Comments on The Rebel God: God's Alien Justice (redux)

Yes, they are left unpunished because God is now t...

2010-04-21T09:37:13.977-07:00

Yes, they are left unpunished because God is now through Christ doing something different INSTEAD of punishment. Punishment is not redemptive. It is only about punishing. So the idea is that the cross turns away wrath not that it fulfills wrath.

Paul's argument here is that his Jewish audience had been hoping for wrath, they wanted to have God judge pagan Rome. But Paul says that since are all under sin, desiring wrath as they do is a bad idea since it will mean we all get wrath. Instead he says we need grace and redemption, and that comes through what God has done in Jesus.

Think of it this way: a patient with a terminal illness is kept on life support until the doctor can provide a cure showing that they are a good doctor. Or paramedics do CPR until they can get the patient into the hospital for surgery. That's how I would read "because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished he did it to demonstrate his loving restoration (dikaiosynē) at the present time." Paul is explaining here why God DID NOT punish and how this was not unjust, and his answer is that God had a better plan to heal bad people us instead of just to hurt us.

There's still this element of punishment, as t...

2010-04-21T09:19:25.838-07:00

There's still this element of punishment, as the verse states: 'because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.'

Is that not penal? Jesus took on the punishment of our sins so that He can be shown to be righteous/fair/just?

I still need clarification. my email is jpmoon82@gmail.com

Thayers lists "passing over" as one of t...

2010-01-21T13:43:25.917-08:00

Thayers lists "passing over" as one of the definitions for paresin, so yes I think that would clearly be a legitimate translation here.

Thanks for this post, very insightful. I do have ...

2010-01-21T13:29:31.926-08:00

Thanks for this post, very insightful. I do have one question, do you think paresin in 3:25 should be properly translated as 'unpunished' as the NIV translates it? Personally I like 'passed over' better, it seems to fit better in the context of a Hebrew understanding of Justice.

Thanks much! I passed this along to a good friend....

2009-12-26T09:31:48.152-08:00

Thanks much! I passed this along to a good friend.. we have been having an ongoing discussion of penal substitution and that passage in Romans.

Thank you! An excellent post!

2009-12-26T09:07:29.680-08:00

Thank you! An excellent post!