Friday, 4/10/09: What Really Happened at the Cross?
On this Good Friday Brad and Wayne talk about a growing doctrinal feud over the crucifixion of Jesus. Those who advocate for the view often called penal substitution, see the cross as God expending his wrath on the Son as a stand-in for the punishment we deserved and by doing so satisfying his demand for holiness. Many of them are now claiming that this view is so central to the Christian faith that those who do not embrace it are not truly Christian. But there is a growing voice that sees the cross as God expending his wrath on our sin and shame that Jesus held in his being, to effect a cure for broken and fallen humanity, and by doing so satisfies his love and holiness to bring us back into a valuable relationship with him. That view doesn't negate substitutionary atonement but embraces it in its fullest meaning.