Theological Term of the Week: Penal Substitution
Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 2:30AM 
The doctrine that states that “God gave himself in the person of his Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment and curse due to fallen humanity as the penalty for sin”;1 also called substitutionary atonement or Christus Vicarious.
- From Scripture:
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” … Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:10, 13).
- From Paul: An Outline of His Theology by Herman Ridderbos, page 190:
[T]he substitutionary character of Christ’s death on the cross … recurs time and again in Paul’s epistles, when it is said that Christ “died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:14); or “died for us” and “gave himself up for our sins” (Rom. 5:6, 8; 14:15; 1 Thess. 5:10; Rom. 4:25; 8:32; Gal. 1:4; 2:20). To be sure, the expression “for us” in itself does not yet signify “in our place; it indicates that the death of Christ has taken place “in our favor.” Nevertheless, the substitutionary significance of these expressions cannot be doubted. And it is corroborated by such expressions as that in 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us; cf. Romans 8:3 and Galatians 3:13, where it is said that Christ has become a curse for us. In these passages the thought of the substitutionary (atoning) sacrifice is unmistakable, a thought that is enunciated in almost so many words when the phrase “One died for all’ is explained by the words “so then all have died’ (2 Cor. 5:14). Even is one could give certain passages taken by themselves another sense, the whole complex of the pronouncements mentioned above can allow no doubt to remains as to the “atoning,” substitutionary character of Jesus’ death, and every effort to detract from it readily does wrong to the most fundamental segments of Paul’s gospel.
- From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 559-560:
Penal substitution is to be seen in connection with union with Christ. Union sets substitution and representation in a fuller context. Christ is our substitute. He took our place throughout his life and ministry, the cross, his resurrection, and his ascension… .
As both substitute and representative, Christ is distinct from those who benefit from what he did. A substitute is another person that the one he replaces. While his actions are legally those of the ones he represents, a representative is distance from them too. With union, we are taken a stage further; all Christ did and does we do, since we are one with him. The “otherness” of a substitute or representative is in eclipse. Because of the union between us and Christ, his actions are ours.
Learn more:
- R. C. Sproul: Jesus Our Substitute
- Ligonier Ministries: Penal Substitution
- Tom Schreiner: Substitutionary Atonement
- Jarvis Williams: What Is Penal Substitution?
- J. I. Packer: What Did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution and Penal Substitution Revisited
- D. A. Carson: The Atonement Under Fire
Related terms:
1Pierced for Our Trangressions by Jeffery, Ovey, and Sach, page 21.
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