10
Jun
2018
Brian Zahnd Critiques Penal Substitution Theory
I am guessing one of you recommended this video to me, back when I blogged about this general topic. Anyway, I just got around to watching it. Very good, especially how he quotes repeatedly from Acts to make his point.
I would place a call to Gary North
He is certainly a good rhetorician, but penal substitution has a long history and a lot of explanatory power. I think a wise person would approach more carefully. Any good idea can be caricatured and ridiculed for what it not claimed by anyone who affirms the idea.
To be clear–and I’ve seen other people comment in things that reposted this, along the lines of, “The Bible says Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”–I am not denying that Jesus’ work on the cross pays the price for our sins.
Rather, I am agreeing with this guy that certain ways I’ve heard preachers express that concept, don’t sound right. E.g. I’ve heard people say things very close to, “Because we sinned, somebody had to die. God doesn’t care who it is, just that His wrath requires some blood. It can even be the blood of a person who didn’t commit the crime, that’s fine, but somebody has to die because He’s just.”
I’m not saying I heard someone say literally those words in that order, but I’ve heard people say stuff very very close to that.