The notion which the phrase ‘penal substitution’ expresses is that Jesus Christ our Lord, moved by a love that was determined to do everything necessary to save us, endured and exhausted the destructive divine judgment for which we were otherwise inescapably destined, and so won us forgiveness, adoption and glory. To affirm penal substitution is to say that believers are in debt to Christ specifically for this, and that this is the mainspring of all their joy, peace and praise both now and for eternity.
Jesus anguished over this "cup" in the garden (Mk 14.36; Lk 22.42; cf. Jn 18.11):
- Isaiah 51:22 Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: "Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more."
- Jeremiah 25:15-16, "Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them."
- Psalm 75:8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
3 comments:
I have a very simple question to ask you. Given your interpretation of "cup," how do you interpret Mat 20:22f (Mk 10:38f)?
22"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.
23Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant."
This sounds impossible if the cup He would drink was God's wrath and was supposed to be drunk in their place.
Nick - as noted in a separate post, you pose some good questions in your essays to which I can only respond that I don't know. I'll try to answer this one but with the caveat that I really do not know and that I am sure that I am reading this passage as we all read all Scripture, that is with prejudice. Realizing that, here are my thoughts.
The cup referenced here is only that of suffering and death not of substitution.
Further thoughts are summarized well in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:
Figurative: By ordinary figure of speech, put sometimes for the contents of the cup, namely, for that which is drunk (Matthew 26:39). In both Old Testament and New Testament applied figuratively to that which is portioned out, and of which one is to partake; most frequently used of what is sorrowful, as God’s judgments, His wrath, afflictions, etc. (Psalm 11:6; 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Revelation 14:10). In a similar sense, used by Christ concerning the sufferings endured by Him (Matthew 26:39), and the calamities attending the confession of His name (Matthew 20:23). In the Old Testament applied also to the blessedness and joy of the children of God, and the full provision made for their wants (Psalm 16:5; 23:5; 116:13; compare Jeremiah 16:7; Proverbs 31:6). All these passages refer not only to the experience of an allotted joy and sorrow, but to the fact that all others share in this experience. Within a community of those having the same interests or lot, each received his apportioned measure, just as at a feast, each cup is filled for the individual to drain at the same time that his fellow-guests are occupied in the same way.
The Holy Supper is called “the cup of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 10:21), since it is the Lord who makes the feast, and tenders the cup, just as “the cup of demons” with which it is contrasted, refers to what they offer and communicate. In 1 Corinthians 11:25, the cup is called “the new covenant in my blood,” i.e. it is a pledge and seal and means of imparting the blessings of the new covenant (Hebrews 10:16 f) — a covenant established by the shedding of the blood of Christ.
>>In a similar sense, used by Christ concerning the sufferings endured by Him (Matthew 26:39), and the calamities attending the confession of His name (Matthew 20:23).<<
This is the very argument I made! Connecting Mat 26:39 with 20:23, this dictionary supports my claim.
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