Penal Substitutionary Atonement
In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that if he did he would surely die. But here in Genesis 3 Adam does eat it and he doesn’t physically die. Why? What does die? [an animal is killed in order to clothe them.Something else died instead of them and that animal’s death was used to cover their shame.]
How do the events directly after the Fall teach us about how God deals with sin?
God no longer comes to walk with them daily. He kicks them out of the garden, there is separation now between a holy God and sinful man.
God made them a promise that he would send a seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent.
Man’s attempt to cover his own sin and shame is not sufficient. God intervenes and provides an animal, he takes the life of the animal, and he kills it instead of killing Adam and Eve.]
Imagine what that was like for Adam and Eve… the Bible doesn’t mention any death before this moment. For the first time in their lives, they stand and watch as part of God’s good creation breathes its last breath and dies because of something they did. An innocent animal is slain and used to cover their shame. Adam and Eve learned that day that sin has a penalty. But they also learned that God can pay that penalty with a substitute. The life of the animal for their life. The hide of the animal now covers them and their shame. Their sin is paid and covered and that is a simplified definition of atonement.]
A lot became messed up when Adam and Eve fell, but what is the biggest loss here in the story of the Fall in Genesis 3? The answer to that is that man lost access to God. In the garden, God came to walk and talk with them daily. But now the relationship between God and man is massively changed. God is holy and perfect and he hates sin. The rest of the Bible will be a story about how God and man can be made right again. How can a Holy God dwell with sinful man? the answer to that is ultimately found in today's doctrine: penal substitutionary atonement
When Adam and Eve leave the garden, imagine they look back, what do they see? What's the view as they look back? A cherubim holding a flaming sword protecting the garden and God's presence. Remember that little detail for later.
Right from the earliest pages of Scripture, we see a creator God makes all things good. But His crowning creation chooses to disobey Him. Instead of obeying Him, they decide they want to be like Him. But even in their disobedience, God makes a way for them to be made right with Him. Cuz that is the big issue here, how can we get back to before the Fall? How can sinners have a relationship with a Holy God again? THE WAY is a promise of a savior and the provision of a substitutionary sacrifice.
You can’t talk about PSA without talking about what makes it necessary.
Sin makes it necessary. Without sin, we don’t even have to do the mental work required to understand the depths of this doctrine. Just like Adam and Eve's sin started this whole thing in Genesis 3 and required atonement by the death of that first animal. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We all play our part here with our sin.
So for the next few minutes, I am going to illustrate sin by putting some of my own on the table. I hope to kill a few birds with this stone: 1) up to this point here at Venture, I’m just the “Missions guy” that comes out on stage a few times a year with some stats on lostness around the world or information on what the missions team is working on. But I hope what I'm about to do actually lets you get to know me and my story a little better. 2) Secondly, I hope you get to see that God’s grace has no limits. Even the worst of us (me being the worst sinner in the room) if our faith is in Christ Jesus, has had the penalty of our sins covered by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If his blood and sacrificial death is enough to cover my sin and save a wretch like me then it is enough to cover and save you as well. Sin has no depth that grace cannot redeem.
I was born in SC but by the time I was 12 we had lived in SC, West Memphis Arkansas, Henderson NC, and a small town in Virginia called Kent’s Store (it was as small as it sounds). During those moves, my dad was either in seminary or pastoring and I was raised by folks who loved Jesus and taught me the gospel from a young age. I don’t have one of those dramatic conversion experiences. I just simply over the years of my youth came to understand that I was a sinner and Jesus was my savior and my way to spend eternity with God. So while I couldn't have explained the doctrine of PSA to you while standing in the baptistry, I believed that “Jesus loved me this I know for the Bible tells me so.” And really that alone sums up about all one ever has to know.
At 12 my parents felt called to serve the Lord as missionaries in East Africa. So we moved to Kenya and only a few weeks after landing I started 7th grade at Rift Valley Academy which is a boarding school primarily for missionary kids, expats, and some Kenyans. 9 months out of the year I lived at school and spent 3 months of the year at my parent's house. I attended that school from 12 years old through high school graduation.
At that boarding school, we had bible classes, chapel 5 days a week, and church services every sunday. All the teachers and administrators were missionaries. All that to say, “By age 18 I had sat through more sermons and more Christian teaching than most of you will in your lifetime.” From those pulpits and in front of those blackboards I heard the gospel and the love of Jesus taught on repeat. But those same teachers and administrators were also responsible for the safety and well-being of 500ish kids on the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. So obviously rules are necessary. Well, over the years (and it's an old school, Roosevelt laid the cornerstone to the admin building in 1909) that rule book had gotten bigger and bigger and more and more legalistic. My friends and I would get in trouble for the stupidest stuff. The administration suspended and expelled kids pretty frequently and when they did it was a big deal with huge ripple effects through not only those kids' life but their families as well and lots of missionaries with no other schooling options for their children were forced to leave the field and the people groups those missionaries were working with no longer had a witness.
BUT HERE IS MY POINT: at that missionary kid boarding school, I heard the gospel taught and preached but what I saw and witnessed was legalism at its worst. They said “God loves you” but what their legalism showed us is that “God only loves you if you live up to the standard and rules of our rule book.” To this day I have siblings and friends who were HUGELY impacted by the strict, dogmatic, legalism of that school and so many of them want to have nothing to do with Jesus even up into their 40s because of those legalistic Christians who lived out and demonstrated a false version of Christianity that says “if you want God to love you, then do this, and DON’T do this or that or the other thing or else….we will kick your butt out.”
The dichotomy between a gospel of grace and legalism messed with my head for years after I graduated from that school. Once I came back to the States for University I reveled in my newfound freedom, I joined a fraternity and got to try all the stuff that had been so forbidden and preached against at that legalistic high school. From relationships with girls to a party lifestyle, I lived it up. I had fun, but quite often I felt guilty. I was genuinely a believer and the Holy Spirit was always tugging and pulling at my heart and reminding me I had been saved for so much more. After about 3 years of running from God and chasing all the “fun” sins that my heart desired, I found myself sitting spiritually, and morally broken in the back row of a great church in Atlanta in a Sunday night service. I don’t remember much of what the pastor said but I remember God came down and met with me. He fully and utterly convicted me of where I was and how I had been running from Him. I told Him right there in that pew that if He got me out of that situation and showed me what He wanted me to do I would go anywhere He wanted and do whatever it was He wanted me to do. And even though I had sworn up and down I never wanted to be a missionary, one month later I transferred to a Christian University in Columbia, SC called Columbia International University which is best known for educating and equipping people to take the gospel to the nations.
While at that University in Columbia, God used a professor and one story in particular to help me heal the wounds of legalism that high school had scared me with and that story is in Leviticus (the book where yearly bible reading plans go to die) 16 (the central chapter in the Torah) and it’s the Day of Atonement:
Read the Day of Atonement from Leviticus 16 and Exodus 25
Reflection Questions—
Let's talk about the Ark and what’s in it and what it looks like.
What's the significance of the Law being in the ark? Where is God in relation to the Ark? (the law sits in the ark directly below the mercy seat, directly below where the presence of God comes down to dwell with his people. The Law sits there as a measure of God’s standard, a standard which we have all failed to obey or live up to. God is literally sitting above the document that condemns us to a life separated from himself.
What is the scapegoat? What significance does it play? (Remember 2 goats, without blemish or defect are chosen by the priests. One of the goats will be sacrificed and its blood sprinkled on the Ark by the High Priest. But the second goat is nicknamed the scapegoat and he is the one the High Priest places his hands on. He places his hands on the head of the innocent, spotless animal and he confesses the sins of the people over the goat, symbolically imputing the sins of Israel onto the goat which is then led out into the wilderness to never return.
So what does Imputation mean? We are going to get to that in just a minute!
- And a quick one for the symbolism nerds, “if you are standing in front of the tabernacle/temple what is the view as you look at it directly from the front, what do you see and what does it remind you of? It's the same as Adam and Eve’s view as they looked back on the garden. There is a fire (the alter) and there are cherubim (sown into the fabric of the tent) guarding the way into the presence of God.
The New Testament telling of the Day of Atonement is found in:
Hebrews 9
[1] Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. [2] For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. [3] Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, [4] having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. [5] Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things, we cannot now speak in detail.
[6] These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, [7] but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. [8] By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing [9] (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts, and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, [10] but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
Redemption Through the Blood of Christ
[11] But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) [12] he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. [13] For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, [14] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
[22] Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
[23] Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. [24] For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. [25] Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, [26] for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. [27] And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (ESV)
Do you catch what’s happening here? I get that it’s somewhat strange. But essentially what Hebrews 9 & 10 are saying is that the Tabernacle and then subsequently the temple are just earthly models of a heavenly reality. And in the heavenly reality, it is Christ Jesus, the promised seed of the woman from Genesis 3:16, who is now our high priest! The veil to the holy of holies has been ripped in half from top to bottom. Christ, our high priest, AND our sacrifice walks through that ripped curtain, not with the blood of goats or bulls, BUT WITH HIS OWN BLOOD! The Father’s only Son now stands before the mercy seat of God and “pours” (Matt 26:28) out his blood for our sins and in our place. His life and blood are poured over that mercy seat and because of that… the judge of the universe, the perfect and holy God who hates sin, can no longer see our sin through the blood of his son. Our sins are separated from him as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12). He will remember our sins no more (Heb 8:12). Unlike the Israelites in the wilderness shaking in their sandals wondering if God would accept that year’s Day of Atonement sacrifice, you and I can walk into the throne room of the God of the universe with full boldness and confidence not because we have done anything on our own to deserve it, but because our sin penalty has been paid, our substitute is the righteous, perfect, holy, Son of God whose death in our place is more than enough to make atonement for our sin. We can know and trust that when he yelled from the cross “it is finished” that he had in fact absorbed all of God’s wrath towards our sin, the job was done. Atonement was paid.
Illustration: years ago a Sunday school teacher was playing brain teasers with her students and she asked them a question. She said, “is there anything God can’t do?” Think about that for a minute. Is there anything God can’t do? Our mind might go to the old cliche “Can God create a rock so heavy that he can’t pick it up?” But one kid in the room took it seriously and looked at the teacher raised his hand and said, “God can not see my sin through the blood of Jesus.”
That’s the picture we get here in the Day of Atonement story. A perfect holy God who hates sin is sitting in the holy of holies, over the mercy seat of the ark, and looking down through the wings of the Cherubim and seeing the 10 Commandments, he sees the law. He sees the law which all of us have failed to follow. The law which we have all broken and which condemns us all to spend eternity separated from Him. But, on the Day of Atonement, in steps our substitute, in steps our high priest, in steps Jesus with his own righteous, perfect life, NOT with the blood of goats and bulls but with his own blood. He pours his blood out over that mercy seat and now God from that elevated position above the Ark, can no longer see the law that condemns us. He can no longer see our sin. He can not see our sin through the blood of Jesus. “Is there anything God can’t do?” He cannot see my sin through the blood of Jesus.
On a personal level, when I think of the story of the Fall and the animal killed to cover Adam and Eve’s sin… when I think of the high priest sprinkling blood on the mercy seat to temporarily appease God’s wrath towards the sins of the Hebrew people… I see the foundation being laid, I see the example being set, I see the model, I see the blueprint, I see in black and white what Christ is going to do once and for all, permanently, in full color. So by the time I get to this passage in Hebrews and read, “He [Christ] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” — I see the disobedience of my childhood, the partying in my young adult life, my moral failures as a married adult, my seasons of anger, doubt and disregard for his moral standards……………. and I see it all washed away by the one, true, perfect, eternal, sacrifice of Jesus. God himself, giving Himself to save me from himself. I am the worst sinner in the room yet even I can walk before the throne of a holy perfect God who previously hated my sin and was storing up wrath towards my sin [RO 2:5] and now I can call him “Father” because i am His adopted son and he can no longer see my sin through the blood of Jesus. In a day and age where anxiety and depression are so rampant for so many of us. There is no news more life-giving than this. “In my place condemned he stood, hallelujah what a savior.”
I hope the imagery and the pictures presented in the stories of the Fall and the Day of Atonement have helped you visually see in your mind what happened when Jesus substituted himself into our place and paid the penalty of our sin and thus secured our atonement. I hope you see it. It’s really a beautiful, life-changing visual. And now as I land this plane let's just look at a few important words to really make sure we get the meaning across on a doctrinal level.
Atonement involves the imputation of our sins to the Lord Jesus and the imputation of the Lord Jesus’ righteousness to us.
The Father lays our sin upon the Lord Jesus, “he is wounded for our transgressions, he is bruised for our iniquities.” He takes our sin and it is counted to him and when he goes to the Cross, even though he knew no sin he goes as one who is going to be made sin. He is going to carry our sins on his own body on the tree. We must understand, there is a difference between the gospel and what happens in an ordinary Law Court. In a court of law, you are either going to receive a guilty verdict or a not guilty verdict. Don't transfer that to the Gospel as if that's all the gospel gives you. What the gospel gives us is that our sin is imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like the sin of Israel was laid on the goat on the Day of Atonement and sent out into the wilderness to never return. He is wounded for transgressions that are ours and iniquities that are ours and a sickness that is ours and He takes all the judgment against our sin. He takes all the judgment of his holy father against the sin of all of his people. But when you come to faith in Jesus Christ you're not just pronounced not guilty. NO, by His righteousness He not only takes away our guilt, He also makes us righteous. By being obedient to His Father throughout the whole course of His life, Jesus was qualified to be the perfect sacrifice, able to bear the judgment of the Father against our sin. And when that judgment is imputed to Jesus, in exchange, His righteousness is counted as ours as we trust in Him. “You and I can stand before the judgment seat of a HOLY GOD, as righteous as the Lord Jesus Christ because the only righteousness you have to stand before that throne is his righteousness. (x2)”
Substitution:
In my place condemned he stood. Wounded for my transgressions. Bruised for my iniquities. In my place condemned, he stood and sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah, what a savior. Jesus is our representative, it's a very important thing to see. He is our representative. SLIDE-He represents us before the father BUT he's not just a representative. Our congressmen in Washington are elected to represent us there, but they don’t substitute for us. He doesn’t come along when you’re in trouble and take your place. He may serve for you, but he doesn't stand in your place as a substitute. But this suffering servant stands in our place as a substitute. A great exchange takes place: In order that I might stand where he now stands, he comes and stands where I ought to stand, and takes my place. That is substitution.
Penalty:
“We like sheep have gone astray we've turned everyone to his own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” IS 53:6
God charged our sin to the sinless Christ. Our sin, along with its condemnation, penalty, curse, and shame is no longer charged to us but to our sin-bearing substitute. The entire wrath of God that we deserve was duly spent, but it was spent on Christ. None of the punishment we deserve from God for our sin is left for us to bear because he bore it all.
Challenge:
How can sinners be made right with a Holy God? Throughout history, around the world, across cultures, languages, traditions, and religions this is the primary question of humanity.
If you are not a Christian, you need to wrap your heart and mind around that question and figure it out. Your soul depends on it. Simply saying “I'm just gonna do my best and hope it all works out in the end.” That's a biblically guaranteed recipe for an eternity outside of God’s presence. Your good deeds will never be “good enough.”
For the believer: my conclusion is gonna be an old-school responsive reading. As we read this together, allow your heart and soul to rejoice. Marinate in what Jesus has done for us. This is how we get back into the garden and the presence of God. Celebrate this with me as we read together
Discussion Guide
What is the doctrine of atonement?
Atonement in the Bible refers to the sacrifice that is necessary to bring mankind into a right relationship with God. Specifically, atonement is that which is required to make right the wrong that has been done with sin.
The message of atonement can be seen from the time of the fall of man when Adam is cast out of the garden for their rebellion against Yahweh. God creates clothing from the skins of animals to cover their nakedness before him and before his creation. In every ensuing epoch of human history, a blood sacrifice is required to make atonement to God.
With echoes of the Noahic covenant and the Mosaic covenant, Jesus fulfills those covenants with his death on the cross. Christ’s death alone is sufficient to eternally atone for the sins of mankind.
Referring back to Romans 5, the teaching that Christ is the second Adam encompasses the fact that he alone is qualified to make atonement for the sins of mankind.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass2 led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness 3leads to justification and life for all men. Romans 5:15-18
This clearly teaches that Christ is the atonement for all men. The doctrine of atonement also deals with how Christ serves as the atonement.
It is often incorrectly posited that there are different theories of atonement within Christianity that are opposed to one another. For example, some Christians may say that they subscribe to either the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement (Jesus’ death substituted before God as the penalty for sin) or Christus Victor (Jesus’ death overcame the work of the devil) atonement in regard to the death of Jesus. Any fair reading of the Scripture should lead us to affirm both of those truths about Jesus’ death.
The reason theories of atonement rose to prominence beginning in late medieval Christianity is that atonement had begun to be misunderstood as Christ paying some sort of a ransom to the Devil.
While Jesus himself said that he came as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), it was not Satan who held a legal right and necessity to punish sin. Throughout the Old Testament, the people (including foreigners) had to make various blood sacrifices to appease the righteous anger of God over sin. Since these sacrifices took place in the presence of God, it was clear to whom the sacrifices were being made. When Jesus came and the Gospels each presented him as the Passover sacrifice, there should be no mistake that Jesus is an atonement to God on behalf of mankind.
In your group, it may be beneficial to watch this video explaining the theme of atonement in the Scripture.
Discussion Questions
- What does it mean for Christ to be a literal substitute for us in God’s just punishment of sin?
- Why can we NOT be a sufficient sacrifice to appease God’s just wrath?
- Why was it necessary for Jesus to die?
- What are the key Bible passages that deal with this doctrine?
- How does the doctrine of substitutionary atonement demonstrate the love of God?
- What difference does this doctrine make for our faith?
- How would our salvation lack security if it was not grounded in the sacrifice of Jesus?
- How does the confidence of this doctrine give us power to live a Christian life?