Yet He Himself bore the sin of many

[Carbon]

In a time of spiritual decline and doctrinal confusion, it is desperately important for us to be clear about the cross. The atonement is attacked again as it has been throughout the centuries; many are again questioning biblical fundamentals regarding the atonement, secured for us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of Penal substitution is a biblical and orthodox theology. The Church was purchased by God with His own blood. Jesus died in our place and paid the full the penalty of our sin.


Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His life unto death,
And was counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers. Isaiah 53.

 

[Carbon]

I have heard some opponents of PSA say that PSA was invented by Calvin. I do believe Calvin addressed it, and through the word brought out the doctrine, which is essential to the gospel.
The early church didn't worry so much about the gospel (PSA), it was preached constantly. Their main concerns back then were the Trinity and the hypostatic union. These were the issues they were debating and defending.
Things took time to look into, test against scripture, and address them. For example, the early church, Augustine, for example, agreed with a pope, and many agreed with purgatory. It took some time to work through these. So, for the opponents of PSA to say it wasn't developed until the 16th century by Calvin are ill informed, and many have no idea what they are talking about.

 

[Carbon]

The doctrine of Penal substitution is a biblical and orthodox theology. The Church was purchased by God with His own blood. Jesus died in our place and paid the full the penalty of our sin.

The death determined for the second Adam, our representative, a death in virtue of the curse transferred upon him, which was long-lasting at that. It was indeed a long-lasting death; Jesus not only died on the cross, but all along the time of his life. That death worked in him from the womb until he was laid in the grave. He was born of a woman, and in a stable, no room for him, no cradle. His infant blood shed in circumcision as if he were a sinner. His life was sought and hunted as an infant, to where his mother had to run and hide in Egypt. He lived in a place where nothing good came from. Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.”John 1:46. He was ill-treated by the Jews and Gentiles until they finally put him to death on the cross.
His death was horrible. There was no pity, no sparing in it. The curse carried it to the highest degree. There was no sparing from an angry God - He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Rom 8:32.
There was no sparing from wicked men letting loose on him. Pushing him like bulls,
Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. Psalm 22:12.
roaring on him and devouring him like lions,
They open their mouths wide at me,
As a ravening and roaring lion. Psalm 22:13.
and rending him like dogs, when their hour of power was come,
For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet. Psalm 22:16.



Continued,

 

[Carbon]

The death determined for the second Adam, our representative, a death in virtue of the curse transferred upon him, which was long-lasting at that. It was indeed a long-lasting death; Jesus not only died on the cross, but all along the time of his life. That death worked in him from the womb until he was laid in the grave. He was born of a woman, and in a stable, no room for him, no cradle. His infant blood shed in circumcision as if he were a sinner. His life was sought and hunted as an infant, to where his mother had to run and hide in Egypt. He lived in a place where nothing good came from. Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.”John 1:46. He was ill-treated by the Jews and Gentiles until they finally put him to death on the cross.
His death was horrible. There was no pity, no sparing in it. The curse carried it to the highest degree. There was no sparing from an angry God - He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Rom 8:32.
There was no sparing from wicked men letting loose on him. Pushing him like bulls,
Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. Psalm 22:12.
roaring on him and devouring him like lions,
They open their mouths wide at me,
As a ravening and roaring lion. Psalm 22:13.
and rending him like dogs, when their hour of power was come,
For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet. Psalm 22:16.



Continued,

There was not a good word spoken to him in the midst of his torments, by those that stood by, but cruelly mocked and insulted by them. Not a good deed done for him. He wasn't even given a drink of water, but vinegar was offered to him in his thirst caused through the fire of divine wrath, drinking up his spirits and moisture. Even the heavens wouldn't give him it's light, but wrapped itself up in darkness from him.

 

[Carbon]

There was not a good word spoken to him in the midst of his torments, by those that stood by, but cruelly mocked and insulted by them. Not a good deed done for him. He wasn't even given a drink of water, but vinegar was offered to him in his thirst caused through the fire of divine wrath, drinking up his spirits and moisture. Even the heavens wouldn't give him it's light, but wrapped itself up in darkness from him.

He suffered all this voluntarily, submissively, and did not resist or complain, out of regard to the wronged honor of God.
Consider these words of his: No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.” John 10:18.
It was the Father's will - Psalm 40:6-8.

This is what the law demanded of them (us) for whom he suffered for. But how could we have borne the load of revenging wrath, Christ was provided to be our representative, and should bear our punishment, voluntarily and with perfect patience and resignation, that he should go "as a lamb to the slaughter," quietly resigning his human will to the divine will; and make his obedience in hi sufferings as conscicuous as hi=s sufferings themselves: that in midst of the extremity of his torments, he shpould not entertain the least unbecoming thought of God, but acknowledge him holy in all, Psalm 22:3 Yet You are holy, You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Nor yet, the least grudge against his murderers; in token of which, he prayed for them while he was on the cross, saying, "Father forgive them; for then know not what they do," Luke 23:34.

 

[EddieM]

He was born of a woman, and in a stable, no room for him, no cradle. His infant blood shed in circumcision as if he were a sinner.

Sorry for the mention of Christmas, I must have written this in December.

Here is a brief article I wrote over 30 years ago about the "stable" and no cradle.
I'd like to clarify something from the Christmas story in the spirit of good will. What I'd like to do is to come to the rescue of an apparently insensitive innkeeper who turned Mary away in her vulnerable condition, forcing her to give birth to Jesus in some stable. Here's my approach in doing that:

Below I have taken 3 passages from the Gospel according to Luke. Each section contributes to the Christmas story in some way. The first section, The Birth Narrative, is the main section, but within this section there exists one word that I believe has been mistranslated. The next two sections are summoned for the purpose of showing why I think the one word has been mistranslated. You decide.

The word mistranslated in most English translations of the Bible is “inn.” The famous line, “there was no place for them in the inn,” if left uncorrected, presents an entirely different picture of Christmas than Luke intended.

Due to time constraints, and I'm sure everyone has lots of shopping still to do, I'll be exceptionally brief.

Here's Luke's version of the birth of Jesus:

The Birth Narrative

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire for taxes. This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria . Everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David. He went to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him, and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

As you can see, the mention of this “inn” almost appears as an afterthought. It doesn't add anything substantial to the story as far as I can tell.

The Greek word behind “inn” is KATALUMA. So let me make a quick change to Luke's version of the birth of Jesus by rendering that last line thus:

“…there was no place for them in the KATALUMA”

For now, just hold that thought.

Next, we turn to the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is most fortuitous for us that Luke records this story, for in it he makes a clear reference to an “inn.” But in this story, Luke uses an entirely different word than KATALUMA. The word Luke chooses here for an “inn” is PANDOKEION. Here's Luke rendition of the Good Samaritan:

The Good Samaritan

But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.'

So here we sure enough have what I'd call an “inn.” This poor guy is brought to this motel along the roadside and left in the care of the innkeeper. But remember that Luke makes an unambiguous reference to an “inn” here, and he does so by using the word PANDOKEION, not KATALUMA as he did in The Birth Narrative. Why the switch in words. That, I hope, will become apparent shortly. For now, let's take a quick look at the last section of interest, The Passover Meal.

The Passover Meal

Then the day for the feast of Unleavened Bread came, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat.” They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare it?” He said to them, “Listen, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters, and tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”' Then he will show you a large furnished room upstairs. Make preparations there.” So they went and found things just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

In this final section, Luke once again uses the word KATALUMA; the same word he uses in The Birth Narrative. Did you see it as you read this last section?

Here it is:

‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the GUEST ROOM where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”'

The words “guest room” is KATALUMA. And you will note that in the very next verse, this KATALUMA is further defined as: a large furnished room upstairs (in the owner's personal residence).

To jump ahead, what I am contending here is that when Luke tells us in The Birth Narrative that “there was no place for them in the KATALUMA,” he is saying there was no place in the large furnished room upstairs. And the upstairs room is located in a residence.

The KATALUMA was a common room found in first century houses. It was the upstairs room within a person's house that was often used for visiting guests to spend the night. It was in this room, we are told, that Jesus and his disciples celebrated the Passover meal on Thursday night. And if Luke is consistent, it was in this kind of room that Joseph and Mary found no place. Why was there no place in this guest room?

To conclude, here's my rendition of what I think happened; I'll reconstruct Luke's Christmas story.

Joseph and Mary leave for Bethlehem to register for taxes. So did thousands of others. Since Mary was in no condition to travel with great haste, Joseph had to travel somewhat slowly. For this reason, by the time Joseph and his soon-to-give-birth wife [Were they 'married'?] Mary arrived in Bethlehem, many other relatives had already arrived, perhaps several days ago.

When Joseph arrives at one of his relative's house in Bethlehem , the KATALUMA, that is, the upstairs guest room, was already occupied by relatives who had arrived days ago. So, as Luke records for us, “there was no place for them in the guest room.”

There may have already been two or more families piled up in the KATALUMA. The picture I get is that it was packed. And in light of Mary's condition, I am quite sure that those already in the KATALUMA suggested that they relocate somewhere else so Mary could have the privacy she needed; after all, it was time for her to give birth any day.

But the KATALUMA presented a slight problem if you think about it. After giving birth, Mary would have to negotiate going up and down the stairs (remember, the KATALUMA is the UPSTAIRS room). So, I think the owner and Joseph both concluded that it would be far more convenient if Mary stayed in one of the bedrooms downstairs.

But what about this “manger?”

Many houses in the first century had a room adjoining the house where animals could stay, especially during the cold nights. This room would be somewhat comparable to our modern garage. If there were animals present, this room was cleared out due to the soon arrival of a baby. A makeshift crib would be needed, so Joseph cleans out one of the animals' feeding trough (a manger) and uses it for Mary's son. If the manger were small enough, it could easily be brought into the room where Mary and the baby Jesus were staying.

I promised to keep this brief, much more could be said, but for now, we have eliminated an (imaginary) insensitive innkeeper who turned Mary away in her condition. Not only that, we have eliminated the prior insensitivity of Joseph's relative who by implication had turned them away simply because there was no place available in his upstairs guest room.