John R. W. Stott on Substitution: Understanding Sin and Salvation

Here is another nugget from John R. W. Stott's magnificent work, The Cross of Christ. He writes:

"The concept of substitution may be said, then, to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and mputs himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man alone." (160)

To reject the substitutionary atonement, therefore, is to get both sin and salvation disastrously wrong. To accept it is to be saved.