Adoption vs. Penal Substitutionary Atonement

In Sunday’s message we talked some about the penal substitutionary atonement theory, which is one view of what happened on the cross (and it is particularly popular with evangelicals). It stresses that we are guilty, that God judges sin, and that the result was that God condemned Jesus who took our place when we should have died on that cross.

In Romans 8, Paul uses a number of different images to explain what happened through Jesus’s death. There are even hints of penal substitutionary atonement. However, the one he spends the most time on is the one that is most common in the New Testament: the picture of being given the Spirit and therefore being adopted into God’s family.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. - Romans 8:14-17

In Galatians 4 Paul also explains this process - a legal adoption into God’s family - as being the entire point of Jesus coming to earth, teaching us the ways of this new family, and ultimately dying. As you read this second piece of scripture, pay attention to what brings encouragement, what seems too good to be true, and the sorts of questions these raise for you.

 But when the set time had fully come,God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeemthose under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. - Galatians 4:4-7