Added a substantially revised edition of A Critique of the Penal Substitution Interpretation of the Cross of Christ (2nd ed., 2022) by John MacDonald to the Biblical Criticism and Christian Worldview pages under Christianity in the Modern Documents section of the Secular Web Library.
In this essay, John MacDonald attempts to recover the oldest meaning of the cross of Jesus and that of Jesus’ resurrection in their historical context. The paper argues that penal substitution/Jesus paying our sin debt, the popular conservative evangelical interpretation of the cross, is incorrect, and furthermore that it results in interpretive absurdities when applied to the text/evidence. Penal substitution claims that a just God lacks the ability to forgive, and so requires punishment for sin, where the innocent Jesus was substituted for us sinners and brutally bore the punishment for our sins, wiping our sin debt clean.
By contrast, this essay presents a nonpenal substitution participation crucifixion model, where Jesus is understood to be our willing victim as a catalyst for opening our eyes to our hidden “satanic influenced vileness” and for encouraging repentance. The oldest meaning of the resurrection of Jesus will also be shown to be what Jesus’ disciples took to be evidence for overcoming death in a blessed way, and Jesus being invited to possess us and empowering us to live righteously. The cross/resurrection argument will further be contextualized in a Second Temple framework of apocalypticism and demonology/superstition to show that the original meaning of the cross and resurrection is so divorced from most modern Christian frameworks and beliefs that many modern Christians would reject the heart of what their ancient counterpart would hold as fundamental to living a good and holy Christian life. The upshot is that the usual modern conservative interpretations of the cross and resurrection bear no, or at least merely superficial, relation to the original ancient ones.
This essay has been significantly revised since its initial Secular Web publication. New clarifying analysis has been provided in terms of the metaphor of “turning the mirror,” coming to see our hidden vileness and repent, especially in relation to Mark, Matthew, Luke, Psalms, and the story of Jonah. This imagery is further related to literary history, such as in Hamlet and the ancient Greek story of Philoctetes. Some art references have been added. Also, further analysis has been provided regarding Jesus’ cry of desperation from the cross.