Atonement, Justice, and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church <\/a> ) gives a provocative reading of Isaiah 53\u2019s Suffering Servant. He argues that the passage doesn\u2019t teach a penal substitutionary view of the atonement. He isolates two issues: First, he claims that the Servant does not suffer instead of the people but along with them. Since \u201cthe penal substitution view . . . claims that the people do not suffer for their sins but are spared the suffering they deserve,\u201d Isaiah 53 is not \u201can example of penal substitution\u201d (230). <\/p>\n Second, the penal substitution view assumes that the \u201cour\u201d suffering is still future and that the Servant\u2019s suffering ensures that the judgment from coming (230-1). So, for instance, one might say that Jesus as the Servant suffers on the cross so that we will not suffer the future judgment of eternal punishment. <\/p>\n
Belousek concludes, with Morna Hooker, that the Servant doesn\u2019t suffer by an \u201cexclusive place-taking\u201d but by \u201cinclusive place-taking,\u201d which is \u201crepresentational\u201d rather than \u201csubstitutionary.\u201d <\/p>\n
I find this unconvincing on two points. <\/p>\n
First, the account of penal substitution seems to be a very narrow one. It seems possible to have a penal substitution view that goes something like this: The people are suffering the just judgment for their sins; the Servant comes alongside and shares that judgment; by sharing that suffering, He draws their suffering to Himself, so that, while He doesn\u2019t remove all the consequences of the people\u2019s sins (they suffer the consequences of sin, including death) He bears and removes the final consequence, eternal death. I\u2019m not claiming this is the point of Isaiah 53, only suggesting that penal substitution need not be \u201cexclusively exclusive.\u201d <\/p>\n
Second, and more importantly, there seems to be a sleight of hand in Belousek\u2019s account of the Servant\u2019s co-suffering. He rightly notes that in Isaiah 53, \u201c\u2018our\u2019 suffering is both <\/em> a due judgment and a present reality\u201d (231). Zion is bereft and her children in exile; whatever the Servant does, He won\u2019t deliver her from all <\/em> her suffering, because she is already suffering. The \u201cwe\u201d of Isaiah 53 deserves to suffer because of \u201cour\u201d sins, but the Servant is sinless and thus suffers without guilt. Guilt is exclusively ours, but suffering is shared: \u201c\u2018we\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019 are both suffering\u2019 but only \u2018we\u2019 deserve it\u201d (231). <\/p>\n That\u2019s all plausible. What\u2019s less clear is how this escapes what Belousek wants to escape, namely, the conclusion that God punishes the innocent Servant. Here\u2019s where the sleight of hand seems to come in: The people (\u201cwe\u201d in Isaiah 53) suffer because of God\u2019s judgment against their sins. The Servant enters into their suffering, which must mean that the Servant comes under the judgment of God \u2013 since that\u2019s the cause of the suffering in the first place. Belousek says that \u201cthe people do <\/em> suffer exile for their own sins, which reveals God\u2019s judgment upon his people\u201d (231), but if that\u2019s true, and if the Servant shares the curse of exile, doesn\u2019t that mean he also comes under \u201cGod\u2019s judgment upon his people.\u201d And if the Servant is Jesus, then Jesus\u2019 sym-pathe with sinful human beings necessarily means that He enters under the judgment of God. <\/p>\n Perhaps Belousek is satisfied with loosening the connection between God\u2019s judgment and the Servant\u2019s suffering. In his view, God doesn\u2019t beat the innocent Servant while the people look on from a distance; in His view, God doesn\u2019t exhaust His wrath exclusively on the Substitute. God judges the Servant indirectly, insofar as the Servant willingly enters into the curse that God has placed on the people. Still, it\u2019s important to see that Belousek doesn\u2019t eliminate the penal element from the picture. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Darrin Belousek ( Atonement, Justice, and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church ) gives a provocative reading of Isaiah 53\u2019s Suffering Servant. He argues that the passage doesn\u2019t teach a penal substitutionary view of the atonement. He isolates two issues: First, he claims that the Servant does not suffer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-ot-isaiah","category-theology-soteriology"],"yoast_head":"\n
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