F4F | Debunking Progressive Attacks Against Penal Substitution

The Channel’s Purpose and the Topic of Penal Substitution

Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough. I am your servant in Jesus Christ. This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God.

Now today we're gonna return to Stephen Chalk. I was calling him shock and some people sent me, you know, pronunciation corrections and I always accept those because I don't always know how to properly pronounce things.

But we're going to return to the United Kingdom, to Stephen Chalk, and this is a fellow who is a progressive. And as a progressive, progressives as a general rule, and now there may be some exceptions, but progressives as a general rule hate the doctrine of penal substitution.

The other name for that doctrine, by the way, is also known as a vicarious satisfaction or vicarious substitution, things along these lines, where the idea is that Christ dies for our sins. He dies in our place and he propitiates the wrath of God and he expiates our sins.

We'll talk about this in a little bit. So what progressives do is they like to talk about so-called atonement theories. And by the way, I'm gonna make a claim. There is no such thing as an atonement theory.

If anybody has come up with an atonement theory, well, that means they're just not engaging in biblical exegesis. The Bible reveals what it is that Christ accomplished for us on the cross, flat out. And there's a Latin phrase that we use in Lutheranism, and the name of the phrase, the way the phrase goes, it's quad non est biblicum, non est theologicum.

If it's not in the Bible, it's not theology. If it's not in the Bible, it's not theology. So when it comes to what Christ did on the cross and what he accomplished, we do not have freedom as Christians to reject what God has revealed regarding what Jesus did.

There are no theories of the atonement. There are only aspects of what Christ did on the cross that are revealed and explained to us in Scripture. And so Scripture talks about Christ's death as being propitiatory, as being an expiation, talks about it as being a redemption, also talks about it as being a ransom, also talks about it as being a victory.

So when we talk about Christ's substitutionary work, we're looking at two aspects of what he did on the cross, specifically a propitiation and expiation, and we'll take a look at a lot of biblical texts in this regard.

And so you might want to get a Bible. We're gonna do a lot of heavy lifting on this one. And I got to warn you ahead of time, if blasphemy makes you angry, there's a really good chance that what Stephen Chalk says in this video is going to anger you.

And we're gonna keep our anger within the spectrum of righteous anger rather than crossing the line over into sinful anger. There is a difference between those two things. So all of that being said, let me whirl up the desktop and pull up our web browser here, and we'll let him spin this out.

And I'm gonna note, the most important words that he says as far as applying biblical discernment occur really quickly, early on, and if you miss it, you're going to kind of miss how you attack something like this.

But let's let Chalk dive in,.

Shall we? Over the last few weeks, I've talked about my view that the God of the.

Bible is holiness. Ah, now see, there we go. See, the important words were my view. Mm-hmm. So here's the idea. When it comes to biblical doctrine, I don't have a view. I should not have a view. If I have a view, that's a problem.

I then subscribe to what is revealed in Scripture, and my goal is to not have a view. My goal is to adopt what God has revealed in His Word and subscribe to and adhere to and bend the knee to God's view.

That's kind of the prerogative of God revealed in Scripture. So yeah, let me back this up so you can kind of hear it again, and.

We'll note the words, my view. Over the last few weeks, I've talked about my view that the God of the Bible is holiness. In other words, His difference or uniqueness is His love. Love, the Bible teaches us, is not one of the qualities that God possesses, but His very essence.

Love is not some minor attribute that sometimes characterizes God's behavior, but His essential being. Love is not a component part of God, but His very nature. All right, so his view is that love is not a.

Component part of God, but His very nature. Well, in order to be correctly speaking about God, you're going to need biblical texts to back all of this up. And then my immediate question is, what do you do with the biblical text that so clearly teach that God, who is love, has wrath towards those who have sinned against Him?

And by the way, that's all of us. That's me and you included. So, already we got a problem here is that His view seems to be the thing that He's putting front and center here, rather than a in-depth look and a meaningful look at what God has revealed in His written Word through His prophets and apostles.

God is love. Indeed, yes, 1st John says that. That being the case, why would you take a biblical text like, God is love, and then use that to obliterate.

Other passages? Watch where he goes with this. So, in that case, why do we sing so many worship songs about the wrath of God having to be satisfied by Jesus'.

Death on the cross? Because the Bible says that. I mean, this isn't rocket surgery! Why do we sing so many songs about the wrath of God being satisfied by the death of Christ on the cross? Because the Bible actually says that.

So, let's do our biblical work here. Grab a Bible. We're going to take a more in-depth look at the propitiatory, substitutionary work of Christ. And I've prepared one particular, you know, it's a slight, how do I put it, presentation to at least get two things in place.

This isn't really a presentation. It's more of a less a slide, but you get the idea. So, when we talk about Christ's death on the cross, there are two major aspects, but there are more than this. But two of the major aspects of Christ's sacrifice on the cross deal with one aspect of which we call propitiation.

To propitiate means to appease, to placate, to satisfy. And you'll note that in the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, which are the types and shadows, there are specifically propitiatory sacrifices that appease, satisfy, and placate the justice and the wrath of God.

And then the second aspect of this is to expiate. To expiate means to remove or to annul or to cancel. So, that being the case, let's take a look. I'm going to go into the book of Leviticus chapter 16.

We'll kind of start here and note a few things in relation to this. The day of atonement in the Old Testament sacrificial system was one of the only times where all sins can be forgiven. Not only unintentional sins, but intentional and high-handed sins could be forgiven on the day of atonement.

And you're going to note then that there are two animals specifically for the people. One dies as a propitiatory sacrifice. The other has the sins of the people expiated, taken off the people, and put on the animal.

And so, in the day of atonement, you have to look at both the sacrificial goat and the scapegoat as both working together as a unit. They are not to be understood apart from each other. They have to go together as a unit.

So, let's take a look here. So, Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron. They had offered strange fire when they drew near to Yahweh and they died. And Yahweh said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat that is on the ark so that he may not die.

For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way, Aaron shall come into the holy place with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. You're going to note here that as part of the day of atonement sacrifices, Aaron has to offer sacrifices for his sins.

He has to offer sacrifices for the purpose of cleansing the implements of the temple itself or the tabernacle. And then you have the two sacrificial animals, one for propitiation, one for expiation. So, then he shall put on the holy linen coat, shall have the linen undergarment on his body.

He shall tie the linen sash around his waist, wear the linen turban. These are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and put them on. He shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats.

Now, here's where we go, okay? One for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. And you kind of get the idea. So, we got one for a sin offering, one for a burnt offering. Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself.

He shall make atonement for himself, for his house. Then he shall take the two goats, set them before Yahweh at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for Yahweh and the other for Azazel.

Azazel, tough concept to pull into English because we're not 100 certain. But the idea is you can kind of say, and one for the devil to send off to the demons, but with the sins of the people removed from them.

So, we'll kind of show you the implications here. So, one for the Lord, one for Azazel. Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh and use it as a sin offering. This is a propitiatory sacrifice.

This is to satisfy the wrath and the justice of God. But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before Yahweh to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

And you'll note that this scapegoat then, that the sins of the people are imputed to it. They're lifted off the people, put on the goat. And so, here we've got an expiation working out and then that goat with its sins are sent back to the devil, to the demons.

So, Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself. He shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before Yahweh, two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil.

He shall put incense on the fire before Yahweh that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony so that he does not die. And then he shall take some of the blood of the bull, sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side in front of the mercy seat.

And he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Then he shall kill the goat for the sin offering. And there we go. So, this is to satisfy the wrath of God. This is the propitiatory aspect that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil to do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat in front of the mercy seat.

Thus, he shall make atonement for the people, for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel because of their transgressions and all their sins. And he shall do for the tent of meeting which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanness.

No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all of the assembly of Israel.

So, again, this is serving then as a sacrifice that propitiates the wrath of God. We'll talk about this a little bit more in a minute. Then he shall go out to the altar before Yahweh and make atonement for it.

He shall take some of the blood of the bull, some of the blood of the goat, put it on the horns of the altar all around, and he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the people of Israel.

And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place and for the tent of meeting, he shall present the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel and all their transgressions, all their sins, and he shall put them on the head of the goat and then send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.

The goat shall, watch this, bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area. He shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.". So you'll note, one goat dies as a sin offering, a sacrifice, an atoning, propitiatory sacrifice.

The other represents expiation, and I'll come back to our thing here. So the goat that dies propitiates and appeases and placates and satisfies God's justice and wrath. The expiation is a picture then of the sins being removed from the people, which then means that something else has borne their sins.

And so Christ's death on the cross is described in these terms. So all of that being said, you got the basic gist of it. Here's the types and shadows. Now Hebrews 9 also bears this out for us in explaining how this all works.

Talking about Christ, it says, "...Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal heritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not enforced as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.".

And we'll talk about this from Exodus chapter 24 in a minute. "...for every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people. He took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.

And in the same way, he sprinkled the blood, both the tent and the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.".

So, Scripture makes it clear that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. Christ's blood is the one that is shed for us. It is shed, and His blood then is held up as a ransom. This is the other aspect of it, not because we're being held hostage, but the idea of one life for the other.

One vicariously dies in the place of the other. And so, you get the idea. And the Book of Romans does a great job of explaining how all the sacrificial system works. So, then you'll note that Christ, on the night that He's betrayed, in the Gospel of Mark, says these words, "...as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them and said, Take, this is my body.

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.". And so, you'll note when Christ talks about His blood being poured out, and it is the blood of the covenant, which covenant?

The new covenant that is poured out for many. This harkens back to the Book of Exodus chapter 24, where it talks about the blood of the covenant for the Mosaic covenant that Romans 9 then made reference to.

And it says this in Exodus 24,. "...Moses came and told the people all the words of Yahweh, all the rules, and all the people answered with one voice, All the words that Yahweh has spoken we will do. Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.

He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain and 12 pillars, according to the 12 tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to Yahweh.

Moses took half the blood, put it in basins, half the blood, threw it against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, All that Yahweh has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.

Moses took the blood and threw it on the people. Behold the blood of the covenant.". This is the blood of the Mosaic covenant that Yahweh has made with you in accordance with all of these words. So you'll note that the Mosaic covenant was inaugurated with blood.

The New Covenant that we're under as Christians is also, you know, there's blood involved, and that's the blood of Christ. It's His blood that is the blood of the New Covenant, and as Hebrews makes it clear then that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

So then coming back then, we looked at Leviticus 16 and how the two goats represent two concepts, propitiation and expiation, and if you consider Jesus' death on the cross and what happened regarding...where's my Matthew text?

Hang on a second here, I gotta find a text that I had set up ahead of time. That's not it. There we go. Barabbas. All right, so all of that being said, I want you to consider then the real day of atonement for all of us, which is the day that Christ died on the cross.

We call it Good Friday, and we recently observed that just a couple of weeks ago. But all that being said, watch then how the types and shadows of Leviticus 16 come into play. Christ becomes the propitiatory sacrifice, and Jesus' expiatory work of bearing our sins in our place then is played out with the convicted murderer Barabbas.

And watch how this plays out. So Matthew 27, 15, it says, Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted, and they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

And so when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ? Because they knew it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.

Now Barabbas, by the way, in Aramaic, Barabbas, that means the son of the father. Very fascinating little bit of information. And a lot of people don't know that, even Christians, because these types of details of scripture sadly are not taught in many churches.

So Barabbas means son of the father. What an interesting name, kind of a double entendre. He's a convicted murderer. And so Pilate says, Who do you want me to release for you? They knew that they had delivered Jesus up because they were jealous of him.

And besides, he was sitting on the judgment seat. His wife sent word, Have nothing to do with that righteous man. I've suffered much because of him today in a dream. Now the chief priests and the elders, they persuaded the crowd, and they asked for Barabbas to destroy Jesus.

The governor again said to them, Which of the two do you want me to release to you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ? And they said, Let him be crucified.

And then he said, Why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, Let him be crucified. Now you're going to note then the cross that Jesus dies on is Barabbas's cross. And Barabbas, a convicted murderer, is allowed to go free.

Why? Because Jesus is bearing his penalty for him. And so Barabbas is a picture of what we see in the day of atonement. Christ is his atoning sacrifice. And Barabbas's sins are taken off of him and put onto Jesus.

So that's why in the day of atonement, you have both an expiatory picture as well as a propitiatory picture. All of that being said, I want you to consider this, that there are texts very explicitly in the New Testament that say that Christ's death was propitiatory.

And so you'll note then in Romans 3 .25, it says, God put forward Jesus as a propitiation, and there it is, okay, to satisfy the wrath of God, a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over the former sins.

Hebrews 2 .17 says, therefore, he had to be made like his brothers, talking about Christ in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make what?

Propitiation for the sins of the people. 1 John 2 .2 saying about Christ, he is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 4 .10 says, in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

And I'll note that Stephen Chalk quotes 1 John, God is love, and somehow ignores the fact that 1 John, that same epistle, says that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. That being the case, we should consider a few more texts.

Number one, Paul, in telling us what the gospel is, and this is the good news, and he got this directly from Jesus via direct revelation of Jesus, he says this, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel that I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word that I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered as of first importance what I also received. Here it is, Christ died for our sins. Now, the question is, what does that mean? We'll talk about that in a minute. In accordance with the scriptures, he was buried and raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture, and he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

So, if it says Christ died for our sins, the idea here is that that's clearly pointing to Christ's substitutionary work. He is dying vicariously in your place and mine. To save us from what? Well, the very thing that you're going to hear Stephen Chalk deny that God has, but scripture says this.

Note again, John, the gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 36, the same guy who wrote 1 John, which Stephen Chalk is misquoting or quoting against other passages of scripture, says this, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

I'm pretty sure that the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's the apostle John, is a firm believer in the wrath of God, and he is, because scripture clearly teaches this, and he also was taught it by whom?

Christ himself. Now, Paul says in Romans chapter 1, verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Does God have wrath? You bet your bippy he has wrath. Then also consider what Paul says in that same book, Romans, and in chapter 2, verses 5 to 8, he says this, but because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

He will render each according to his works to those who by patience and well -doing seek glory and honor in immortality. He will give eternal life, but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Romans 5 puts it then this way, therefore, since we have been justified declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope doesn't put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

So, while we were still weak then, at the right time, watch this, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.

But God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God?

The Apostle Paul, who was given the gospel by Jesus himself directly, is also an affirmer of what? The wrath of God. Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3 says it this way, and you, before you were Christians, you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature, what?

Children of wrath. Whose wrath? God's, like the rest of mankind. Paul then goes on to say in Ephesians 5 verses 1 to 8, Be imitators of God as beloved children. Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.

So sexual immorality, all impurity, or covetousness must not be named among you as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking which are out of place. Instead, let there be thanksgiving.

For you may be sure of this, everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. So let no one deceive you with empty words.

And I'm going to say this warning applies to Stephen Chalk. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, all the things listed above, the what? The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Paul then also says in Colossians chapter 3, Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming.

And then you'll note in the book of Revelation, we also have examples of God's wrath being poured out on humanity, and it explicitly talks about the great day of God's wrath coming in multiple passage, and that's also written by the apostle John.

So I'm going to note that I'm going to trust John, I'm going to trust Paul, I'm going to trust the other biblical authors over Stephen Chalk, who seems to be intentionally omitting these texts or using an unlawful hermeneutic to quote a passage of Scripture to obliterate other passages.

God is love means that he doesn't have wrath? No, that's not biblical because Scripture shows us that not only has God loved us, but that God is also just, and therefore our sins have offended God, and we've earned justice.

And God's justice against our sins is wrath, and that's what Christ did on our place. With all that being said, this is where the key text then comes into play, and that is Isaiah chapter 52, starting at verse 13, through Isaiah 53, talking about explicitly Christ's substitutionary work.

So here's what it says. And this is, by the way, we know that this is about Jesus, and I'll give you a text to help you out along these lines. We know this is about Jesus because in Luke 22, verse 37, Jesus quotes from this passage of Isaiah and says he's going to fulfill it.

So Jesus says this text is about him. So Jesus says, for I tell you this, that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me, and he was numbered with the transgressors, for what is written about me has its fulfillment.

So Christ, quoting from Isaiah 53, says that it must be fulfilled in me, that that text is about him. We also know from Acts chapter 8, the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53, like a sheep that was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

In humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation, for his life is taken away from him? And so the eunuch said to Philip, about whom, I ask, does this prophet say this, about himself or someone else?

And Philip then opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. So we have Jesus saying it's about, Isaiah 53 is about Jesus. We have Philip saying it's about Jesus.

We have Peter in another text saying it's about Jesus. So I'm going to go with these guys, that Isaiah 53 is about Christ. So all that being said, this particular portion of Isaiah, known as the Song of the Suffering Servant, begins at verse 13.

Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up, and he shall be exalted. As many as were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.

So this is talking then about the beatings that Jesus suffered. On the cross, you wouldn't have recognized him. He was so badly beaten, bruised, and bloodied, that he was marred beyond human semblance.

So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. So who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? 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.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.