The OATH and PROMISE of the Old Covenant bound God to its fulfillment in spite of every conceivable contingency relative to His faithful and just covenant partner, the Lord Jesus Christ, not even death itself excepted.

If Jesus’ getting “given up” to his enemies was due to the “wrath of God” (à la the Protestant Reformers) then who’s to say our own dreaded occasions of getting delivered into the hands of some enemy or other is not likewise due to the wrath of God for some sinful provocation, known or unknown? This could well catapult us into spiritual limbo, not to add existential terror! How much needless drama and trauma result from spiritual insecurity deriving from this source in unsound doctrine concerning God’s inner character and disposition toward mortally sinful human beings? [4/18/11; 4/23/24]

In view of the deeply embedded prevalence of the penal satisfaction theory of Christ’s Atonement, then for the diametric opposite stance of premial restitution to have plausibility in the current climate of rampant institutional abusiveness by political partisan self-interest, military establishment, criminal justice system, policing, public and private prison systems, stock market, financial services, payday loan industry, pharmaceutical industry, healthcare industry, fossil fuel industry, petro-chemical industry, agribusiness, trucking industry—I’ve barely gotten started!—virtually every passage of Scripture traditionally commandeered and impressed into forced service to the dominant ideology will have to become repurposed to serve a more evidently sound and natural interpretation in support of the premial perspective. What are the prospects if such a revolution should happen to succeed? This perspective should lend a fresh and convincing light to the solution of many perennial difficulties of Bible interpretation and especially incline toward the harmonious reintegration of seemingly intractable, or at least traditionally irreconcilable, positions on textual interpretations resulting from their captivation to systems of doctrine by way of prooftexting. Above all, the new expositions should be more in accord with the Holy Spirit of the Gospel as taught both by Jesus and his apostles (including the most misinterpreted of all: Paul). The end result of such a radical-biblical adjustment in Christian consciousness for the more rapid progress of fundamental societal reforms would be seismic. Dare we settle for less in the shadow of looming political crises and simmering violence? [4/18/11; 4/23-24/24]

In his epistle to the Romans, Paul is intent on emphasizing the “justice of God” that accounts for Christ’s resurrection. The oath and promise of the Old Covenant bound God to its fulfillment in spite of every conceivable contingency relative to His faithful and just covenant partner, the Lord Jesus Christ, not even death excepted. Hereby, his resurrection was secured against all odds whatsoever. [4/19/11]

To be “humbled under the mighty hand of God” is a far cry from experiencing the “wrath of His countenance,” etc. The first is aimed at discipline in justness toward the goal of maturation in love. The second is for punitive reasons of extreme correction or, failing that, of grim destruction. The first is intended for the amenable, the second for the stubborn. The first is fully in accord with God’s favor and its goal is to extend favor yet further. The second is a reflex of God’s righteous indignation at the incorrigible when milder measures prove ineffectual. [4/21/11]

TRADITIONAL PROTESTANT EXPRESSIONS NOT NECESSARY OR APPLICABLE TO THE NEW TESTAMENT’S PREMIAL EXPLANATION CONCERNING ATONEMENT THROUGH CHRIST JESUS:

Adam’s sin accounted to his descendants by God

Christ accounted with human sin(s) on the cross by God

Christ’s righteousness accounted to believers by God

Christ assuming the guilt of sin(s) on the cross

Christ condemned by God on the cross

Christ cursed by God on the cross

Christ drinking the cup of God’s wrath on the cross

Christ experiencing the displeasure of God on the cross

Christ experiencing the justice/vengeance of God on the cross

Christ identifying with sin(s) on the cross

Christ made sin on the cross

Christ paying for sin(s) on the cross

Christ paying the debt of sin(s) on the cross

Christ paying the penalty for sin(s) on the cross

Christ propitiating God on the cross

Christ punished by God on the cross

Christ reconciling God to man on the cross

Christ satisfying God’s justice on the cross

Christ satisfying God’s honor on the cross

Christ suffering as a substitute on the cross

Christ suffering in our place/stead on the cross

Christ suffering the curse for sin(s) on the cross

Christ suffering the pains of hell on the cross

Christ suffering the pangs of hell after the crucifixion

Christ suffering the punishment for sin(s) on the cross

Christ suffering the wrath of God on the cross

Christ suffering what sinners deserved on the cross

[4/21/11; 4/23-24/24]