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The incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the central events of human history. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ was conceived and born of a virgin, the Son of God—God incarnate—married forever to human flesh. At age thirty, Jesus began his public work, living a sinless life, and revealing himself as the Messiah. At age thirty-three, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, giving himself as a sacrifice upon the cross for the sins of humanity. He died upon the cross, and three days later, he rose from the dead—the living and resurrected Lord, who by his death and resurrection provided salvation for all humanity.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof Jesus accomplished on the cross what he had set out to accomplish, namely, the salvation of all humanity and the redemption of all creation. But what exactly took place on the cross that allowed for this to be accomplished? What was happening on the cross that resulted in salvation for all? How was this salvation accomplished?

During the Reformation a new idea was proposed which described how salvation was accomplished on the cross. Over the years, this view has taken a firm hold of many Christians’ understanding of what happened on the cross. This new view is described as “penal substitution” and is an extension of the “substitution” ideas of Anselm, the eleventh-century Archbishop of Canterbury.

In this view, all human beings are required to be punished for their sins, but Jesus Christ hung on the cross in place of you and me in order to bear the punishment for our sins. Further, while Jesus hung on the cross, having been crucified in place of every man and woman who has ever lived or will ever live, God the Father divinely punished Jesus, instead of us, for all the sins we have ever committed or will ever commit. In so doing, God the Father poured out his divine wrath upon Jesus Christ, instead of upon us, so as to satisfy his divine justice—which, according to the theory of penal substitution, is the requirement of God’s law. Penal substitution holds that, in being punished for all of the sins of humanity, Jesus Christ satisfied the full requirement of God’s law.

The key element behind this view is God’s justice is tied to his divine law—if God’s law is broken or transgressed, then the law demands punishment. Only by punishing transgression can God maintain his perfect justice.

The punishment referred to in this view is not the physical punishment inflicted upon Jesus Christ by human hands, but rather a divine punishment poured out upon Jesus Christ by God the Father. This divine punishment is described as the wrath of God, and is in addition to the physical punishment suffered by Jesus through his flogging and crucifixion at the hands of the Romans.

According to the penal substitution view, this divine punishment was owed by us, to God, for committing sin and transgressing his law. In this view, we, humanity, owe a debt to God. As a result of Jesus taking our punishment upon himself on the cross, being punished for us on our behalf while on the cross, the requirement of God’s law was satisfied, and the penalty, or debt, exacted by God’s law has been paid for on behalf of all humanity. As a result, we no longer need to pay any penalty for our sins. By believing in Jesus Christ, we partake in what he accomplished for us on the cross, partake of him bearing the punishment for each of our sins, and, as a result, our sins are now no longer counted against us and there is no longer any punishment remaining for our sins. As a result, we can now have a right relationship with God.

The problem with the penal substitution view is it is completely unbiblical and has no scriptural support. There is not a single verse in Scripture that connects a sacrifice for sin with punishment—the very concept of a sin sacrifice being the recipient of punishment does not exist in the Bible. There is not a single verse in Scripture that says God poured out his wrath upon any Old Testament sacrifice for sins, nor upon Jesus Christ while he hung upon the cross. There is not a single verse in Scripture that says Jesus Christ was punished by the Father for our sins; there is not a single verse in Scripture that says Jesus Christ was our substitute upon the cross; there is not a single verse in Scripture that says Jesus Christ paid any penalty upon the cross.

The Bible never says our sins have been paid for, rather, we are told repeatedly and specifically that, because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, our sins have been forgiven—not paid for, not punished, but forgiven. Jesus himself offers a precise understanding of what he means by forgiveness in the parable of the unmerciful servant found in Matthew 18.

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.” (Matt 18:21–26 NIV)

This parable shows clearly what Jesus means by forgiveness. In this parable, a servant owed his master a very great deal of money. The master at first demanded payment, whereupon the servant, who could not in any way pay such a large debt, begged for more time, promising he would pay the master back. The master, seeing this, was moved by mercy and forgave the entire debt. This does not mean the master found someone else who would pay that servant’s debt on the servant’s behalf, but rather, the debt was completely and fully canceled—it was completely forgiven, left unpaid, never to be paid, so that no debt remained. This is how Jesus illustrates forgiveness.

According to Jesus’s illustration of what it means to forgive—and in this case what it means specifically to forgive a debt—forgiveness means to let the offense go, to cancel it, to truly forgive it so it remains forever unpaid. It does not mean the debt is paid for by some other party on behalf of the debtor. In this same way, the Bible teaches us that God has forgiven our sins:

“All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43 NIV)

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (Eph 1:7 NIV)

“. . . in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:14 NIV)

“I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.” (1 John 2:12 NIV)

The Bible tells us repeatedly that because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, our sins have been forgiven. According to Jesus’s own illustration of what it means to forgive, to have our sins forgiven means our sins have been canceled—they have been let go, to remain forever unpaid. If our sins had instead been paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross by way of him being punished for our sins on our behalf, then our sins have never been forgiven, nor canceled, but rather paid for. It is impossible to have sins be both paid for and forgiven—these two things are contradictory.

If, on the cross, Jesus was not punished for our sins, and did not pay any penalty for our sins, how then could our sins be forgiven? Where is the justice in that? The Bible never refers to Jesus Christ as “the Lamb of God who pays for the sin of the world,” rather, he is described as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 NKJV). By his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus Christ did not pay any penalty for our sins, rather, he took our sin away. This is how salvation was accomplished.

But what does it mean to take our sin away? How was that done, and how is it just? If our sins have never been punished, doesn’t that mean God is not just? How we understand what happened on the cross speaks directly to how we understand the character and nature of God. What kind of God is he? Is he a God who demands satisfaction, punishment, and vengeance, or is he a God of love, mercy, and forgiveness? In fact, Jesus taking our sin away is a magnificent witness to God’s supreme and perfect justice, founded in his great and infinite love.

The foundation upon which we are to understand what happened on the cross—of how and why our salvation was accomplished—is to understand that Jesus Christ is the Second Adam. In fact, this is the true grace of God, that there even was a Second Adam (referred to in the Bible as the Last Adam because, even though Jesus Christ is the Second Adam, he is also the Last Adam, since after Jesus Christ there will never be another Adam. In this book the term “Second Adam” will be used interchangeably with the “Last Adam”).

In order to understand the nature and work of the Second Adam—to ultimately understand what happened on the cross—we must first understand the nature of the First Adam, the father of humanity, and the fall of man. In order to fully understand the First Adam and the fall of man, we must also understand creation, the angelic rebellion, and the origin of sin—we must understand the beginning.