"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.
"Even the cross . . . was a judgment seat. For the Judge was set up in the middle with the thief who believed and was pardoned on the one side and the thief who mocked and was damned on the other. Already then he signified what he would do with the living and the dead: some he will place on his right hand, others on his left." - St. Augustine (Tractates on the Gospel of John 31:11) "For as the Son was judged as a man, he shall also judge in human form." - St. Augustine (City of God, 20.30)
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
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:
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