Was the Cross Divine Child Abuse? - by ChrisB

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The author wrestles with certain aspects of doctrine in a way that causes us to wonder what he really believes. Obviously the article is written to refute the idea of Jesus being subject to "child abuse," but some ancillary ideas are troublesome.

We have made note where the author's commentary becomes opaque, and in those places we explain our position.

If the author believes Jesus died in our place, or that the Father punished Jesus for our sins, or that Jesus was forsaken by the Father, or that Jesus paid for our sins, we must disagree. Those tenets of Reformism/Calvinism are quite false, as we have explained in other posts.

Lastly, the author does quote some Scripture, a happy departure from from what we typically see from these other so-called Bible teachers.

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God sent his Son to die for our sins. That's one of the most basic statements of the gospel story. And many today respond by declaring the cross "divine child abuse". How can we respond to that?

The idea that the best news ever could be considered evil can startle Christians when they hear it. I have no doubt many who share this objection are just being inflammatory, but once other people, especially young people, hear it, it takes hold because it seems like it's just taking a look at what we say from a different perspective. "I never thought of it that way" can turn into horror quickly. So while it's tempting to take this as an attack from the angry "new atheist" crowd, we need to remember we're answering people, not movements, and many of these people are actually quite sincere. Give them the benefit of the doubt. We want to assume they're honestly bothered by this and ease their concerns, not attack their motives.

When we respond, we don't want to be defensive. The first thing I would say is "I understand how people think that." The Father sending his Son to die in our place is shocking. (The Father did not send His Son to die in our place. There is no Bible verse that says this. Rather, we must die with Him:

Ro. 6:4, 6 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death... 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him...

Col. 3:3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

2Ti. 2:11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him...

This persistent lie that He died in our place must be dispensed with.)

We call it amazing grace for a reason.

It's always best to ask people why they believe something; we don't want to answer the wrong objection. But there does seem to be a pattern: They have misunderstood the gospel. They characterize it as God being quite happy to punish the Son, (Here's one of those statements that because of phrasing we don't quite know what the author believes.

The Father did not punish the Son. The Son offered His life as a sacrifice. The spilled blood propitiated our sin. The blood was enough. No punishment of the Son, or anything else additional, was needed.)

who was unwilling but had to go along with it. They take Christ's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:35-36) and the so-called cry of dereliction (Mark 15:34) as proof that Jesus was an unwilling victim. ("So called." The author seems skeptical that the Son was forsaken by the Father. If so, we happily agree with him. 

Why?

Well, Jesus did not quote Psalm 22:1 to describe His abandonment, but rather to point to the entire Psalm. Since there were no chapters or verses in those days, this is the way someone would reference a passage. This particular Psalm is profoundly messianic, and that's why Jesus was pointing to it. Everything in that Psalm was being fulfilled right at that moment as He hung on the cross.

In fact, the Psalm itself, which the author will quote below, specifically refutes the "cry of dereliction:"

Ps. 22:24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

If the author rejects the idea that Jesus was forsaken, we gladly embrace him at this point.)

What they're forgetting is the Trinity. Specifically, they're forgetting that God is one.

Any time people tell the gospel story in a way that pits the Father and the Son against each other, they're making this mistake. The Son was not rescuing us from the unforgiving Father. (Correct. We have seen some teachers try to assert this.)

That Father was not inflicting the cross on his unwilling, innocent Son. (Correct again.)

God has eternally existed as three distinct persons who have always been in perfect harmony. God created. God was rebelled against. God saved.

At the cross, the God whose moral law has been violated took the sins of the world on himself. (The author's language again make us wonder what he believes. Yes, Jesus took the sins of the world upon Himself, but not to be punished, rather as a burden bearer. He carried out sins to the cross and nailed them there. He bore them there, lifted them up, and washed them away in the crimson flow.

The Father didn't punish Jesus.)

This isn't Modalism; (Unexplained term.)

the Father sent his Son. But this is also not Arianism; (Unexplained term.)

the Son is fully God. Under any kind of Arianism, the cross is cruel: God sets one of his creatures apart to pay for the sins of other creatures. (If Arianism makes Jesus a created being, this is an understandable objection. However, if the author is claiming that Jesus paid for our sin, this is false. Jesus paid for us: 

1Co. 6:20 you were bought at a price.

Once again the author is sufficiently vague that we are not entirely sure what he believes.)

Only the Trinity explains how the Father can send his Son and at the same time God can be on the cross.

And this is not some scheme the Father imposed on the Son. This has been God's plan since the creation of the world (eg, Matt 25:34, Titus 1:2, Rev 13:8). No one has forced this on the Son; he laid down his life of his own accord (John 10:18).

So what do we make of the prayer in the garden? A few days earlier, Jesus had spoken about his mission:

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:27)

But mere hours from the cross, from not only one of the cruelest deaths man has ever designed but also bearing the weight of our sins, his human nature quite naturally reeled. He said to his Father, "If you've come up with any other ideas, I'm open to them." Then he said, "But if not, I'll stick to the plan."

And afterward, he still insisted the Father would rescue him if he asked (Matt 26:53).

What do we make of the "cry of dereliction"? Hanging on the cross, as the sky grew dark, the Lord cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Surely that is proof Jesus was forced into this and was now abandoned by God!

No. That is proof all of this was planned long before. His cry points us to the promise:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish? ...

I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the LORD,” they say,
“let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”

Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.

But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me. ...
I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the LORD, praise him! ...
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help. (We added this emphasis.)

(Psalm 22:1, 6-8, 16-19, 22-24)

Jesus' cry pointed his generation — and ours — to the prophecy of his suffering and the promise of his victory. God, on the cross, was carrying out the plan he had made before the beginning of time. Christ, on the cross, was carrying out the mission he had come for: the rescue of his creation from their own rebellion. This was not child abuse. It was amazing grace.