I may be wrong, but to a a lot of people out there, this is a formal theological phrase. They can define what the phrase means. its one of those formal theological concepts, an entry in a theological dictionary representing a particular viewpoint.
Not me. To me, this phrase means life. This phrase is my only hope. Without this phrase, I’m undone.
I want to start with the middle adjective – substitutionary. It means in this instance that a man 2000 years ago was my own personal substitute. He took MY place in something, substituting himself for me. So now the question becomes, substituting for me in what manner?
That’s where “penal” comes in. Penal as in penalty. A very just punishment for a wrong willfully committed. That’s me. I willfully commit wrongs against my Creator, my God, whose name is Yahweh, the God of the Bible – on a daily basis. I fully, and I mean fully deserve this God’s wrath. I know this, it is no secret to me. There is a right and just punishment due for my willful choices and rebellion against the one who created me.
So this “theological” term means there was one who was my substitute for that fully deserved penalty. “Penal substitutionary” is just a phrase that represents this eternal miraculous truth that the man Jesus Christ, a real man in history who was also the God-man…did this for me. Took my place as a substitute. Paid the actual full penalty due me.
If you ever think this is a purely intellectual, theological term – it is not. You need to consider the massive weight of your guilt and ask God to show you the massive mercy and grace on display in this “term”.
As Jesus Christ endured the penalty, paying that “penal” price for ALL my sins, he satisfies the just penalty – thus removing it, and doing so as MY substitute so I no longer bear it.
Because of what he’s done, I am free. My full guilt has NOT been swept under a rug, leaving God actually unjust – instead it has been paid in full by my substitute on a cross.
Then there’s that glorious word at the end – “atonement”. What does that mean? Well…it means “at one”; that the parties involved are now fully reconciled to each other and are “at one”. Whereas before atonement I was an enemy of God, declared so by Him, after atonement we are reconciled. But not just reconciled as we can each go our own way in peace now. Oh no, far beyond that.
He adopts us. Stop and let that sink in. We become His children. We are also “at one” because we become a part of His family. If you want to see the incredible depth of this, read John 17 sometime and see what Jesus says about our inclusion in the inter-trinitarian love of God.
It’s mind blowing. Don’t pass the opportunity up to be a part. Repent and believe in Jesus as your penal substitute, the one who through that atones for you by forgiving your sins, imputing his righteousness into your account, and then adopting you as a child of God.