Summary: <blockquote> <p class="article__title">It is because Christ has given his life that sinners can be forgiven and this is why the cross is good news.</p> </blockquote> <p><span id="more-868"></span></p> <p class="article__title">The atonement, once again, is under attack. In William Paul Young’s new book, <em>Lies We Believe About God</em>, he states that God is a “cosmic abuser.” For Young, the atonement is a lie. He is offering ancient false teaching. For Young, the cross is evil redeemed from its intent and justice enacted. This kind of formulation of the cross loses the very reality it promotes. If Christ does not go to the cross to satisfy the wrath of the Father the only justice that we sinners are going to get is the just fury of God’s righteous wrath. The cross is only a picture of justice if God’s righteousness is satisfied. It is because Christ has given his life that sinners can be forgiven and this is why the cross is good news.</p> <p class="article__title">No one has a problem for justice when they have been wronged; we don’t naturally want justice to be done to us. We don’t naturally want a system in which God requires our sins to be dealt with but this is exactly what the Scriptures present us from start to finish.</p> <p class="article__title"><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/scandalized-by-the-substitute-a-response-to-young-and-gungor">Scandalized by the Substitute: A Response to Young and Gungor </a>by Owen Strachan</p>
