Tag: Repentance

I’ve been reflecting on the Prodigal Son story recently. It’s an amazing parable that seems to encapsulate Jesus’ message of good news—the Gospel.

Part of my reflection has focused on how this relates to—and contrasts sharply with—one of the theories I once held about the atonement: Penal Substitution. I’ve spoken and written about this before, but not directly compared its logic with that of the Prodigal parable.

The Definition

Let’s begin with a definition. Penal Substitutionary Atonement, which gained prominence during the Reformation, holds that God’s justice required Jesus’ death so that He could forgive people’s sins.

God loves us, yet He is angry at our sin. Because He is holy, forgiveness requires His justice to be satisfied. Therefore, out of love, He punished His Son in our place. Jesus’ death appeased God’s wrath. Accept this, and you are free from it; reject it, and you face God’s anger. In summary, God killed Jesus for our benefit.

The Change

I once believed—and taught—this theory, convinced Jesus’ death satisfied God’s wrath. A few years ago, that belief was challenged, and I began to notice its flaws.

One challenge was the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Tax collectors and sinners gathered to hear Jesus, while Pharisees and teachers of the law complained, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” In that culture, sharing a meal signified full acceptance.

In response to their criticism, Jesus told three parables about loss: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Each story is intended to defend Jesus’ associations with these people and to defend the people themselves.

The Prodigal

Jesus told of a man with two sons. The younger son asked for his inheritance early, then left for a distant country, where he squandered everything in reckless living. After a famine struck, he grew desperate and took a job feeding pigs.

Realising his condition, he returned home to ask to be made a servant, believing he was no longer worthy to be a son. But the father felt differently. As he was still far away, his father saw him, ran to him, and embraced and kissed him.

The son confessed his sin, but the father ordered his servants to bring the best robe, a ring, and sandals, and to prepare a feast. “This son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

The Prodigal Revised

I love this story because it captures God’s heart and Jesus’ gospel message—seeking and saving the lost. But if we reimagined the parable through the lens of Penal Substitutionary Atonement, everything would change upon the son’s return:

Coming to his senses, he decided to return home and ask his father to make him a servant, saying he was no longer worthy to be called his son. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and ran to him. The father was about to embrace and kiss the young man, but then remembered how angry he was with his son for wasting his inheritance—never mind the drunken parties and sex outside marriage.

“Wait,” said the father. “I want to forgive you, but I need to deal with my anger first. Now, who can I direct my anger at?” The father thought about it and finally settled on his firstborn son. He ordered his servants to bring his other son, then to whip, beat, mock, and crucify him.

Once his son was dead, the father said, “That’s better. My sense of justice is fully satisfied. Now, my dear boy, here are the best robe, a ring, and sandals. Let’s prepare a feast to celebrate. Welcome home.”

The Problem

Somehow, I don’t think this version of the story would resonate as strongly as the original—yet that’s the point. We know no loving parent would ever act this way, so why do we ascribe this behaviour to God?

In his sermon on the Mount, Jesus acknowledged the goodness of earthly parents but said our Father in heaven is far better. I’m a good dad, and I love my kids. I would never punish one of my daughters for her sister’s wrongdoing. That’s not justice; that’s ridiculous.

The Point

The point is this: love drives the message of the cross, in direct contrast to the wrath-driven logic of Penal Substitutionary Atonement. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Suggesting that God’s wrath was satisfied by his son’s death diminishes both God’s loving nature and Christ’s sacrifice, unlike the father’s loving welcome in the parable.

To clarify, I affirm Substitutionary Atonement, but not in a penal sense. Paul writes: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness. Paul uses accounting language—like exchanging currency. If you’ve travelled, you’ll know the experience of visiting a money exchange to swap your dollars for local cash.

Because of the Cross, our sin has been exchanged for God’s righteousness. That’s an amazing trade. Our sin is placed on Jesus; his righteousness is placed on us, and it’s all rooted in divine love, not anger.

And that remains true today. God is not angry with you; he loves you, and nothing can separate you from his love. This is the heart of the good news: you are deeply and unconditionally loved. Let that truth shape your journey today and every day.

 

It’s no secret that I like to write and speak about current issues – be they ethical, moral, political or whatever.  It’s important to me to connect my Christian faith with the things people are talking about and experiencing in life, and not to be automatically AGAINST everything, which sadly is the message some Christians send.

If you read my blogs and social media posts you’ll realise that not everyone appreciates or agrees with my opinions and statements on these issues – and that’s fine!  But one comment I see time and again from well-meaning Christian people is that “they” (“they” being whoever I’m writing about) need to REPENT.

I spent the first few years of my Christian journey in a small Pentecostal church.  What they lacked in size they made up for in legalism and, every Sunday morning and evening, we’d get a healthy dose of it in the sermon as well as in “prophetic” words shouted from the platform.  God seemed to be permanently angry with us, and we simply weren’t good enough – ever!  We all knew what “REPENT” meant – God was ticked and we needed to change.  I get a similar impression from the comments I receive on blogs and Facebook posts that, “They need to repent.”

Now I’m not downplaying the importance of repentance to the Christian Gospel.  The word is found almost 80 times in the Bible, so it’s obviously a significant thing to God.  But exactly what does it mean to repent? Is God angry and shouting like my first pastor or does repentance indicate something kinder and gentler?

In the Hebrew tradition, in which the Bible has captured, the word translated as repentance is Teshuvah and means, “to return home.”  In Judaism and Christianity, this returning home is, “coming back into intimacy with the Father.”  Jesus beautifully illustrated the concept of Teshuvah in the parable of the lost (prodigal) son (Luke 15:11-32).  Notice that in the story the prodigal is motivated to return home because he’d run out of money and was starving.  He rehearsed a speech that he never got to finish because all he needed to do was return home to his Father who was looking out for his son.  The Father ran to him, embraced him, gave him a ring and a robe and threw a party.  The Father wasn’t angry with him; didn’t ask for an account of where he spent his inheritance or how many women he had sex with, and he didn’t ask his son to grovel and beg for forgiveness. I repeat, all the son had to do was return home (Teshuvah) and relax in the intimacy, grace and unconditional love of his Father.

Great joy and celebration should accompany Teshuvah – just as it was in Jesus’ parable. The Father told his grumpy oldest son, (who reminds me of some of those who comment on my blogs and posts), “we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”  When we’ve sinned and gone astray, it’s so easy for us to fall into regret, depression, helplessness, hopelessness and extreme sadness.  I saw people do that in the church I mentioned earlier and I’ve seen children do that when it seems they can never please a parent: “If I can never be good enough then why bother trying?”  Some people bring that attitude to their relationship with God and certain “Christian” teaching only reinforces this. I’ve seen people walk away from God because they see Him as unappeasable, angry and relentlessly demanding.

Remorse for our sin is important, as is an awareness of how we’ve hurt God, others and ourselves, but all of this should only drive us to return home and, when we do, our gracious Father is waiting with open arms.

I woke up early this morning and started my day by reading the Bible. In my daily reading I was up to the prophet Malachi – the last book of the Hebrew Scriptures. I’ve read this many times but this morning something jumped out at me in Malachi 3:7-8, “Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’…In tithes and offerings.”
In this chapter, Malachi the prophet is addressing the fact that many of God’s people had drifted away from Him. Malachi encourages the people to return to God. The people ask the question, “How shall we return?” The answer is not what they – or I – would expect. The first thing God addresses is their financial giving: “In tithes and offerings.”

This is a recurring theme in the Bible because our attitude towards money and material things is a good indicator of the spiritual temperature of our hearts.

Money is such an important topic in the Bible that it is the main subject of nearly half of the parables Jesus told. In addition, one in every seven verses in the New Testament deals with this topic. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, and more than 2,000 verses on money. In fact, 15 percent of everything Jesus ever taught was on the topic of money and possessions – more than His teachings on heaven and hell combined.

Why does the Bible have so much to say about money? The answer is simple, because there is such a strong connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and handle finance.

I’ve heard it said that you could get a good feel for someone’s spiritual commitment by looking at two pieces of tangible evidence – their diary and their credit card statement. While this may be a bit simplistic, it’s certainly true that how we spend both our time and money is a good reflection of who we are. Given this, is it really so surprising that the Bible talks so much about financial issues?

Jesus put it this way: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jesus also said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon is an Aramaic word that is wrongly rendered “money” in some translations. The word means more than that though. Mammon is literally “the worship of material things.” Jesus was teaching that it is impossible to worship material things and God at the same time. No one can serve two masters, He said.

This brings us back to Malachi’s answer to the people’s question “how shall we return” to God? “In tithes and offerings” replied the prophet. That is, by bringing to God the first tenth of any increase or income as well as giving offerings/contributions, we conquer the inbuilt human love of money and we make sure our hearts are focused in the right direction by placing treasure in the right place. It’s really quite simple!