How Penal Substitutionary Atonement Developed from Old Testament to New Testament and Beyond.

Substitution is not a biblical word but it is a concept that can be traced back as far as the Old Testament. Penal is a legal word that the Oxford Dictionary defines as “connected with or used for punishment, especially by law”. The atonement in the Old Testament (OT) is visible in the sacrificial system for sin and guilt offering in which there was a need for atonement. 

An animal was a substitute for the people of Israel. It was slain In their place. The concept of this kind of substitution goes back to Abraham when Yahweh asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac but he used a ram in his place which was a substitute for him (Genesis 22)

In the book of Leviticus, John Stott tells us in his book The Cross of the Christ (p.136) when he says “God is revealed in the sacrifices as the judge who demands and the Saviour who provides atonement for sin”. This is so correct as God is holy and He does not tolerate sin and He judges sin by death as a consequence and so the Israelites had to bring a sacrifice to Yahweh for their sins as the animal was slaughtered 2 Chron. 29:20-24

On the Day of the Atonement reconciliation with God was only possible through substitutionary sin-bearing as the sin-offering animal was killed and the scapegoat was carried away to the wilderness with the sins of the people (Lev. 16:34).

The OT foreshadows Christ’s sacrifice through the Levitical system and also the prophets point out the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. As God is holy and does not tolerate sin and no sin is left unpunished by him so the atonement is depicted in theology as Jesus saving men from God the Father who is a just judge and does not compromise when it comes to His law.

The atonement proceeds from the Father but the Son is not passive as he fully participates in volunteering himself to take the punishment for humanity because of his compassion and great love for them. The death of Jesus on the cross represents the core of his mission that he came to die and dying was at the center of his mission.

As Christ took our place and he also died the death that we were supposed to die and became our curse and took our penalty as 1 John 2:2 tells us “he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also the sins of the world”. Jesus was innocent and without blemish, as he had no sin so he was perfect which was paramount as he needed to be sinless so that he could be our savior.

No one could make this perfect sacrifice except God himself, and no one else could also make it except man who needed to be spotless. Therefore, one who is man and God ought to make it and he must be perfect God and perfect man and only Jesus could make it as he was the perfect God-Man. For the apostle Paul, the cross was crucial for Christians as a means for our salvation which God provided.

Historically the idea of penal Substitute atonement was made popular during the Reformation and Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin were the pioneers. The atonement was God’s grace and mercy extended towards humanity and that he loved humans and did not want to see them perish (John 3:16). God’s love was present when Christ was on the cross and the wrath of God was poured out to him. 

Some modern-day don’t identify with the idea of atonement as it is an alien concept, especially to the western trained mind. Unlike in the African context where a penal substitute is very common e.g. when one is having bad luck, he can slaughter a goat and place all that bad omen on it and it will be transferred to the animal or when a young man impregnates a lady outside of marriage he pays the price usually a cow as a penalty to the family of the girl as he bought shame to them. So, the African context is not a foreign concept.

Also, the modern world does not recognize a good and just God and that humanity is fallen and they are consequences for sin so they do not understand why we need atonement as sin is not a popular thing anymore as people do as they please.

As the is not one single orthodox teaching about the atonement and like many doctrines of the atonement, penal substitute atonement does have its strength and weaknesses but I still think it is a good model as it is backed by theological Scripture (2 Cor 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:22; Rom 6:23) just to name a few and it is a model even though we do not find it in the bible it has biblical principles which I think is very helpful to make us understand the significance of the cross.