Show Notes
In this thought-provoking episode, Derek Vreeland takes us deep into the heart of the theological concept of atonement, especially as we journey through the season of Lent.
He unpacks the true meaning of atonement—moving beyond the common view of punishment to reveal it as a divine mystery of sacrifice, healing, and redemption. With insights drawn from Scripture, including powerful references from Isaiah 53 and Romans 3, Derek challenges us to rethink atonement as more than a transaction; it’s about restoring our relationship with God.
Join him as he shifts the focus from appeasing God’s wrath to embracing the transformative power of healing through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Key Takeaways:
Lent: A 40-day spiritual journey preparing us for Easter.
Atonement: It’s not about punishment; it’s about covering and cleansing our sins.
Dive into the mystery: Atonement is a profound, divine process of reconciliation.
Metaphorical language plays a crucial role in understanding theological concepts.
The “punishment” metaphor is found in Scripture but not the full story.
No verse in the Bible says “Jesus was punished for our sins.”
The cross confronts the real problems: sin and death.
The Greek word hilasterion is about the place of atonement, the mercy seat.
Leviticus 16 paints a picture of atonement with no mention of punishment.
Atonement is ultimately about healing, redemption, and the restoration of our relationship with God.
Scriptures mentioned in this episode:
Isaiah 53:4
Isaiah 53:5
Romans 3:23-25
Leviticus 16:14-16
Leviticus 16:30
Preorder Derek’s new book, Incarnation: 8 Lessons on How God Meets Us here: https://amzn.to/42jSZAs
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Transcript
Narrator: Welcome to Peaceable and Kind, the podcast where we explore the transformation. Each week your host, Derek Vreeland, will delve into the stories, scriptures, and practical steps that help us embody these essential Christian virtues.
Derek Vreeland: Welcome back to another episode of Peaceable and Kind. I’m your host, Derek Vreeland, and we are in the season of Lent. And here at Peaceable and Kind, we’re in a series focused on the cross. And I hope this season of Lent is going well for you. I’m not sure exactly what Christian tradition you come from. Some Christian traditions put a big emphasis on Lent. Other traditions not so much. But Lent is this 40-day season that prepares us for Easter. It’s a 40-day season where we’re following Jesus towards the cross. And so here at Peaceable and Kind, during the season of Lent, we’re focused on the cross. We want to know nothing among ourselves other than Christ crucified. And if you are enjoying these podcast episodes, let me encourage you to leave a rating or review. And maybe you want to share a previous episode or maybe even this episode with a friend. I sure would appreciate that. Today, we’re going to take a bit of a deep dive reflecting on the cross. So I want to give a warning here at the beginning That this episode will go into some theological and biblical depth. So if you’re ready, let’s jump in On today’s episode, I want to wrestle with the question, is atonement really about punishment? Now, when I was in high school, I had a government teacher, my senior year, Miss Northup And she had been teaching for decades. In fact, when I had her as a teacher, she was wheelchair bound, but still taught with the authority of a social studies professor. She would hold a ruler when she taught and often would raise it up like it was her scepter. And we all loved and respected her so much. And one of the things she taught me is in writing term papers, we needed to define the pertinent terms. So if we’re going to work with this question, is atonement really about punishment? Let’s start by defining what we mean by atonement. Atonement is the word that we use to describe the covering or removal of our sin. By the death of Jesus that restores us, restores our soul, and restores our relationship with God. In the Christian tradition, atonement has been the ways in which we describe how the death of Jesus saves us. And not just his death, because as we heard in a previous episode, the conversation I had with Brad Jerzak The cross becomes emblematic of the entire birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus But in the Christian tradition, atonement is about how we’re made right with God through Jesus’ death and resurrection The Holman Bible Dictionary defines atonement in terms of reconciliation associated with sacrificial offerings. To remove the effects of sin and in the New Testament, this is according to the Holman Bible Dictionary Atonement refers specifically to the reconciliation between God and humanity affected by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. So in atonement, we’re talking about how Jesus’ sacrificial death reconciles us to God. Now, before we move forward, I want to establish two things I think that are extremely important. Anytime we’re talking about atonement. And first of all, when we talk about atonement and understanding how Jesus’ death saves us, We are talking about mystery. This is a divine mystery By the way, you don’t have to fully understand how the death of Jesus saves us from our sins in order to receive the benefits of atonement. I think that there is value in this sort of intellectual exploration of a divine mystery, but you don’t have to be able to understand or even articulate atonement in order to be rescued and receive the benefits of atonement. I mean, I don’t know how my microwave heats up my soup in two and a half minutes. But it does. I open my can of soup, put it in a bowl, put it in the microwave, cover it up. I select two minutes, 30 seconds. I hit start. And after three minutes, I’m sitting there enjoying a bowl of soup. I don’t know how that works, but I can still receive the benefits of it. So there is value I think in what we’re doing today in exploring atonement, but I wanted you to relax a little bit and recognize that this is a mystery and even if you can’t fully comprehend it, You can be rescued from your sin, healed of your sin by Jesus by simply putting your faith and trust in him I find value in exploring mysteries because it is how we grow in faith We don’t grow in the Christian faith by hiding our questions, by sticking our head in the sand, or pretending like Theology doesn’t matter because I think theology is essential. And so I think asking these questions and wrestling with mysteries like atonement helps us to grow. Secondly, because our talk about atonement is a divine mystery, that is, we’re talking about the work of God, we will use metaphors. Metaphorical language is all we have in coming to this work of exploring the mysteries of God. Metaphorical language is not an untruth, but neither is it a literal truth. Metaphorical language, and this is the language we use in theology in talking about who God is, how God has revealed God’s self to us, what God is up to In all this work of theology, we use this symbolic language of metaphor that points us to a deeper meaning. Now we have to be careful, we don’t ever want to literalize a metaphor. If we make a metaphor literal, we create an idol. For example, throughout the scriptures, God is referred to as our rock. God is the rock of our salvation. Jesus is our cornerstone. That’s metaphorical language. God or Jesus is not literally a stone because to call a rock God would be creating an idol. It rather is something that’s earthly, a rock, that forms in our mind symbolic understanding So God is our rock, in other words, God is that firm foundation upon which we stand and build our life And so metaphors are not speaking an untruth, but they’re using symbolic language. So a more common metaphor. And metaphorical language would be something like, if there’s a heavy rainstorm, someone might say, it’s raining cats and dogs. Now again, they don’t literally mean that cats and dogs are falling from the sky. That would be silly But they are using symbolic language. So when we talk about atonement, we will be using metaphorical language And maybe the most popular metaphor in the sort of evangelical, charismatic, Pentecostal, non-denominational world that I’ve grown up in is this metaphor that the death of Jesus was him paying the price for our sins, that he was punished in our place. It goes something like this. We’ve sinned. We deserve to be punished. Jesus was punished in our place so that we can be forgiven. For years I was a coach in a basketball league that was a part of a church. It was a nationwide basketball league, but a local church in our community had a local chapter And it emphasized teaching character values as well as basketball skills. And I was a coach with my youngest son for a number of years, also refereed. I loved it. And one of the things that they did is they provided us with a DVD that was going to be a gospel presentation that we would give to each of our players. And I watched the DVD and I was a little disappointed because in Promoting and presenting the gospel, it really emphasized this punishment metaphor So in the video, there is a basketball player who disobeys his coach and breaks the team rules And the coach says to the player, Well, because you broke the rules, you know the consequences, you’re going to have to run a hundred laps. Well, he gets sick and is unable to run the laps. Well, if he doesn’t run the laps, then he can’t play in the big game that’s coming up. And so one of his teammates says, I will run the laps for him. And so a teammate runs the hundred laps in the gym so that the punishment can be meted out so that This player who broke the rules could be restored to the team and play in the big game. Now, this is a way of looking at the gospel that makes this punishment metaphor of atonement predominant Where I have seen the gospel much more as the story of Jesus not just his death, but his entire life and death and resurrection. But that was just one example just from my life, how I’ve seen how popular this metaphor is. So the question I have is, where did this idea that Jesus took our punishment, that Jesus was punished in our place, where did that come from? Now, would you be surprised to know that there is not one text of Scripture that says Jesus was punished on the cross for our sins Because as I was exploring this, like trying to figure out where this punishment metaphor comes from, I started in the scriptures, and I was really surprised that I couldn’t find anywhere in the scriptures where it clearly says Jesus was punished for our sins. In a previous episode we looked at two chapters in the Old Testament that are important, Psalm twenty two and Isaiah fifty three. There is one line in Isaiah 53, it’s verse 5, that does use punishment language. Now, in that previous episode, I was quoting from the New Living Translation Isaiah 53, 5 in the New Living says, but he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins, he was beaten so we could be whole. Now you don’t hear punishment in that translation, but other translations like the New Revised Standard Version, the very popular NIV. does use punishment language. So for example, here is Isaiah 53, verse 5, in the NIV, the New International Version. It reads, But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him So there is a verse that is speaking prophetically. Again, this text does not say, and Jesus of Nazareth was punished for our sins. This is Isaiah. This is the Old Testament, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus speaking prophetically That the Messiah, the suffering servant of Israel, who would be Israel’s king and savior, whom we believe is Jesus, but speaking prophetically, the Messiah would come and the punishment that brings us peace would be laid upon him. Now, as we saw in this previous episode, and by the way, this was episode 40 Entitled Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, Prophetic Images of the Cross. In that episode, we saw that the punishment Jesus received In fulfillment of Isaiah 53, 5 was Roman punishment, human punishment It would be good to go back and listen to that episode if you didn’t catch it, because I emphasized the small little phrase we thought. And that is again the new living translation in Isaiah 53. We thought Jesus was being punished by God for his own sins. It looked like Jesus was being punished by God. But actually, that’s not true. The New Revised Standard Version translation of Isaiah 53. 4, I think, is helpful The New Revise uses the phrase, we accounted. We accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. So from our vantage point, it looked like God was striking down the suffering servant who we believe is Jesus, but that was actually a human perspective that wasn’t actually what was happening. And even if you want to translate Isaiah 53, 5 as God punishing Jesus, You are on shaky ground because there are no other biblical texts that I am aware of that supports this. One of the very basic principles of interpreting scripture, of biblical theology, is that we do not form a doctrine around one verse. We want to hear what the whole of Scripture says. The other connected idea to Jesus being punished by God on the cross. Is the idea of the death of Jesus somehow appeasing the anger of God or satisfying the wrath of God? This was the topic of discussion between Brad Jerzak and I on the previous episode. And the English word for this concept of Jesus’ death appeasing the anger of God is propitiation. So the theory is that our sin evokes the righteous anger of a holy God, and it is justifiable anger. Because God resists, God has a moral objection to sin and evil And so in punishing Jesus, according to this theory, God is propitiated. His anger is satisfied And instead of that wrath falling on us, it falls on Jesus. This is what is known as the penal substitutionary theory of the atonement. And it’s quite popular among some Christians. Now, I warned you at the beginning of this episode that we were going to take a deep dive both into theology and to the Bible. So maybe you’re learning a new phrase, penal substitutionary atonement theory. But this is very popular as a metaphor, as a way of understanding the death of Jesus. And while I agree that there are some penal aspects to atonement, and by penal, we mean legal punishment aspects. I think that there are some penal aspects to the atonement, and there’s definitely substitutionary aspects, because I believe Jesus died for us in our place as our human representative. So that we can be free from sin, death, and hell. But I do not believe punishment or the anger of God is at the heart of the atonement. The problem for which the cross is the solution is neither God’s anger nor God’s need to punish. The problem is sin and death. This I see consistent throughout the New Testament. The enemy, the problem, is human sin and death. The problem isn’t that God needs a mechanism, a way to get punishment out there so that God’s anger can be satisfied. So where does this idea of propitiation come from? Where does this idea that Jesus satisfies the wrath of God, where does that come from? There is a theological tradition in Western Christianity for this theory. It does exist in the history of the church, but I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole. I don’t want to necessarily trace the history of this metaphor throughout theological history and church history. Instead I want to just deal with the scriptures I want to show you how one Greek word in the New Testament is poorly translated. The entire debate over penal substitutionary atonement is quite contentious, but I think it comes down to how we translate one Greek word. As you know, the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language. So what we are reading in our English Bibles is an English translation of the Greek language. And the one Greek word that I think gets poorly translated is the word Hilesterion. For the sake of time, let me just show you one place in the New Testament where this word is used in reference to the atonement. And it’s in the book of Romans. Romans three, verses twenty-three through twenty-five. It reads, Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are now justified by his grace as a gift Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forth as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed Now that’s Romans 3:23 through 25 in the New Revised Standard Version. And the phrase sacrifice of atonement This is the Greek word Hilisterion. And I think the New Revised Standard Version gets at the heart of Hilesterion. And I think this is a better translation. Some translations, including the new American Standard Version, the ESV, and I’m a big fan of the ESV, even though it has some problems. And most importantly, the King James Version of Romans 3. 25 uses the word propitiation. Here’s how Romans 3. 25 sounds in the King James Version. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Now, I once believed that propitiation was a proper definition of the Greek word hilosterion. In part because I was reading from the ESV. It was my primary translation for Bible study, for preaching, for daily Bible reading for about 10, 12 years. And I just accepted that propitiation, again, which is the idea of a God being appeased by a sacrifice, by the anger of a god being satisfied I thought propitiation was a good translation of the Greek word Helesterion because in the Greek language helion can mean propitiation But the question is, does Hilesterion mean propitiation here in Romans 3 and in other places in the New Testament? I say no, and here’s why. Now to answer this, I need to go even deeper into the Bible, how the Bible is written The Apostle Paul is writing in the Greek language, but remember that Paul has a Jewish mind. He is a Jewish thinker. who is using a non-Jewish language, Greek. The Bible that the Apostle Paul and the early church used was the Old Testament. But they relied on a Greek translation of the Old Testament, which is called the Septuagint. So if we want to understand how Paul is using this Greek word in his letter to the Romans, We need to look and see how that Greek word is used in the Septuagint? How is that Greek word used in the Old Testament? And the best place to see that word Hilisterion at work is in Leviticus 16, in the description of Yom Kippur, which is the Day of Atonement. So if you read Leviticus 16 in any translation in English, I think it is very helpful to read the entire chapter. I’m just going to pull out a few verses But I would encourage you read through Leviticus 16 in any English translation and ask yourself, where does Leviticus 16 the description of the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament law, where does it talk about punishment? Where does it talk about propitiation? Where does it talk about anger or wrath or the wrath of God being satisfied? If you go and you look for those concepts in Leviticus 16, you won’t find it at all So let’s look at a few verses. Let’s look at Leviticus 16, verses 14 through 16. And I want you to see how the word Hilesterion is used. Let’s start with verse 14. He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times. So on the day of atonement the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies after making sacrifice for his own sin, he would go into the Holy of Holies, and he would sprinkle blood upon the mercy seat The mercy seat was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant that was adorned with two angels with their wings bowed before each other So blood would be sprinkled on the mercy seat. Mercy seat is the word in English that is translating the Greek word Hilesterion. Hilesterion was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. The Hilesterion was the place of atonement. This is why the New Revised Standard Version translates Romans three twenty five as sacrifice of atonement. There’s even a little footnote in the New Revised Standard Version that says or place of atonement. Verse 15, Leviticus 16, verse 15. He shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering that is for the people. and bring its blood inside the curtain, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. Thus he shall make atonement. That’s the beginning of verse 16. So again, the word mercy seat is Hilisterion. The blood is being sprinkled on the mercy seat. So what Paul meant in Romans 3. 25 is that God put forth Jesus as the mercy seat. as the place where atonement is made. Because Jesus would be making atonement as a high priest. And Jesus would be the Lamb of God, the sacrificial lamb. It would be Jesus’ own blood that was being sprinkled Now, back to Leviticus 16. What was the result of atonement? Was it an act of punishment to appease the anger of God? That is not what Leviticus says If we go down to Leviticus 16, verse 30, this is what we read. For on this day, atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you. From all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord. So what Leviticus sixteen says about the act of atonement And in particular, the mercy seat, the Hillisterion, blood being sprinkled on the Hillsterion, what Leviticus 16 is saying is that the results of atonement is that we will be cleansed of our sin. If we read through the entire chapter of Leviticus 16, We don’t see anywhere in there that any of the sacrificial animals are being punished. There’s just no reference to punishment The sacrificial animals weren’t being punished. Their blood was being spilled. Their blood was being sprinkled because the sprinkling of blood would be that act of atonement. And was this to appease God, to satisfy the wrath of God? That’s not what Leviticus 16 says. It says the result is that we shall be made clean. The understanding here is that sin is like a pollutant in our in our soul, in our being, in our life And because we become polluted, we no longer bear the image of God, and it creates a separation. It creates a break in our relationship with God. But it’s not so much that God is holy and he can’t look upon us in our sin. Rather, God saw us corrupted and polluted by sin, and God came to us. in the person of Jesus to rescue us from that pollution and corruption of sin And at the heart of this rescue plan is the death of Jesus, where his blood becomes a sacrifice for atonement. To cleanse us, to forgive us, to heal us, and to break the power of sin off our lives So is punishment really necessary? It doesn’t appear so. Not if we’re reading Romans 3 and other references of atonement in the New Testament through the lens and the perspective of how the Old Testament talks about atonement Well, I know this was a bit of a deep dive. We went deep both into scripture and theology, but I hope it was helpful for you. To see that the primary metaphor in thinking about atonement is not punishment. Rather, it is sacrifice, it is cleansing, it is forgiveness and redemption.
Guest: Well, thank you for joining me for this episode. I hope it was helpful for you today. Go in peace and be kind.
This transcript was generated with AI and may contain errors.