Chapter 9: Continuation of the previous discussion—additional proofs for Christ's satisfaction
So to conclude: it is absurd to argue that because God has eternally elected someone, that person never truly stood in need of Christ's atonement. Such reasoning undermines the very foundation of the gospel.
In fact, the truth is the opposite: God's purpose to save sinners is what requires Christ's satisfaction. Election doesn't eliminate the need for redemption—it guarantees it. God not only chose the people, but also ordained the means: Christ's sacrifice. "It pleased the Lord to crush him… and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand" (Isa. 53:10).
So, while the argument from election to deny the need for Christ's satisfaction is deeply flawed, the reverse argument holds firm: If God has purposed to save sinners, then he has purposed that Christ must satisfy justice on their behalf. This eternal decree encompasses both the people to be saved and the Savior who would save them.
Book III, Chapter 9 Continuing the Former Digression: Arguments to Prove the Satisfaction of Christ I will now present several tightly reasoned arguments defending the truth that Jesus Christ made full satisfaction to God's justice on behalf of sinners. Here is the first:
Argument 1: Christ Bore Our Sins and Their Punishment in Our Place If Christ truly took upon himself our sins—sins that God laid upon him—and bore the punishment they deserved in our place, then he made satisfaction to God's justice on our behalf so that we might go free.
But Christ did indeed do this.
Therefore, he made full satisfaction for our sins.
Let's break this down into three parts to prove it clearly:
1. Christ Took and Bore Our Sins Scripture repeatedly affirms this:
"Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"
(John 1:29).
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24).
"He shall bear their iniquities" (Isa. 53:11).
"He bore the sin of many" (Isa. 53:12).
And again, the Bible teaches that God laid our sins upon Christ:
"The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6).
"He made him to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21).
2. Christ Bore the Full Punishment for Our Sins
What punishment did our sins deserve? The answer is clear:
The curse of the law (Deut. 27:26).
Death itself (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23).
These include all forms of divine punishment.
Christ endured both of these:
"By the grace of God, he tasted death for everyone" (Heb. 2:9).
"God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all"
(Rom. 8:32).
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13).
"It pleased the Lord to bruise him" (Isa. 53:10).
"He condemned sin in his flesh" (Rom. 8:3).
3. Christ Suffered in Our Place (Substitution) This is also plainly taught:
"The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many"
(Matt. 20:28).
The word anti ("for") in Greek always implies a substitution— one thing in place of another.
"Christ suffered for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous" (1 Pet. 3:18).
"I paid what I did not steal" (Ps. 69:4) — a prophetic reference to Christ paying our debt.
And Romans 8:34 affirms that because Christ died in our place, we are no longer condemned.
Conclusion:
Christ bore our sins. He endured the punishment they deserved. He did it all as our substitute.
Therefore, he truly satisfied God's justice for those sins.
Argument 2: Christ Paid a Ransom as Our Surety If Christ, as our substitute, paid a full and sufficient price to the Father for our sins, then he made satisfaction to God's justice and bore the punishment we deserved.
But he did pay such a ransom.
Therefore, the conclusion follows.
There are four elements to prove here:
1. Christ Paid a Ransom Jesus said this explicitly:
"The Son of Man came… to give his life as a ransom (lutron) for many" (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45).
Paul calls it an antilutron—a ransom "in the place of" others (1 Tim. 2:6).
"We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).
"You are bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:20)—a price which is his blood (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
2. The Ransom Was Paid to the Father A ransom must be paid to someone. It's blasphemous to say it was paid to Satan—he is not owed anything, but defeated.
Rather, Scripture clearly teaches that God is the one whose justice must be satisfied:
"The wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36).
"God has shut up all under sin" (Gal. 3:22).
"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who settled accounts with his servants" (Matt. 18:23–35).
God is the "lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy" (James 4:12).
Also, Christ's death is described as a sacrifice and offering (Eph.
5:2; Isa. 53:10). But sacrifices are always directed to God. So, the ransom price was offered to the Father.
3. Christ Paid This as Our Surety This is clear:
"Jesus was made the surety (guarantor) of a better covenant"
(Heb. 7:22).
"I paid what I did not steal" (Ps. 69:4) — pointing to Christ satisfying a debt that was ours, not his.
4. He Did It to Set Us Free This follows from the nature of ransom. He paid the price in our place so we could go free.
III. Atonement and Reconciliation Require Satisfaction If Christ, by his death, made atonement for sin and reconciled God to sinners, then he made satisfaction to God's justice.
But Christ did, in fact, make such atonement and reconciliation.
Therefore, he made satisfaction to God's justice.
This is straightforward.
The very meaning of atonement (propitiation) and reconciliation implies a satisfaction of divine justice. Paul says we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood" (Rom. 3:24–25). The Greek word here, hilastērion, refers to the atoning mercy seat—the place where God's wrath is turned away.
So also, Hebrews 2:17 says that Christ was made a "merciful and faithful high priest… to make propitiation (atonement) for the sins of the people." This reconciliation is not merely us being changed, but God being appeased—his wrath removed, peace restored.
Romans 5:11 confirms this when it says, "We have received
reconciliation"
(Greek: katallagē, sometimes translated "atonement").
And this is all said to be accomplished by one righteous act—Christ's satisfaction—not our obedience or faith, but his death (Rom. 5:18).
Without this, we could never be freed from sin's penalty, as Romans 8:3 explains.
IV. Christ's Priesthood on Earth Involved Satisfaction If Christ's priestly work on earth consisted of bearing sin's punishment, making atonement, and reconciling God to sinners by satisfying divine justice, then these things cannot be denied without falling into serious, even damnable error.
But this was, in fact, the nature of his priestly work.
Therefore, to deny these truths is a grave theological error.
This is demonstrated:
1. From Old Testament Types: All the Levitical sacrifices were designed to show that sin requires atonement through a substitutionary offering. Christ fulfilled and surpassed these types.
2. From the Nature of the Priesthood: A priest offers sacrifice. Christ, as high priest, had only one offering—his own blood. "He offered himself without blemish to God" (Heb. 9:14).
3. From Scripture Itself: Hebrews 10:10–12 makes it clear: "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all." No further sacrifice is needed.
Christ Bore the Wrath of God Some question whether Christ actually bore the wrath of God in his death. But Scripture and reason confirm it:
1. Punishment for Sin Is God's Wrath "The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness" (Rom.
1:18).
"Children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3).
"The wrath of God remains on him who does not believe" (John 3:36).
But Jesus bore that punishment:
"He was made sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21).
"The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6).
"He bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24).
Therefore, he endured God's wrath.
2. The Curse of the Law Is God's Wrath The law brings a curse on all who break it (Deut. 27:26).
But "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13).
This curse is not abstract—it is the wrath of God falling on
lawbreakers.
Christ endured it in our place.
3. Christ Died the Death That Sinners Deserve Sinners deserve death because of sin. Christ tasted that death as our substitute:
He is our surety (Heb. 7:22).
He gave his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28).
He experienced fear (Heb. 5:7), agony (Luke 22:44), distress (Mark 14:33), abandonment (Matt. 27:46), sorrow and heaviness (Matt. 26:37–39).
These are not merely human emotions; they reflect the weight of divine judgment and curse pressing upon his soul. He stood in our place, and he bore the wrath we deserved.
V. Denying Christ's Satisfaction Destroys Gospel Faith and Comfort Any teaching that undermines gospel faith and removes the foundation of our deepest comfort cannot be true, nor can it be in harmony with the gospel. But this is precisely what happens when people deny that Jesus Christ satisfied divine justice and bore the wrath of his Father in our place.
Let me explain.
Imagine the soul under conviction—awakened to its guilt, and stripped of self-righteousness. It begins looking for refuge, scanning heaven and earth for a place to rest. But all it sees is a storm of divine wrath—a flood of judgment pouring down from heaven upon all ungodliness. There's no place for the soul to land, no peace to be found. It cannot soar up to heaven by its own strength, and it dreads to fall into the abyss of hell.
In that moment of desperation, if Jesus Christ does not appear as the ark—floating above the floodwaters, having borne their full force— what hope is left? There is none.
During the great flood, many mountains towered high above the land. They looked secure. But when the waters came, they were swallowed. Only one vessel rose above the flood: the ark. So too, in spiritual things, many imagine they are safe atop the high hills of self-righteousness or vague notions of God's mercy. But when God's wrath truly falls, those false refuges are overwhelmed. Only Jesus
Christ—upon whom the flood of wrath truly fell—remains secure above it all. Only those who are in him are safe.
Let me ask you this, dear soul—especially if you've ever been tossed about by fears of God's wrath—where did your heart finally find rest?
Was it not here: that God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all (Rom. 8:32)? That he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21)? That all the sins of the elect were poured into the cup that Jesus drank? That the wrath you feared was poured out on him—and now he has risen above it like Noah's ark, offering safety to all who come into him?
Wasn't that your one place of peace?
The storm fell on him so that you could rest. Like those inside the ark stayed dry while the ark bore the storm, you are safe because Christ bore the judgment in your place. If not for this truth—or something like it—you have built on a shaky foundation.
So I ask: what would it mean for someone to strip away this ark from under your feet? To tear away Christ's satisfaction and hand you some soggy piece of driftwood—some old, rotten idea of works or generic mercy—to float upon while the judgment of God surges all around?
It's too late for such lies. God's Word and your own conscience have already told you the truth: "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).
Wherever sin is found, someone must die for it. And if it was not Christ, it must be you.
So, let me be plain: if Jesus did not satisfy God's justice, then we must. If he did not bear wrath, we will—forever. Take this doctrine from me, and you take away my only hope. You rob me of my only pearl.
Denying Christ's satisfaction is not just a theological error—it destroys the very foundation of faith and comfort.
VI. Christ's Suffering as Our Substitute:
Scripture Affirms His Satisfaction Let me offer one final argument in defense of Christ's satisfaction, drawn from several key passages of Scripture. These are a few among many, but they are sufficient.
"He made him to be sin for us" — 2 Corinthians 5:21
Paul writes, "He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." What does this mean?
It can't mean that God made Christ a sinner in himself—perish the thought. Scripture affirms repeatedly that he was "a Lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Pet. 1:19), that he "did no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth" (1 Pet. 2:22). So what does it mean?
It means this: by divine arrangement and Christ's own willing consent, God laid on him the guilt of all the sins of the elect. Though
Christ never committed a single sin, he stood in our place—our substitute, our surety. As a surety bears the whole debt of another, so Christ bore ours. And when God's justice required payment, Christ was "sued," so to speak, and executed the full payment in our stead.
He was treated as if our sins were truly his.
You might object: "But wasn't the Father always pleased with the Son? How could he pour out wrath on him?" Yes—he was always infinitely pleased with the Son's perfect obedience, holiness, and righteousness. But he was not pleased with the sins that Christ bore.
Isaiah says, "It pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief" (Isa. 53:10). The Son was pleasing in himself, but our sin was not—and when that sin was laid upon Christ, justice demanded punishment.
Some may say, "But the elect never really lay under wrath, so how could Christ bear it for them?" That's simply not true.
First, Christ bore not only the wrath that the elect actually experienced (which is none, thanks to him), but also the wrath they would have experienced had he not intervened. He delivered them from "the wrath to come" (1 Thess. 1:10).
Second, before they come to Christ, the elect are under wrath in terms of guilt and desert—even if they never endure the punishment.
The debt is real, though the payment is remitted.
So the conclusion holds: "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin."
"He was wounded for our transgressions"
— Isaiah 53:5
Isaiah writes, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed."
Here we see clearly the principle of substitution.
"The chastisement of our peace was upon him"—He was punished so that we could have peace.
"He was bruised for our iniquities"—Our sins were the cause of his suffering.
"All we like sheep have gone astray… and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:6)
Peter interprets this plainly: "He bore our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24). Not by simply declaring we were sinless, as some say, but by actually bearing the punishment due to our sin. He carried the curse, the death, the divine wrath we deserved.