In his chapter in the recent book The Atonement Debate<\/span>, Steve Chalke begins to argue against penal substitution (PSA). He starts in a surprising, and to me, a deeply concerning way. One of my major concerns about this whole debate is what a rejection of PSA does to our view of the Bible. The concept of God\u2019s wrath is very prominent in the Bible, culminating in the famous dilemma of Romans 3 where Paul essentially asks how can God be both JUST and yet FORGIVE our sin. In the context of Romans, to me that answer is simple\u2014because Jesus took away that wrath and bore our punishment.<\/p>\n Chalke sidesteps the issue of the wrath of God by attempting to remove the issue of the sacrifices of the Old Testament from the discussion by claiming:<\/p>\n \u201cThe emphasis on Yahweh\u2019s apparent appetite for continuous appeasement through blood sacrifice, present within some Pentateuchal texts, is to be understood in the light of later prophetic writings as a reflection of the worship practices of the pagan cults of the nations that surrounded the people of Israel. However, the story of Israel\u2019s salvation is the story of her journey away from these primal practices towards a new and more enlightened understanding by way of Yahweh\u2019s self-revelation.\u201d (page 38, The Atonement Debate<\/em>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This quote is simply breathtaking coming as it does from the pen of a professed evangelical. First of all, it seems that Chalke takes a very different view of Scripture to that of the majority of evangelicals. The books of Moses are not to be contradicted by later revelation! These sacrifices were demanded by the actual audible voice of God recorded infallibly by Moses. Chalke\u2019s comments only make sense if he doesn\u2019t believe that the Pentateuch is actually God\u2019s Word. Moses records that God did not merely \u201caccommodate himself\u201d to the local culture; he actively commanded sacrifice!<\/p>\n Of course it\u2019s not just the Pentateuch with which Chalke\u2019s comments seem to disagree. In his attempt to separate what Jesus did on the cross from biblical notions of sacrifice, one has to wonder what he would make of the book of Hebrews. On page after page the writer to the Hebrews directly connects Jesus\u2019 death with that of the lambs and goats of the Old Testament sacrifices. Hebrews 9:22 says, \u201cWithout the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins\u201d and clearly declares of Jesus in verse 26, \u201cHe has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.\u201d<\/p>\n