So last night Rebecca and I paid a visit to our home church at Castlereagh Gospel Hall in Belfast. They were having a special outreach night. They normally just have a Gospel preacher who comes and preaches his we heart out, but last night they showed a Steve Chalke DVD. Rather forward thinking for a Brethren service. Afterwards though I was hearing whispers that Steve Chalke had gone of the rails and had gone away from evangelicalism. I thought I should do some research on this rather than listen to nasty rumours that get spread around. But right enough it seems that Steve Chalke has, in his latest book The Lost Message of Jesus, claimed that he doesnt believe in the doctrine of Penal Substitution. Penal what you say? That's what I thought...
Wikipedia is good on this one
"Penal substitution is a theory of the atonement within Christian theology, especially cherished by Evangelicals of the Reformed tradition. Penal substitution means that Christ is punished (penal) in our place (substitution), thus satisfying the demands of justice, so God can justly forgive. It is thus a specific understanding of substitutionary atonement, where the substitutionary nature of Jesus` death is understood in the sense of a substitutionary punishment. It is also a specific form of satisfaction doctrine which focuses on God's justice being satisfied by Christ's bearing the punishment meant for sinners."
So I was thinking, what does Steve Chalke think was happening to Jesus when he was on the cross... maybe I should read his book and find out. I'll add it to my holiday reading list.
4 comments:
Alright Stevie,
I'd heard that too, though thank you so much for providing the explanantion of what penal substitution is.
Though I may write a book defining it as when another player is forced to come on following a horrific tackle in the box, thereby satisfying both terms.
Dave
Nice template... were did you get this bad boy?
i thought he was pretty sound...love the new look
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