#focr 39

1. Regeneration A changed nature. The believer is no longer a child of wrath but is literally born into God’s family and given Christ’s nature.

2. Adoption A changed position. The believer is no longer a child of the world but is given the position of an adult son in God’s family.

3. Justification A changed standing. The believer is no longer a sinner in God’s sight because He imputes to his account the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

4. Imputation God put the sins of the world on the account of Jesus Christ, and He puts Christ’s righteousness on the account of the believing sinner.

5. Sanctification A changed character. The believer is no longer defiled and unclean but is now separated and holy unto God in Christ Jesus.

6. Reconciliation A changed relationship. The believer is no longer God’s enemy but now has peace with Him and is His friend.

7. Propitiation All the wrath of God that was once upon the believer has been appeased by the substitutionary death of Christ.

8. Redemption The death and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has bought the believer back from sin.

The central problem of the Penal Theory is, as you point out, understanding how punishing a person other than the perpetrator of the wrong can meet the demands of justice. Indeed, we might even say that it would be wrong to punish some innocent person for the crimes I commit!

It seems to me, however, that in other aspects of human life we do recognize this practice. I remember once sharing the Gospel with a businessman. When I explained that Christ had died to pay the penalty for our sins, he responded, “Oh, yes, that’s imputation.” I was stunned, as I never expected this theological concept to be familiar to this non-Christian businessman. When I asked him how he came to be familiar with this idea, he replied, “Oh, we use imputation all the time in the insurance business.” He explained to me that certain sorts of insurance policies are written so that, for example, if someone else drives my car and gets in an accident, the responsibility is imputed to me rather than to the driver. Even though the driver behaved recklessly, I am the one held liable; it is just as if I had done it.

Now, this is parallel to substitutionary atonement. Normally I would be liable for the misdeeds I have done. But through my faith in Christ, I am, as it were, covered by his divine insurance policy, whereby he assumes the liability for my actions. My sin is imputed to him, and he pays its penalty. The demands of justice are fulfilled, just as they are in mundane affairs in which someone pays the penalty for something imputed to him. This is as literal a transaction as those that transpire regularly in the insurance industry.

Did God punish Jesus on the cross? William Lane Craig vs Greg Boyd on Penal Substitution Atonement

Among the many other happenings during the most important hours in the history of the world — as the Son of God was crucified outside Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha (Mark 15:22) — this accomplishment is the center and foundation and heart.

Jesus had no sin of his own. It was not his own penalty that he bore, but he was a substitute for others, for those who would be joined to him by faith. This we call penal substitutionary atonement — Jesus reconciled sinners to God by being their substitute punishment. He absorbed in his person God’s righteous wrath against us, because of our sin, that we might be free from sin and its penalty and liberated to enjoy such a person forever.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, this most precious of Christian doctrines is under great assault in many quarters. It’s no new assault, and it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. The wrath of God, and its manifestations in hell and penal substitution, are the revealed truths the natural man seems to find most repulsive (for good reason). Penal substitution is a doctrine conscientious pastors and Christian leaders must stay fresh on and be ready to winsomely answer when the attacks come.