Classical Theism Contradicts Penal Substitutionary Atonement

Over the last few years I have been describing Jesus’ death on the cross as a theophany of God’s love for us. I expound on this in my upcoming book The Book of Love: A Better Way to Read the Bible, which is now available for pre-order.

What have I meant by this?

Many visions of penal substitutionary atonement describe the death of Jesus as a sacrificial mechanism. A prior state of wrath toward us is changed, upon Jesus’ death, into mercy and peace. One of my objections to this vision is that it posits a change in the heart of God. But according to classical theism, this is impossible.

To be sure, not everyone subscribes to classical theism, but I do. According to classical theism, God does not change or experience emotional swings. As Unchanging Love, God is immutable and impassive in relation to human sin. Consequently, what we behold on the cross can only be how God has always and eternally felt about us. That is what I mean by Jesus’ death being a theophany of God’s love for us. A theophany is a visible manifestation of God toward humanity. And as theophany, the cross makes the love of God visible within history.

A closely related reason why penal substitutionary atonement is incompatible with classical theism concerns time. 

Specifically, penal substitutionary atonement describes a temporal sequence in the life of God, a before and an after. A prior state of wrath is followed by a state of grace.

To be sure, in what theologians describe as “the economy of salvation," God’s salvific actions and manifestations within history, there is a temporal sequence. The Fall of Genesis 3 comes first. God’s actions to save us, from Old Testament through to the New, follow after. We behold God’s love in a temporal, economic sequence. The theophany unfolds within time. For us, there is a before and after. But according to classical theism, there is no before or after in the life of God. Time stands in relation to God as a Simultaneous Now. What we behold on the cross is, therefore, God’s loving always, now, and forever. God’s love is not a latecomer, but always was and shall be.

In short, this is one of the big reasons I subscribe to classical theism. Classical theism contradicts penal substitutionary atonement. God’s emotions do not change upon the cross, nor does the cross demarcate a before and after in the life of God. God is infinite and unchanging, immutable love. And that is what we behold in the death of Christ, a visible manifestation of God’s love.