Then there is the concept that PSA claims, that God punishes the innocent so that the guilty can go free. This is simply a travesty of justice, and does not in any way declare God's righteousness or justice. Also PSA cannot speak about the forgiveness of sins, if the penalty has been paid.
Thanks Trevor for sharing your thoughts. For me, PSA is explicitly taught in Scripture, I believe people's biases, conjecture, presuppositions either muddy the waters, or blatantly refuse to accept without any supporting evidence. Scripture is clear that Christ signed his death warrant knowing exactly what he has to do.
Christ was born in the flesh under the Law; Galatians 4:
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman,
born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law. Why does Christ do this? Because Christ came to do his Father's will. John 6:
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
How does Christ do this? Christ has to redeem us and become a curse for us, and fulfill the Law with perfect Law-keeping which restores the broken Covenant of Works that Adam breached by his One Act of Disobedience.
The Greek word for “redeem” in the Bible is
exagorazo. It was a financial term that referred to the process of purchasing a slave’s freedom. When a slave was “redeemed,” he or she was no longer bound to the rules and expectations of a slave’s life. So, to be
redeemed from the curse of the law means to be set free from its rules and regulations. In other words, those who are redeemed from the curse of the law are no longer required to observe the law’s commands as the Israelites were.
Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”.
So you can see that Christ willingly volunteered to become a curse to redeem us. He condemns our sin in his flesh as they are imputed to Christ, bore in his body, the Christ who knew no sin, became sin for us.
1 Peter 2:
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 3:
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins,
the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh
We are convicted felons on death row awaiting state of execution, judgment and the sentence has been handed down. But Christ steps in as our penal substitute paying the ransom to God for our sins.
Colossians 2:
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Christ once and all pays for all our sins; the only sacrifice that will take away our sins forever. Romans 3:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This means that Christ; the righteous for the unrighteous SUFFERED once for sins; meaning that he receives the full punishment upon his head for us, in our stead.
And the clearest passages on PSA, is Isaiah 53.
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
People tend to reject PSA, and say is non-sense or cosmic child abuse for the Father to abuse an innocent child who got in the way of a blood thirsty deity looking for revenge. This couldn't the furtherest from the truth. There was no other way to redeem the lost condemned souls from their fate. This is the greatest act of Love demonstrated in the Cosmos for all to witness. That Christ triumphs in his victory over sin, death, and Satan to redeem us through his suffering, afflictions, blood shed, crushing, buried among the wicked, Crucified and hung on tree by becoming a curse for us, the righteous for the unrighteous.
By Grace Alone!
I want to thank someone in challenging us on this topic, I have grown in this glorious doctrine that gives all the glory to God Alone in redeeming the ungodly!
