The evidence against the progressive view of the Cross is overwhelming. I’m reminded of Luke 24:25-32, The Road to Emmaus(link is external). Christ had to suffer, and He did so willingly. Christ paid for our sins because it’s impossible for us do it. We cannot earn our salvation, or even stay saved without Christ.

The Beliefnet piece came across my path on a twitter feed. But it isn’t the first time I’ve seen this sentiment expressed in this way. The idea has been espoused by a number of Christians who often are self-proclaimed progressives. The author takes issue with the doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement. She claims that,

This theology was not part of Christian doctrine for the first 1,600 years after Jesus was crucified. The idea was originated and developed by human beings who were having trouble understanding what the Bible teaches about how Jesus Christ saved humanity. They worked with what they could to better understand Jesus’ teachings, but missed the mark. This lead [sic] to a creation of a belief that wasn’t really based on the Bible.

She says that Christians typically – when asked – will say that Christ died on the cross to “pay for our sins.” The quotation marks reflect her disagreement with this. Her assertion is that the teaching has become widely taught and deep-rooted; stated as fact, but not found in the Bible.

The article only cites three Bible verses (John 1:29, 15:13 and 1 Cor 15:3). And the writer says, “Dying for our sins is not the same thing as dying to pay the penalty for our sins.” Notably, other verses speaking of Christ’s death for our sins aren’t mentioned.

So What’s the Problem?

Quite simply, the progressive Christian (for want of a better term) is uncomfortable with the idea of a punitive, wrathful God. For an example, read this statement:

The cross isn’t a form of cosmic child abuse – a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed… . If the cross is a personal act of violence perpetrated by God towards humankind but borne by his Son, then it makes a mockery of Jesus’ own teaching to love your enemies… the idea that God was an angry deity, requiring a sacrifice to propitiate his wrath was surely more like an ancient pagan god than the Father of Jesus Christ. (Emphasis mine)

This quote is taken from a recommended-reading TGC article, written by a former denier who changed his mind and went back to believing in Substitutionary Atonement. You can read it here(link is external).

Actually Reading the Bible

Under the above heading, the author of the TGC article observes that anyone can point to verses such as Isaiah 53:5 and 2 Corinthians 5:21. Unfortunately, people who deny Substitutionary Atonement attempt to argue around them. Yet when he studied more closely, he couldn’t ignore the clear Substitutionary Atonement,

… the animal skins in Genesis 3, the ram in Genesis 22, the Passover lamb and the firstborn sons, the darkness of judgment the night of the exodus from Egypt and the darkness that fell as Jesus died, all the undeniable language of propitiation and the blood on the mercy seat, and so much more… . Actually reading the Scriptures in their cohesive entirety, and seeing the Old Testament repeatedly preview the gospel, showed me that Jesus bearing our sin and its penalty is central—not peripheral, and not artificially imposed—to the story’s vast sweep.

Aside from my lack of qualifications, it would take too much space to explore this in-depth here. But the evidence against the progressive view of the Cross is overwhelming. I’m reminded of Luke 24:25-32, The Road to Emmaus(link is external). Christ had to suffer, and He did so willingly. Christ paid for our sins because it’s impossible for us do it. We cannot earn our salvation, or even stay saved without Christ.

• For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Lev 17:11
• …being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed… Rom 3:24-25 (see also Rom 3:21-22)

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