NT Framework - Why Penal Substitution Matters

Today Jeremy traces how the cross satisfies God’s justice while revealing God’s love, moving from Anselm to the Reformers, and from Passover to Isaiah 53. He shows why penal substitution is the core of atonement and how it changes how we love hard-to-love people.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and

(00:02):
our series on the New Testamentframework.
Today, a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
So he didn't have to die, but he showed us his love
by giving his life for us, andthat's why we love others.

SPEAKER_01 (00:18):
That's why we love people who are unlovely.
Right?
Why?
Well, I mean, because God lovedthem.

SPEAKER_02 (00:26):
God loved them so much he sent his own son to pay
for their sins.
You mean that nasty coworkerthat I can't stand?
And I wish we'd just get fired,and I keep trying to set up so
they'll get fired.
Yeah, God loved them too.
So much that if they were theonly human in the in the world,
Christ would have come and diedfor them.
See, that's that's how much islove.

(00:48):
So we love others.
See?
So there is an example that helaid down that should influence
us.
So this view does have a truthto it.
See, you can't throw the babyout with the bathwater, can you?
You can say, it's wrong.
That's not the right view.
Yeah, that it is the wrong view.
I get it.
Right?
But the idea that the crossshould influence us isn't truth.

(01:11):
It should change how we viewother people and it should
change how we live our lives.
But that's still not enough.
That's not going to get you toheaven.
Just morally improving isn'tgonna help that at all.
So this view, in a sense, wasreally a significant step
backward for from Anselm becauseAnselm said, Well, hey, look,
God has to be satisfied.

(01:33):
And he does.
It's just not his honor thatneeds to be satisfied, it's his
justice.
So at the time of theReformation, the penal
substitutionary, the fourthview, became prominent and is
stuck with us to this day,right?
This is a view that we all holdin modern Orthodox conservative
churches.
So the reformers, 16th century,developed Anselm satisfaction

(01:59):
theory.
They realized that truth andthey clung to it.
They saw that Christ died asubstitutionary death on the
cross to satisfy, there's theword satisfy, God's justice.
So we say penal, it's a penalsubstitutionary theory.
Penal is the legal aspect,right?
Because it's satisfying God'sjustice.
Substitution means he's doing itin our place, right?

(02:21):
We owed God, but Christ ismaking the payment to satisfy
God's justice.
And this allows God to justifysinners freely without
compromising his own justice.
So take a look at Romans 3.26real quick.

SPEAKER_01 (02:36):
Romans 3.26.
Well, back up to there's so muchin this man.

SPEAKER_02 (02:52):
I just teach Romans 3 today.
But this is really good section24, 3.24, Romans, 3.24, Romans
3.24.
Being justified as a gift, see,justification is a gift of God,
by his grace, through theredemption which is in Christ
Jesus, there's a word we'll lookat next week, redemption, whom
God displayed publicly as apropitiation.

(03:13):
There it is, the satisfaction.
We'll look at that word too, inhis blood through faith.
This was to demonstrate God'srighteousness, because in the
forbearance of God he passedover the sins previously
committed.
It's talking about the spiritualsphere, right?
That Christ was satisfying onthe cross for the demonstration,
I say, of his righteousness atthe present time, so that he

(03:33):
would be just.
See, he's got to maintain hisjustice.
He can't compromise.
He can't say, well, you know,I'll just set that on the side,
backburner for a while, myjustice, and I'll just justify
people on the basis of I lovepeople.
You know, I just really lovepeople.
I'd like to be with thesepeople.
He can't do that because thenhis justice is never satisfied.
There's this there's thispayment that hasn't been made.

(03:53):
See, so he's not gonna justifyjust on the basis of love, so
that he would be just and thejustifier, the one who has faith
in Jesus.
See, he doesn't compromise atall.
He's just because the penalty'sbeen paid by Christ.

SPEAKER_01 (04:10):
So there's no more penalty to be paid.
Now he's free to justify anyonewho has faith.

SPEAKER_02 (04:18):
Because Christ's work has freed him to do that,
so to speak, right?
So that's the penalsubstitutionary view.
This penal view of the atonementis substitutionary, and it's
directed towards satisfyingGod's justice, not just his
honor or something like that.
Is this obvious from the OldTestament?
We'd say Exodus 12.
What is Exodus 12 about?

(04:38):
We've been through it the lastfew weeks.
You know, you got the tenplagues, and then the night of
the Passover, they firstPassover, they go out, right?
They go out of Egypt.
Um, what what the blood of whatdid they put on the doorpost and
lentil?
I mean the blood of a lamb,right?
Male, unblemished, one year old,right?

(04:59):
They take that blood.
If the angel of death saw it,they'd pass over, right?
So was there a substitutionbeing made?
Yeah, it was the lamb insubstitute for the firstborn son
and firstborn of their herds,their flocks.
Okay.
Isaiah 53.6 is worth looking at.
Isaiah 53.6.

SPEAKER_01 (05:18):
These are all worth looking at, but the point is to
get the point through and see itclearly.

SPEAKER_02 (05:30):
Isaiah 53, 6.
This is one of the passages thatsay when we do communion, turn
in your Bible to this passage.
And as we're passing out theelements, just read through this
chapter.
Okay?
Because it says, remember, whenwe take Lord's supper, we're
supposed to do what?
Remember.
How do you remember?
Well, you read the words andthat reminds you of things,

(05:50):
right?
It's remembering.
Isaiah 53, 6.
All of us like sheep have goneastray.
Each of us has turned to his ownway.
Now that's Israel, but by theway, it also applies to the
whole human race, right?
Every one of us.
But the Lord has caused theiniquity of us all to fall on
him.
This is 700 years before theMessiah died, but it's prophetic

(06:11):
of his the death that he woulddie.
And is that not asubstitutionary death?
The Lord has caused the iniquityof us all to fall on him.
What we owed, he paid, right?
That's substitution.
Also, verse 12, come down a fewverses.
Therefore, I will allot him aportion with the great.

(06:33):
This is the Messiah.
He will divide the booty withthe strong, because he poured
out himself to death and wasnumbered with the transgressors.
Yet he himself bore the sin ofmany and interceded for the
transgressors.
See, he was bearing our sin.
He didn't have any sin of hisown to die for, right?
He was bearing his own our sin.
So it's substitutionary and it'spenal.

(06:55):
He's paying the price that we'dowed.
So the penal view point two hereof the atonement says the main
issue is the legal penalrequirement.
That's the fundamental thingthat's going on in the cross.
So while he did pay a ransom,right?
He wasn't paying it to Satan, hewas paying it to God.
It was to God that it was owedbecause God requires the blood,

(07:16):
the life.
Second, it was a satisfaction,right?
Anselm said that.
It wasn't a satisfaction ofGod's honor, though.
It was a satisfaction of God'sjustice.
Third, it is to influence men,the moral influence view, but
not to moral improvement.
It's to influence men to believein Christ.

(07:36):
And then for those who havebelieved in Christ to love as he
loved us, see.
But the penal view puts all itputs the focal point on the
legal aspect.
It is the core of the truth.
I just don't want the othertruths to get lost, see?
Those other truths are there.
But this view is the core ofwhat is happening on the cross.

SPEAKER_00 (07:58):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls
with Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today's lessonproductive and useful in growing

(08:19):
closer to God and walking moreobediently with Him.
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And until next time, we hope youhave a blessed and wonderful
day.