The Sinner's Gospel orthe Social Gospel?

by Desmond Ford

The cross of Christ establishes social justice.But it is chiefly an act of atonement

that brings sinners to God

, Awriter recently complained that too~ ~any Christians are obsessed with

their personal salvation and neglect social and com-munity issues.

Jesus was a Spirit-filled person, a man ofmighty deeds and startling insight who banquetedwith outcasts, who challenged the establishedsocial hierarchies, who championed a just andfully inclusive form of human community.... In-deed, Jesus' death came about precisely becauseof this ... he indicted the dominant culture andwas deemed a threat to its future. Therefore, ...Jesus was killed.1

3

The same writer also says:The penal, substitutionary view assumes a dif-

ferent conception of justice from the one domi-nant in scripture.... Jesus [sic] sacrifice of atone-ment demonstrates, not a lawyerly (and legalis-tic) retributive justice, but the compassionate faith-fulness of God to the original community-build-ing promises.... With respect to biblical justice,the penal, substitutionary doctrine does not illu-minate, it obscures. The cross puts social justiceat the center.... All this is for us, but it is notinstead of us.... But Christ was not our substi-tute. We are, with Christ, a community of fellow

•

These are strong words, which chal-lenge the gospel cherished by the Chris-tian community for two thousand years.What shall we say about these chargesand claims?

Social JusticeFirst, we must say that it is truly biblicalto emphasize that the Christian's respon-sibility is to cast his or her influence onthe side of social justice. It is true thattoo many professed Christians seem tohave forgotten this fact. (I say 'professed'Christians because it is not possible forbom-again believers to be uninter-ested in the welfare of those aroundthem.)

While the institutional church dur-ing 1920-1970 neglected social issues ina shameful manner, that era is not repre-sentative of the best of church history.For example, during the twelfth and thir-teenth centuries, it was the church thatcame to the aid of European lepers.

Church and LepersDuring the twelfth and thirteenth centu-ries, leprosy in Europe assumed gargan-tuan proportions. More than a quarter ofthe population of northern Europe wasleprous. Anyone certified as a leper wasconsidered dead. The burial service wasread over him, and his property passedover to his heirs. Despite the massivemoral problems in the church of thosedays, it was the church that came to theaid of lepers all over Europe.

Monks turned their monastic build-ings into leper hospitals. Guest leperswere received as though they were Christ.None were turned away. The lepers werewell fed, clothed, and comforted. Twohundred of these hospitals existed in En-gland during the thirteenth centUlY, andtwo thousand in France.

With the advent of the Black Death,the ranks of the lepers were greatlythinned. The remainder were quarantinedin lazar houses. By 1346, London wasfree of lepers.

Wesley and SocialJusticeAnother historical example is found inthe actions of John Wesley, his helpers,and his successors. These were peopleresponsible for the transformation of awhole nation-England. They did itthrough their insistence on social justice.

Historian]. Wesley Bready tells usthe sort of world it was before the gos-pel revival under Wesley:

... the deep savagery of much

of the 18th century ... the wantontorture of animals for sport, the bes-tial dru"kenness of the populace, theinhuman traffic in African negroes,the kidnapping of fellow-countrymenfor exportation and sale as slaves,

the mortality of parish children, theuniversal gambling obsession, thesavagery of the prison system andpenal code, the growing prevalenceof lawlessness, superstition and lewd-ness, the political bribety and cor-ruption, the ecclesiastical arroganceand truculence, the shallow preten-sions of Deism, the insincerity anddebasement rampant in Church andState-such manifestations suggestthat the British people were thenperhaps as deeply degraded and de-bauched, as any people in Christen-dom.3The nineteenth centUlY brought tre-

mendous humanitarian change. Slaverywas abolished. The horrid results of theIndustrial Revolution were ameliorated.The penal system was humanized. Pub-lic education and trade unions began.

Why? Because of the new social con-science resulting from the Wesleyan re-vival.

The name of Wesley's contempo-raty, George Whitefield, is well known;not so well known is his enthusiasm forhelping orphans. Most of us have heardof Charles Finney, but few are awarethat most of the antislavery influences inAmerica in the nineteenth centulY werethe result of the Finney revivals.

The worldwide humanitarian worksof the Salvation Army are byproducts ofthis revival. The Red Cross owes its ex-istence to the Christian influence uponJean Henri Dunant of Geneva (he alsohelped found the YMCA).

When Albert Schweitzer dedicatedhimself to medical missionary work in

4

Africa, he was perpetuating the Christiantradition of social obligation.

Social GospelThe decay in Christian social service byChristian institutions during our centUlYis the result of the "social gospeL" Thiswas the name given to the new human-istic religion that denied the supernatu-ral elements of the Bible and turned frometernal issues to temporal ones.

Official Christianity erred throughoutthis generation; but individual Christiansnever ceased their involvement in sacri-ficial service to the needy everywhere.Few atheists have been the motive forcesbehind orphanages, boys' and girls'homes, and other philanthropic causes.

Penal-SubstitutionWhat shall we say about Charles Scriven'ssecond charge: That the penal-substitu-tionary understanding of the cross ofChrist is both "bizarre" and wrong?

If any Christian holds that the pe-nal-substitutionary view exhausts themeaning of the cross, then Scriven iscorrect in labeling it as wrong (though Isee no grounds for calling it "bizarre").But if a Christian holds that the penal-substitutionary view of Calvaty is one ofthe facets of the diamond of the cross,we believe that view to be biblical andcorrect.

Wherever divinity is clearly and over-whelmingly at work-as in creation, re-demption, regeneration, and inspiration-it is there that human analysis must fail.We see but "parts of his way" because,as Job recognized, "the thunder of hispower who can understand?" Qob 26:14KJV).

The finite cannot understand the in-finite. We strive to take hold of some ofthe trailing wisps of glory but can neverencompass more than a fragment of thewhole. Is the penal-substitutionary viewof Christ's sacrifice one of those frag-ments? We believe so. For the followingreasons:

First Reason: Calvary1. Charles Scriven's article, and theviewpoint we are examining, gives mostof its attention to the life and teachingsof Jesus, rather than to his death. This iswhat the social gospel has always done.Not so the Scripture.

Each of the four Gospels is like atadpole with a large head and long tail.The head is the Passion Narrative, whichin each Gospel occupies from one third

to one half of the whole content of thebook!

The long tail is Christ's life and teach-ings. Yet only about one day in every350 of Christ's life is alluded to in Scrip-ture. It is the last seven days of his life-the Passion Week-that are presented inconsiderable detail.

Throughout Christ's ministry, thecross is ever in view. Jesus alludes to itwhen Peter declares him to be the Christ.Jesus mentions it when the Greeks comewith their request to see him.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, thecross is the theme: "Suddenly Moses andElijah were there speaking with him(Jesus],They appeared in heavenly gloryand talked about all that Jesus' death inJerusalem would mean" (Lk 9:30-31CEV).The word translated "death" is literally"exodus."

Christ's first miracle-turning waterinto wine-prefigured his death. The onlyrite Jesus established, the Lord's Supper,is to commemorate his death on thecross. "For whenever you eat this breadand drink this cup, you proclaim theLord's death until he comes" (l Cor 11:26NIV). This Meal teaches that his sacrificewas the antitypical Passover for all hu-manity.

Calvary After the GospelsIn the writings that follow the four Gos-pels in our Bibles, the cross is neverforgotten. In all the epistles of Paul, it isalmost impossible to find a reference toany period of the Savior's life, other thanthe cross. This silence of Paul's regard-ing the teachings and events of Christ'slife before Calvary has always puzzledscholars. The key to unlocking the puzzleis Paul's decision: "I resolved to knownothing while I was with you exceptJesus Christ and him crucified" (l Cor2:2 ).

Even the last book of the Bible, withits emphasis on the future, makes itspresentations through the prism of thecross. The whole of Revelation's scenariois delineated by metaphors from Calvary.Thus we read about the blood, the earth-quake, the darkness, the agony, thewicked spirits, and the cry, "It is done"On 19:30; Rev 16:7, 21:6).

Second Reason: Gethsemane2. The article "Cross and Community"does not see deeply enough into theCalvary event. Of the seven sayings fromthe cross, the central one is, "My God,my God, why have you forsaken me?"

(Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34).This mysterious cry has shocked

most thoughtful readers of the Gospels.Why should the holiest person who everlived be forsaken by God?

This terrible episode is the counter-part of, and complement to, Christ's be-havior in the Garden of Gethsemane.There we find Jesus in a confused, rest-less, half-distracted condition. This is themeaning of the Greek words translated"deeply distressed and troubled" (Mk14:33). It is the terrible distress that fol-lows great shock.

What a contrast with Socrates, whoon the eve of his death calmly arrangedthat his debts be paid! Socrates, of course,was only bearing one man's guilt-hisown-not the world's.

In Gethsemane, Christ agonizinglycontemplates something dreadful: the ap-proaching separation from his Father.

J. P. Hickinbotham writes:A cry so liable to misunderstand-

ing would probably not be recordedat all, certainly would not be re-corded in splendid isolation, unlessit were charged with theologicalmeaning .... We cannot doubt thatSt. Mark intends us to understandthat the Three Hours of Darknesssymbolize a real darkness in the soulof Jesus: a real consequence of be-ing forsaken by God which finds itexpression in the Cry of Dereliction.It is this spiritual desolation whichmakes plain the significance of hisDeath ... the desolation Christ suf-fered was our penalty transferredto Him.4

Third Reason: Baptism3. To Calvary and Gethsemane, let usadd a third event. Christ's baptism.

Why would Jesus be baptized asthough a sinner, unless it was to show

5

that, henceforth, he was to be numberedwith sinners? In identifying with the guiltymyriads of earth in his baptism, we arepointed to the only route to cleansing.We must identify ourselves with his per-fect life and death.

Baptism in itself has little to do withsocial reforms.

The Gospel and BloodThe agony of Gethsemane and Calvaryis predicted in Isaiah 52:13 through Isaiah53:12. Christ alludes several times to thispassage, and applies it to himself (forexample, see Luke 22:37). With great co-gency, J. S. Whale comments on Isaiah'sprophetic song:

. .. the song makes twelve dis-tinct and explicit statements that theservant suffers the PENALTYof othermen's sins: not only vicarious suf-fering but penal substitution is theplain meaning of its fourth, fifth andsixth verses5Both the metaphors of this passage

and the symbolism of Calvary point usto the sacrificial system of Israel's taber-nacle and temple. That system clearlytaught that 'the blood is the life.' SaysLeviticus 17:11, "For the life of a crea-ture is in the blood, and I have given itto you to make atonement for yourselveson the altar; it is the blood that makesatonement for one's life."

There are many ways of dying; butin the providence of God, Christ died abloody death. He was the antitypical sac-rifice. That is why the Gospels tell of hisbleeding back, hands, feet, brow, andside.

In the heart of Israel's great book ofritual-the Book of Leviticus-is the Dayof Atonement chapter, chapter 16. Itclearly teaches that sin could be for-given only through the shedding of sac-rificial blood. The New Testament ex-presses the same teaching: "Without theshedding of blood there is no forgive-ness" (Heb 9:22).

Those who hold only to the socialgospel are uncomfortable with suchwords, yet they lie at the heart of theBible's teaching about forgiveness andacceptance.

The Cross as PunishmentWhenever this subject is discussed, theissue of punishment arises. Is punish-ment for the purposes of reformationsolely, or is it retributive? When the Scrip-ture affirms, "the wages of sin is death"(Rom 6:23), and that "God made him

[Christ]who had no sin to be sin for us"(2 Cor 5:21), and "Christ died for sinsonce for all, the righteous for the un-righteous" (l Pe 3:18), and "He himselfbore our sins in his body on the tree" (lPe 2:24)-are we intended to take thesesayings at face value, or are they merelyarchaic, cultic allusions?

Perhaps no one has spoken betteron this issue than Dr. R. W. Dale:

Is punishment to be regardedas a reformatory process, a processintended to promote the moral ben-efit of the sufferer? If it were thatand nothing more, and if the justiceof punishment consisted in its fit-ness to produce a favourable moralimpression on the sinner, God wouldbe free to inflict or to remit the pen-alties of the Law without regard toany other consideration than themoral disposition of the person bywhom the precepts of the Law hadbeen violated. The severity of pun-ishment would have to be measured,not by the magnitude of the sin forwhich it is inflicted, but by the diffi-culty of inducing the sinner toamend. If even the greatest sin wereimmediately succeeded by hearty re-pentance, there would be no mercyin withholding punishment; for since,on this theory, the justice of punish-ment consists in its reformatorypower, it could not be justly inflictedwhere reformation had been alreadyproduced by other and gentler in-fluences. It also follows that if thereare cases-and such cases are easilyconceivable-in which repentance isless likely to be awakened by in-flicting pain and disgrace than byconferring new joy and honour, inthese cases the lightest penalty wouldbe unjust, and justice would requirethat the life of the sinner should bemade brighter and happier on ac-count of his sin. By a very slightexercise of ingenuity it might beshown that the theory which reststhe justice of punishment on its re-formatory power, involves the mostgrotesque consequences, and con-sequences which are repugnant toour most elementary moral convic-tions.6

ForDsAn objection often made to the penaland substitutionary views of the atone-ment is that the Greek word "huper,"translated "for," does not in itself mean

"instead of." (Paul repeatedly uses"huper" in his repeated references toChrist's death "for us.") This is true. Theterm is broader.

But it can and sometimes does in-clude the thought of substitution (see 2Cor 5:20 and Philemon 13). Unless Christtook our punishment and died in ourplace, it is impossible to see on whatgrounds his death could bring us theremission of sins and sin's penalty.

Many Metaphors and MoreWhether we view Christ's death as a pro-pitiatory sacrifice, as an expiation, as sub-stitution, as a ransom, as reconciliation,as the grounds for adoption, etc., makeslittle difference. We understand that thecross-event comprehends all these meta-phors, and more.

The sinner hears such words as,"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes awaythe sin of the world!" an 1:29), or "Justas Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,so the Son of Man must be lifted up,that everyone who believes in him mayhave eternal life" an 3:14-15), or "This ismy blood of the covenant, which ispoured out for many for the forgivenessof sins" (Mt 26:28), or "Surely he hathborne our griefs, and carried our sor-rows: ... he was wounded for our trans-gressions, he was bruised for our iniqui-ties: the chastisement of our peace wasupon him; and with his stripes we arehealed. All we like sheep have goneastray; we have turned every one to hisown way; and the Lord hath laid on himthe iniquity of us all" (Isa 53:4-6 KJV)-and thus, glimpsing the heart of God,the sinner is forgiven and changed.

Calvary Is a Hope or HorrorNo one has seen more clearly the issuesdiscussed here than the preacher whowrote:

When I try to discover the mean-ing of the sorrow of Christ on thecross, I cannot escape the conclu-sion that He is somehow involvedin this deep and dreadful darknessby the sins of the race whose natureHe has assumed ....

In no other way are His suffer-ings explicable. To fulfil these wordsof ancient prophecy [Isa 53:4-6], Hecan endure no greater, no keeneranguish. If this is not the explana-tion of His desertion on the Cross,then the Cross, instead of declaringthat God has not forsaken the hu-man race, notwithstanding all its

6

crimes, seems to be an appalling tes-timony to all nations and to all cen-turies, that not even the purest good-ness can secure for One who hasassumed our nature the strength andthe peace which come from the per-petual manifestation of God's pres-ence and love. Instead of revealingthe infinite love of God refusing toforsake those who have sinned, it isan awful proof that He may forsakein the hour of their utmost and sor-est need those who have perfectlyloved and perfectly obeyed Him. Ei-ther the Death of Christ was theAtonement for human sin, or else itfills me with terror and despair7

There is a green hill far away,Outside a city wall,Where the dear Lord was crucifiedWho died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tellWhat pains He had to bear,But we believe it was for usHe hung and suffered there.

There was no other good enoughTo pay the price of sin;He only could unlock the gateOf heaven and let us in.

o dearly, dearly has He loved,And we must love Him too,And trust in His redeeming blood,And try His works to doB .:.

Footnotes1. Charles Scriven, "Cross and Commu-nity: Justice in the light of Christ's atone-ment," page 5. Paper presented atAndrews Society of Religious Studies, SanFrancisco, California, November 1992.2. Ibid, pages 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.3. J. Wesley Bready, England Beforeand After Wesley, cited in John Stott, Is-sues Facing Christians Today, pp. 2-3.4. J. P. Hickinbotham, The Churchman,lviii, pp. 56-57, cited in Leon Morris'sThe Cross in the New Testament. GrandRapids, Michigan: Eerdman's PublishingCo., 1965, p.48.5. J. S. Whale, Victor and Victim, p.69.6. R. W. Dale, The Atonement. London:Congregational Union of England andWales, 1899, pp. 373-374-7. Ibid., pp. 62-63.8. Cecil Frances Alexander, Hymns forthe Family of God. Nashville, Tennessee:Paragon Associates, Inc., 1976, no. 278.