
John Calvin articulated this theology of “penal
substitution”: That God’s just nature required
punishment for sin. And Jesus accepted God’s
full wrath on our behalf.
6. The “Fruit” of Penal Substitution
It leads us to see Father God as too holy to stay
in relationship with us when we sin.
It leads us to see Father God as intrinsically
wrathful towards us. (We’re only OK if we’re
hiding in Jesus).
And it’s an easy step from there to believe we
are being like our Heavenly Father when we
execute vengeance and wrath upon others.
It portrays a temporary “split” within the Trinity.
7. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath
of God through Him. Romans 5:8-9 NASB
!
Note: The italicized “of God” is not in the Greek
manuscript but was added by the NASB
translators.
Some Bible Verses
Seem To Imply
“Penal Substitution”
8. Our Wrath - Not the Father’s
"The inherent legalism of the Western
Church trains our eyes to see
Jesus’ suffering as the judgment of God
upon our sin, and virtually blinds us from the
more obvious point that Jesus suffered from
the wickedness of humanity. It was the
human race, not the Father who rejected
His beloved Son and killed him. The wrath
that poured out on Calvary’s hill did not
originate in the Father’s heart but in ours.”
The Shack Revisited by C. Baxter Kruger pg 184-185
9. "The humiliation that Jesus bore, the
torment that he suffered, was not divine, but
human. We mocked him, we detested him,
we judged him. We ridiculed him, tortured
him, and turned our face from him. It was
not the Father or the Holy Spirit who
abandoned Jesus and banished him to the
abyss of shame. It was the human race.
We cursed him.”
The Shack Revisited by
C. Baxter Kruger pg 185
10. Gospel of the Cross
“On the cross Jesus bore the Great Sadness
of the world; gave himself into the trauma of
our darkness.” (pg. 193)
“It deserves repeating again: the gospel is not
the news that we can accept an absent Jesus
into our lives. The gospel is the news that the
Father’s Son has received us into his.” (pg.
194-195)
The Shack Revisited by C. Baxter Kruger
14. Jesus with Father are always are
turned towards you - even when you
turn away.!
The Beautiful Gospel - Love Himself
chasing us, even submitting to our
cruel responses to Him so that our
hatred is disarmed.!
Jesus with Father receiving/removing
our “crap” so it is no longer in our
way, no longer keeping us from the
rivers of His love and approval.
