On Sunday, we talked about the theological implications of the cross. Especially the doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement. Protestants around the world see this doctrine as essential to our understanding of what happened at the cross.
Isaiah 53:4–6 (NLT)
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
Isaiah 53:10–12 (NLT)
But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
What do you notice in Isaiah 53 about the way The Servant suffers “for” others?
How does this passage support the idea that someone suffers in place of another?
What feelings or impressions do you get from the repeated language of substitution (“our griefs,” “our sorrows,” “our iniquities”)?
Leviticus 16:20–22 (ESV)
“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
Have you ever heard the term “scapegoat?” This is where that idea comes from… A goat that carries the sins away into the wilderness. In God’s eyes, the goat is now guilty, and the people are innocent.
How do you see the idea of “bearing sin” carried from the Old Covenant sacrifices into Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 53 (above)? Do you think there is a solid connection of themes/ideas here?
Romans 3:23–26 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
What does the Apostle Paul say God accomplished through Jesus’ death?
What does Paul mean by “just and the justifier?” How does this show the consistent character of God- both holy (just) and loving (justifier?)
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How does Substitutionary Atonement explain the problem of sin and God’s justice?
Why would God require a substitute at all?
Does this view make God seem harsh, merciful, both, or something else?
Did you know that Protestants and Catholics have differing views of what happened on the cross? Protestsants can’t get past the Old Testament ties to God providing a substitute in Jesus Christ.
Catholics, on the other hand, see a different theological thing happening here. They see Jesus’ work on the cross as a victory over the powers of evil on our behalf, rather than him being a substitute for God’s anger and punishment. They call this view Christus Victor.
Colossians 2:13–15 (ESV)
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Hebrews 2:14–15 (ESV)
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
What did Christ’s death accomplish in terms of defeating evil powers?
What kind of “victory” do you see described in these verses?
How is this different from substitution?
Can both be true?
Hebrews 9:11–15 (ESV)
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.
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
How does the author of Hebrews compare Jesus to the Old Covenant High Priest?
What differences are there?
How does this relate to substitution and victory (a new covenant that frees us?)
How does the Christus Victor view deepen our understanding of what Jesus accomplished on the cross?
1 John 3:8 (ESV)
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
What does Christ overcome or disarm in His death and resurrection?
Does this conflict, or compliment the “story” of salvation?
Romans 5:6–11 (ESV)
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Do you see both “Jesus died for us” (substitution) and “we are saved from God’s wrath” (deliverance or victory)?
Why might the Bible use multiple images to explain what Jesus achieved?
Exodus 34:6–7 (ESV)
The Lord passed before him (Moses) and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Romans 5:8 (ESV)
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
What does Jesus’ work on the cross reveal about God’s character across both covenants?
How is God consistently just, merciful, faithful, and loving from Old Testament to New Testament?
How does seeing God’s consistency help you trust the meaning of the cross more deeply?