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Why the Logic of the Cross is Participation, Not Substitution


Traditional protestant theology holds that the logic of the cross is that Jesus experienced something instead of His people.  In other words, He experienced something on the cross so that we don't have to.  He is substituted for His people on the cross.

In what follows, I want to offer several passages to make the case that this actually is incorrect.  The logic of the cross is instead that Jesus experienced something that we might share in that experience with Him, both His experience of death and resurrection.  His people participate with Him on the cross.

And these two are necessarily mutually exclusive.  The cross can't be both substitutionary and participatory because, by definition, substitution requires that the one being substituted for isn't participating.  When a class has a substitute teacher, that necessarily means that the regular teacher isn't participating in teaching the classroom that day.  If the regular teacher is there, then another teacher present is an additional/secondary teacher/helper, not a substitute.  Likewise, If I participate in something Jesus experiences, then however His work might benefit me, the mechanism at play isn't substitution precisely because of my participation.

Or, in the words of Simon Gathercole (a proponent of substitutionary atonement) as quoted by Andrew Rillera:
Substitution, by definition, precludes any sort of participation, as Simon Gathercole argues in Defending Substitution.  Gathercole writes: "I am defining substitutionary atonement for the present purposes as Christ's death in our place, instead of us.  The 'instead of us' clarifies the point that 'in our place' does not, in substitution at least, mean 'in our place with us.'
—Rillera, Andrew. Lamb of the Free (p. 247). 
Salvation as it is portrayed in the New Testament involves two-way participation:
  • God the Son participates in our human mortality:
    • Jesus becomes a human with us, participating in the weakness of our human condition through incarnation and death.
    • Jesus dies and rises to destroy/overcome that weakness.
  • Humanity participates in the immortality of God the Son:
    • Humanity participates in the death of Jesus initially through baptism and in an ongoing way through daily taking up our crosses with Jesus.
    • Humanity participates in the resurrection life of Jesus as those who live to serve God in loving others rather than serving ourselves.
A couple of brief notes up front:
  • Participation isn't a term that the New Testament explicitly uses in most of these texts.  But again and again the language of the New Testament is that believers die and rise with Jesus or that we share in the sufferings and glory of Jesus.  When I use the word participation, I only use it as a shorthand for speaking of an experience that two parties share in together or, we might say, have fellowship in.
  • In the many texts referenced below, my point isn't to say that the idea of participation is the main point of the text.  I am simply trying to show that I believe participation is at least implied in each of these texts.

1) 
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. (Matthew 3:13–15, ESV)
Why is the baptism of Jesus necessary to fulfill all righteousness?  He must enter into the baptism waters together with the rest of the nation of Israel (Matthew 3:5-6).  He must identify with and participate with the people in the consequences of their sin (i.e. death) in order that the people might identify with and participate with Him in His vindication.

2)
And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” (Matthew 20:21–23, ESV)
James and John desire to be exalted.  In response to their mother's request on their behalf, Jesus responds by focusing on the fact that they will drink His cup.  Which is to say, they will share in or participate with Him in His cup of suffering.  They will drink from the same cup as Jesus.  They will share the cup with Jesus.

3) 
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12, ESV, emphasis added)
Isaiah concludes his description of the suffering servant by stating that He was numbered with the transgressors.  He participates with transgressors in the death that is the consequence of sin in order that we might participate with Him in His healing.

4)
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:21–25, ESV)

Drawing on the motif of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, Peter teaches Christians that Jesus suffered in order to leave us an example that we might follow in His steps.  To follow in His steps isn't just to imitate His example, but as Peter later will elaborate on (1 Peter 4:13), it's to enter into the suffering of Jesus Himself, to participate in His suffering.

5)

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1–2, ESV)

On the basis of Christ's suffering in the flesh (climaxing in His death on the cross), Peter exhorts Christians to have the same thinking and also to suffer in the flesh like Christ.  Why?  Because through our participation with Christ in suffering in the flesh (shorthand here for the cross) rooted in having the same mindset He did, we are freed from sin and the power of fleshly desires so as to live for God, just like Jesus.

6)

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. (1 Peter 4:12–16, ESV)

We can either suffer apart from Christ as we disobey God.  Or, as we obey God, we suffer with Christ, participating in His sufferings as the One who obeyed God ahead of us and enables us to obey God in the wake of His resurrection and indwelling in us by His Spirit.

7)

And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8:14–17, ESV)

Here Matthew draws on the motif of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 to convey that in His death on the cross Jesus took our illnesses and bore our diseases.  On the cross, Jesus participates with humanity in the condition of sickness and death that is the consequence of our sin, so that we might participate with Him in the healing the resurrection brings, which Peter's mother-in-law is an example of.

8)

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:5–7, ESV)

Paul teaches us here how the cross works.  The reason Jesus died was so that through our participation with Him in that death we might be set free from sin because death releases from sin.

9) 

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:4–6, ESV)

Drawing on the same idea of how death releases from sin, here Paul teaches us that the reason Jesus died was so that through our participation with Him in that death we might be released from the law.

10)

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:56–57, ESV)

Tying the previous two points together, we must be released from both sin and the law because the power of sin is the law.  Our participation with Jesus in His death (as one whose death is different because He never sinned) releases/frees us from both.  But we must also must be alive so that we might live to God.  And this is why Paul celebrates the resurrection of Christ as that which we participate in along with participating with Him in His death.

11)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, ESV) 

Central to Paul's experience of redemption is that He has participated with Christ in His death so that he might participate in the resurrection life of the Christ who lives in him.

12)

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24, ESV)

This verse goes hand-in-hand with the previous one (Galatians 2:20) and should be seen as Paul's general application of his autobiographical description in that verse.  Just like Paul participated in Christ's crucifixion as that which effected his salvation, all who belong to Jesus have participated with Christ in His crucifixion as the means by which we are set free from the tyranny of our renegade passions and desires.

13)

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. (Galatians 6:14–15, ESV)

Notice the way Paul talks about the cross here.  He speaks of it as the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It's a cross that belongs to Jesus.  But in the same breath it's a cross that effects Paul's crucifixion and the crucifixion of the world to Paul.  In other words, the cross of Jesus isn't something that Jesus experiences so that Paul doesn't have to.  The cross of Jesus is something that Paul experiences.  In line with how Paul ties the death of Christ to those in Christ becoming a new creation in 2 Corinthians 5:14-17, he does the exact same thing here.  The cross accomplishes Pauls's salvation by effecting his death to the world and its distinctions (including circumcised vs. uncircumcised) in the death of Jesus in order that through the resurrection of Jesus a new Paul might come into being as a new creation apart from any of these worldly distinctions.

14)

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Corinthians 1:5, ESV)

Paul's default way of thinking about Jesus' suffering climaxing in His death on the cross is that those who belong to Jesus participate in that suffering.  And as we participate in that suffering, we participate in the comfort that follows as the effect of the resurrection.

15)

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:8–12, ESV)

This is a trademark Pauline passage that highlights the nature of true apostolic ministry (to be distinguished from the ministry of false apostles who were seeking to discredit Paul and his co-laborers).  In sum, Paul characterizes the essence of apostolic ministry as cross-shaped.  But it's not just cross-shaped in the sense that apostles are carrying their own crosses.  It's uniquely cross-shaped in that apostles are specifically carrying the cross of Jesus.  In his sufferings, Paul says, Paul is carrying the death of Jesus as though the sufferings of Jesus and his own sufferings are inseparable.  In this way, Paul is a participant in the cross of Jesus.  And it's precisely because Paul participates in the cross of Jesus that Paul also participates in the resurrection life of Jesus on the other side of it and can manifest that resurrection life to others for their benefit.

16)

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14–15, ESV)

Here Paul states that in the death of Christ on the cross, all have died.  If Paul's atonement logic were substitution, we would expect him to state something like "we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore none have to die."  None have to die because Christ died instead of us.  That would be substitution logic.  But his logic is one that participation makes better sense of: "one has died for all, therefore all have died."  That is, all participate with Jesus in His death on the cross.  I consider this passage in its larger context in a separate post here.

17)

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9, ESV)

Jesus, though He was rich, entered into our poverty to lift us out of our poverty and into His riches.  In sum, He participates with us in our poverty so that we might participate with Him in His riches.

18)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 2:5–11, 3:10–11, ESV)

Paul tells Christians in Philippians 2 to have the same mind as Jesus, a mindset that suffered to the point of death on a cross.  And this is the backdrop against which he speaks in Philippians 3 of aiming to share in Christ's sufferings.  We are to have the same mindset of Christ because our suffering is a participation in His suffering (and resurrection).

19)

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14–15, ESV)

Jesus participates in our flesh and blood nature and the death that it's bound up with so that by conquering death we might participate with Him in that conquest and be liberated from our fear of death.

20)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1–4, ESV, emphasis added)

Here the writer to the Hebrews is exhorting them to run the race of faith, an experience which is characterized by struggle which requires endurance.  This is a form of suffering.  And he grounds this exhortation in the endurance of Jesus on the cross, telling them to fix their eyes on Him as the One who has gone before them.  Specifically, he refers to Jesus in this context as the founder of their (and our) faith.  This word founder is archegos in Greek and the idea behind it is "one who begins something, that is first in a series" (from BDAG New Testament Greek Lexicon).  Through His incarnation and cross work, Jesus began as the first in a series of humans who would participate with Him in that suffering as we struggle against sin.

21)

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. (Hebrews 13:12–13, ESV)

The suffering of Jesus, according to the writer to the Hebrews here, is something that His people participate with Him in as we follow Him (the founder/archegos, Hebrews 12:2) outside the camp to experience what He experienced.

22)

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. (Colossians 1:24–26, ESV)

This passage is a challenge when we assume that the logic of the cross is substitutionary.  When we think that the cross accomplishes a kind of full payment to God to perfectly satisfy His justice, this text sounds at least borderline heretical because it seems to suggest that there is something lacking in that payment.  But I want to make the case that we aren't faced with such a challenge if we understand the logic of the cross to be participatory rather than substitutionary: Christ—the Head of the body—dies in order that the body might participate in that suffering as a means to their deliverance from sin and death.  If the Head dies but the rest of the body doesn't participate, then there is something lacking in the Head's suffering which is meant to be the suffering of the entire body, Head included.  But when the entire body follows the Head in suffering—that is, participates in the suffering of the Head—the suffering of the Head (and thus the entire body) is complete.  Paul suffers with Christ (participation) both to effect his own salvation from sin and death (Galatians 2:20, 5:24) as well as to effect the salvation of other human beings (2 Corinthians 1:6).

23)

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:11–12, ESV)

Paul here explains what baptism symbolizes.  As we go down into the waters, we participate with Christ in His death/burial so that as we come up out of the waters, we participate with Christ in His resurrection.

24)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1–3, ESV)

As Paul transitions in Colossians to the practical outworking of the doctrine he has just laid in the first two chapters, the foundation for all of his exhortation is the reality that believers have participated with Jesus in His death and resurrection and thus should live in a way that corresponds with that reality.

25)

But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:23–25, ESV)

We traditionally understand "delivered up for our trespasses" to mean that Jesus was delivered up to bear the wrath of God instead of us.  But Paul follows that statement up in the same breath by saying He was "raised for our justification".  If we are consistent with the substitution paradigm, then we should understand Paul as saying Jesus was raised from death instead of us.  But this doesn't really make sense, as Paul will make it clear by chapter 6 that the resurrection of Jesus is something that is meant for our participation in.  I think we can consistently handle "for our" in both phrases by understanding Paul to be saying Jesus was delivered up for the sake of our trespasses and He was raised for the sake of our justification.  By dying, He participates in the mortality of our human condition ("for our trespasses") so that by rising we might participate in the immortality of His indestructible life ("for our justification"). 

26)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned... For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:12, 19, ESV)

In verse 12, Paul states that because of Adam's sin, death spreads to all humans because all sinned (past tense).  This is a peculiar statement.  Sin came into the world through Adam's sin and death spread to all humans not because all humans will sin (future) but because all humans sinned (past tense).  Reformed theologians have traditionally understood this as Adam's sin and its reward being imputed (credited) to humans apart from anything that we do.  And then, by way of contrast, Christ's obedience unto death and its reward is imputed (credited) to humans apart from anything we do.  But I don't think that really does justice to Paul's words when he says that death spread to all men because all [men] sinned (not because one man sinned).  So I think there is a better way to understand this which is more consistent with the larger witness of the New Testament.  As the head of the human race, Adam sinned.  And because we are inextricably bound to him via that headship, our sin (which comes long after his) is a participation in his sin.  In other words, as humans we never sin apart from Adam but any sin we commit is always together with him as our head (because of this headship relationship, our sin is his sin and his sin is our sin).  By way of contrast, as the head of the new humanity, Jesus obeyed God unto death.  And through becoming inextricably bound to Him as our head through faith, our obedience (which comes long after His) is a participation in His obedience.  In other words, as humans we never obey (die to the flesh) apart from Jesus but any obedience we perform (dying to the flesh) is always together with Him as our head (because of this headship relationship, our obedience is His obedience and His obedience is our obedience).  When Adam sinned, he died to God in living to sin.  When Jesus obeyed, He died to sin in living to God.  So, as humans, we are always either participating with Adam as our head in being dead to God or with Jesus as our head in being dead to sin.  In this way, the sin of Adam and obedience/death of Jesus are utterly unique in their catalytic effect because of our union with them and not just merely examples.  The consequence of our sin comes not because of something Adam did and we did not nor because of something we do and Adam did not, but because of something Adam does as our head together with us.  Likewise, the reward for our obedience comes not because of something Jesus did and we did not nor because of something we do and Jesus did not, but because of something Jesus does as our head together with us.

27) 

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:15–17, ESV)

As Paul unpacks the Christian hope in Romans 8, the underlying truth is that we will participate with Christ in His glorification as those who participate with Him in His suffering.

28)

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. (2 Timothy 2:3–4, ESV)

Paul exhorts Timothy here to share in suffering (συγκακοπαθέω) as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  The idea here that the Greek word "synkakopatheo" carries is to join in suffering with someone.  With whom?  One might say Paul is inviting him to share in his own (Paul's) suffering.  But the suffering of Paul is always with reference to Jesus (2 Timothy 1:10-12).  So even if Paul may be inviting Timothy to share in suffering with him, they are suffering together in the same army along with Christ Jesus, the captain of the army.

29)

The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:11–13, ESV)

The hope Paul tells Timothy to hold before the saints is before all else that if we have participated with Jesus in His death, we will also participate with Him in His life.

30)

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12:9–11, ESV)

How do the saints conquer the devil (also known as the ancient serpent or Satan or the deceiver or the accuser)?  By the blood of the Lamb.  That is, they conquer by the death of Jesus.  But, according to John, the blood of the Lamb alone is insufficient (or, in the words of Paul from Colossians 1:24, there is something lacking in Christ's afflictions if nothing else follows it). According to John, the word of the saints' testimony is also required to conquer the devil (not in and of itself but as that which follows the blood of the Lamb).  According to John, the blood of the Lamb is inseparable from the word of the saints' testimony rooted in the saints loving not their lives unto death.  The word of their testimony is that they obey God to the point of death—their own death.  So here we cannot separate the death of Jesus from the death of the saints themselves as the means by which the saints conquer the devil.  I think this is intentional because the logic of the cross is participation: the Head suffers so that the body might participate with Him in that suffering and only in this way is the devil conquered.

Conclusion

This idea of participation was well-articulated by Irenaeus of Lyons in the second century in what unfortunately came to be known as merely a theory called "recapitulation theory".

For it was necessary for him who was to destroy sin and redeem man who was under the power of death, that he himself should be made the very same thing… — that is, man. Man had been drawn by sin into slavery, but was held captive by death, so that sin should be destroyed by man, and man should be released from death.
—‘Against Heresies’, 3.18.7

Jesus participates with fallen humanity in our humiliation in order that we might participate with Him in His conquest and exaltation.

Or as Athanasius of Alexandria would later put it:

He became what we are so that we might become what He is.
—The Incarnation of the Word

Jesus participates in the weakness of our humanity that we might participate in the power of His deity.

Or, put simply in New Testament terms: Jesus is the Head of the body (Colossians 1:18a). The body parts participate in what the Head does.

Resources for Further Study

The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant by Michael Gorman

Lamb of the Free by Andrew Rillera

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