One of the great dangers that comes of stripping words of their meaning is the constant need to up their intensity to try to get the work done. That is, if we embrace the idea that words have no meaning, that language is nothing more than a power play, an attempt to manipulate others into doing as we wish, we must use increasingly emotive language. When every disagreement can be charactered as a “World War” it’s tough to give people a sense of the seriousness of well, the two World Wars.
Consider the language used by those who stand opposed to the penal, substitutionary atonement of Jesus. Those three words, penal, substitutionary and atonement are so precise and uncommon that they carry little emotional freight. Those who oppose them, are not content to say, “We disagree with the doctrine of the penal, substitutional atonement of Jesus.” Nope, they, whether they are professing Christians of a less than orthodox nature or angry atheists, they call the biblical concept, “Cosmic child abuse.” Ouch.
These folks seem to think it somehow beneath the gentle dignity of the Father to pour out His wrath on the Son. They seem to think that a volunteer substitute must have volunteered because of the power differential. They object that it is not fair for Jesus to suffer in our place. They are wrong twice, and right once. The wrath of God is not something He is ashamed of. Neither should we be. His wrath is just, true, holy, sound, glorious, beautiful, something He desires to make known (see Romans 9 if you dare.) The Son is equal in power and glory with the Father and the Spirit, and volunteered freely in the covenant of redemption to take on flesh and in that flesh to suffer the wrath of the Father.
They are quite right in noting that this is not in the least bit fair. Fair would look altogether different. The Son would not take on flesh, veiling His glory. The Son would not suffer, for He, in Himself is only innocent. We, on the other hand, every mother’s son of us, would suffer the Father’s wrath, forever, justly so. That’s fair. What happened wasn’t fair, but gracious.
Jesus was gracious to warn the Pharisees, when they posited their theory that He exorcised demons by the power of the devil, that they were perilously close to committing the unforgivable sin. I’m certainly not Jesus. I can’t help, however, but think this “cosmic child abuse” rhetoric lives in the same neighborhood as “by the power of Beelzebub.” It is ascribing to the Father the spirit of a child beater. It is ascribing to our Redeemer the cowed spirit of a broken child. It is calling ugly that which is beautiful, calling evil that which is good.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; (Isaiah 53:4-10).