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Pierced for Our Transgressions - Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution

Author:	Steve Jeffery, Mike Ovey and Andrew Sach
Published By:	Inter Varsity Press (Nottingham)
Pages:	368
Price:	£16.99
ISBN:	1 84474 178 8

Reviewed by Kevin Scott.

This review comes months after the storm which accompanied the publication of Pierced for our Transgressions. How does it read now that the dust has settled?

This is a book which sets out to make a point: to “argue that penal substitution is clearly taught in Scripture, that it has a central place in Christian theology, that a neglect of the doctrine will have serious pastoral consequences, that it has an impeccable pedigree in the history of the Christian church, and that all of the objections raised against it can be comprehensively answered.” (p.31)

Part 1 explores the biblical roots of penal substitution theology and seeks to demonstrate its centrality to Christian thinking. Predictably, much is made of the Passover prototype, although the authors seem to be unaware that there are other legitimate readings of the event. It is, for example, by no means clear that the Hebrew people were saved by the sacrifice of the lamb. Nevertheless, the book asserts that “the substitutionary element in the Passover is ... beyond dispute.” (p.38)

Other Christian writing is drawn on to lend support to the writers’ assertion that penal substitution theology “has been affirmed from the earliest days of the Christian church” (p.203). But despite the respectability of the sources -Justin Martyr, Eusebius, Athanasius et al - the passages quoted are far from conclusive. Their support of penal substitution is nothing like as self-evident as the authors claim.

Part II addresses the objections which have been made to penal substitution theories from a range of perspectives: biblical, cultural and so on. Prominent among them (Chapter 9, section 2) is the argument that such a theology requires God the Father to act towards God the Son in a manner inconsistent with that of a loving Father - the famous ‘cosmic act of child abuse’ cited by Steve Chalke.

Part I will have given some readers reason to feel uncomfortable about the tone. In it the writers do little to disguise their disdain for those they oppose, notably dissident evangelicals: “The more disturbing thing is that some of the more recent critics of penal substitution regard themselves as evangelicals, and claim to be committed to the authority of Scripture.” (p.25); “those who want to deny the doctrine and yet own the label ‘evangelical’ would do well to recognize just how far they are departing from their heritage.” (p.32). However, the tone of Part II is more even-handed, even if the arguments are far from compelling. Is it really true that “penal substitution plays an indispensable part” (p.214) in our understanding of the Resurrection? Is it adequate to argue that the sovereignty of God implies that God both willed and caused the death of Jesus (p.231ff)?

For those who are already convinced of the validity of penal substitution theology, this book will, no doubt, be reassuring. It is unlikely, though, to do a great deal to convince those readers who did not already agree with its main thesis.