The tyranny of “penal substitution” among self-styled “orthodox evangelicals” has savagely cut short their explorations into the rousing reformational ramifications of Christ’s resurrection and restoration of the Holy Spirit to human affairs and relations. One can see the dulled and apathetic minds of smug “evangelicals” on every hand, self-satisfied in the pseudo-knowledge of the Atonement, standing immovable, transfixed on their tradition, obscurantist though it is. For they “know” all the possible alternatives are “wrong” from the start. Not perceiving the actual morbidity of their spiritual condition, they have clipped the wings of their normal instinct to explore. This is a recipe for hard-heartedness and forensic blindness. Bland routines assume dominance, and divine teaching is trivialized and pulpitized.
Oh God, WAKE US UP! [8/14/10] The authentic, full-bore apostolic ethic can never be revived, much less sustained, without a rediscovery of the premial atonement that so galvanized the first few generations of Christians. [7/09/21]
EXCERPTS FROM PAULINE CHRISTIANITY, BY JOHN ZIESLER (OXFORD & NY: OXFORD UNIV. PRESS, 1983)
“There are not two faiths, one the initial response and the other the continuing attitude, but only one consistent response and attitude which both enables people to enter Christ’s realm and keeps them there (compare Galatians 3:24 & 26). Because faith is continuing it is possible to think of it as obedience, though NOT IN THE SENSE OF AN ACTIVITY.“ {p. 81, all emphases added} I would hastily add that the “obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:6, 16:26), although “not…an activity” in the New Testament sense, yet, if authentic, necessarily issues in a steady flow of good works, which premiate (see an unabridged dictionary) to us vast blessings from God in Kingdom come.
“Romans 1:17 shows that behind God’s gracious activity such as in justification, lies the righteousness of God. This is not God’s justice in the narrow sense of rewarding the innocent and punishing the guilty [AHA! DID YOU CATCH THAT RADICAL AND RAMIFYING MISSTEP BY Ziesler? IT IS INCOMPARABLY INSTRUCTIVE TO OBSERVE A JUSTIFIABLY REVERED EVANGELICAL THEOLOGIAN SOMEHOW ‘DAMN BY FAINT PRAISE’ THE VERY CORNERSTONE OF GOD’S PREMIAL JUSTICE AT THIS CRUCIAL JUNCTURE. FOR BY INOCUOUSLY APPENDING THE ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE SENSE OF “rewarding the innocent” TO THE TRADITIONALLY NARROW (BECAUSE IT VIRTUALLY EXCLUDES THE OTHER!) SENSE OF “punishing the guilty,” HE THEREBY SKIPPED OVER, BLITHELY UNNOTICED, VIRTUALLY THE ENTIRE GOSPEL OF THE APOSTLE PAUL! THE EXTREME IRONY OF THIS CAN ONLY COME CRASHING HOME WHEN WE RECOLLECT THE TITLE OF THIS JUSTIFIABLY FAMOUS AND OTHERWISE WORTHY PIECE OF CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARSHIP!], but his faithfulness to his covenant people. In practice more often than not THIS MEANS HIS SAVING ACTIVITY, NOW EVIDENT IN THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST in which God acts to save all who have faith, all who thus become true children of Abraham, whether Jews or Gentiles. It is GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS which makes him justify people who do not desire it (Romans 3:21ff)…. Paul also believes that believers are drawn into and share GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS in CHRIST, and…this makes possible a whole new being.“ {p.85, all emphases added} NOW, PLEASE OBSERVE ACUTELY HOW Ziesler STILL MANAGES, AS IF BY MAGIC, TO INVOKE GOD’S “RIGHTEOUSNESS” AS “his saving activity” “which makes him justify people“–YES, YES, ALL TRUE, AND WHICH MARTIN LUTHER LIKEWISE HERALDED, ONLY BRANDISHING A PATHETICALLY CARICATURED PENAL RATIONALE, OR I SHOULD SAY ‘IRRATIONALE,’ THAT CONTINUES TO BELEAGUER PROTESTANTISM LIKE A DEFILING INCUBUS–ENTIRELY IN THE ABSENCE OF THE PAULINE RATIONALE THAT HIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN TO DEFEND! Weep here.
“GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS ([Romans 3:]21ff) …is both his SAVING activity, and a power [i.e., His Holy Spirit] into which believers are drawn THAT THEY TOO MAY BE RIGHTEOUS. His salvation comes wholly by [to] grace as a gift, without any deserving (v. 24a), and results in the acceptance of those who desperately need it (v. 26b). In the process, sins are passed over or forgiven (v. 25b), not because he does not care about them, but BECAUSE HE HAS A WAY OF DEALING WITH THEM: HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS not only forgives, but also RESTORES TRUE LIFE AND GOODNESS (cf. v. 22). {pp. 88-89, all emphases added} AGAIN, EMPHATICALLY AFFIRMATIVE! BUT THIS CAN IN NO WAY BE FOUNDED UPON THE TREACHEROUS QUICKSAND OF A “GRACE” ROOTED IN “WRATH UPON CHRIST” OR ANY SIMILAR ARCANE TRAVESTY. LET’S SNAP OUT OF IT!
“…[H]ow can God thus freely and unconditionally forgive sin and restore sinners to fellowship and life without implying that ordinarily sin and righteousness do not matter? [THIS WOULD BE AN EXCEEDINGLY ODD STATEMENT FOR ANYONE WHO GRASPS THE COSMIC NECESSITY OF THE PREMIAL, REWARDING, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE OF GOD BEING HAPPILY DROP-SHIPPED TO THE GROSSLY AGGRIEVED VICTIM OF SATAN’S AGELONG WAR AGAINST GOD. BUT, AS WE NOW KNOW, Ziesler IS YET A STRANGER TO THE ELEGANTLY SIMPLE SOLUTION (THAT JUST HAPPENS TO BE CORRECT, IN THIS RARE INSTANCE)] His answer is partly…that he shows how much sin matters by finding a way to deal with it and how much righteousness matters by providing a way to it.” {p. 89, all emphases added} YET AGAIN, YES! YES! HOWEVER, Ziesler’s WAY IS NOT PAUL’S WAY. FOR ALL THAT, Ziesler STILL GETS HIGH MARKS FOR HIS BRAVE INCONSISTENCIES, FOR SO MUCH OF HIS EXEGESIS SWIMS RESOLUTELY AGAINST THE RIP TIDE OF PENAL SUBSTITUTION, WHICH HE STILL CANNOT QUITE BRING HIMSELF TO ABJURE DECISIVELY AND COMPREHENSIVELY. SO TWO CHEERS!!
“…PAUL DOES NOT IN PRACTICE APPEAR TO ASSOCIATE THE CROSS WITH THE WRATH OF GOD, not even in Rom. 5:9, where being saved from the wrath follows [Ziesler italicizes only “follows”] being justified by his blood, and is not what the cross in itself achieves [BOLDLY AND CORRECTLY CONTRARY TO THE SOTERIOLOGY OF J. I. Packer IN HIS CELEBRATED LECTURE, “What Did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution.” For my own rather more consistent rebuttal, see: https://premialatonement.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/what-did-the-cross-wiring-achieve-the-penalty-of-penal-substitution/], nor in 1 Thess. 1:10 where IT IS THE RESURRECTION THAT DELIVERS FROM THE WRATH TO COME. HE NEVER SAYS THAT THE CROSS WAS NECESSARY TO TURN AWAY GOD’S ANGER.” {p. 90, all emphases added except the author’s, as noted}
“…[T]he righteousness of God (e.g., Rom. 1:17) is a power which not only justifies sinners and restores them to acceptance with him, but also keeps them there and makes them righteous.” {p. 96, all emphases added}
“This new righteousness is not a possession and does not derive from one’s own resources. On the contrary, it exists only so long as faith exists and only so long as one is in Christ (see 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 1:11; 3:9; see also Eph. 4:24 and perhaps 5:9; 6:14). He has become our righteousness and in him we come to God’s righteousness, DEPENDING ENTIRELY ON FAITH.” {pp. 96-7; all emphases added} YES, YES! BUT MANIFESTED IN THE VISIBLE FRUIT OF ABUNDANT GOOD ACTIVITIES, WHICH EMPHATICALLY PLEASE GOD, FAULTY THOUGH THEY NECESSARILY ARE, AND FOR WHICH WE SHALL RECEIVE COMPENSATORY EVERLASTING REWARDS BY CHRIST’S GRACIOUS DECREE AT THE FINAL JUDGMENT! [8/14/10; 9/2/21]
The Premial Atonement 