Vicarious Substitution – The Deception Leading People to Hell

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Nick Dreyer in Christianity, Religion, Scripture

The Danger of the Vicarious Substitution Doctrine

When are we saved? At what point does someone actually turn to Jesus Christ? The common call in most Christian churches today is aligned with the vicarious substitution and imputing of righteousness:

  • To receive Jesus into your heart. All you have to do is believe.”
  • “Salvation is Gods free gift to us.”
  • “You don’t have to do anything for this gift.”
  • “Jesus took all of God’s wrath onto Himself.”
  • “Trust in Jesus because he did it all for you.”
  • “You are going to be cloaked in his righteousness.”

Did you know that the sinner’s prayer that so many of us has heard and said after coming to Christ is not even in the Bible? This is the biggest decision anyone will ever make in their life and we don’t really have to do anything for it? Does that make sense? What did Jesus say about the Vicarious Substitution Doctrine?

He said to:

  • “Count the cost.” (Luke 14:28)”
  • “Deny yourself. (Matthew 16:24)
  • Pickup your cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
  • “Strive through to the narrow gate.” (Luke 13:24)
  • “Obey [his] commands.” (John 14:15)

Why are the teachings of Jesus Christ, in his own words, so different to what we usually hear in 21st century American church services? Jesus never said “trust in my finished work on the cross.” Where is the disconnect?

Vicarious Substitution Doctrine

The reason is that most of these modern churches teach the Vicarious Substitution Doctrine. The belief is that Jesus died in our place for our sins. We are justified in our sins and from our sins because of his death. Some go as far as saying that our future sins are forgiven because of his death on the cross. There are three philosophies to the theory of Substitution. They are Satisfaction, Penal Substitution, and Governmental (Moral Government).

Satisfaction– Man kinds sin is an ultimate insult to the infinite holiness of God and is an insult to God’s honor. In order to balance out the injustice of sin, a counterbalance of infinite value would be necessary, if mercy were to be extended. Therefore, God incarnated as a human being, lived a blameless life, and then offered himself to the Father as the necessary offsetting sacrifice of infinite value. God is then “satisfied” and can justly remit sin while at the same time upholding his honor.

Penal Substitution– God’s justice demands that sin be punished. God, therefore, incarnated as a human being, lived the perfect life and offered himself up as a vicarious substitution for the sinner. Jesus willingly took upon himself the guilt of sinners and took upon himself the full wrath of God. The “sin debt” having been paid for by Jesus Christ, therefore satisfies the demand for justice. Also, with the debt having been paid, it cannot be held due again.

Governmental (Moral Government)– In order for God to freely forgive sin without undermining divine justice, there must be a vicarious substitution for the punishment of sin. The punishment of sin serves to uphold justice by placing value upon God’s law. The sacrifice of Jesus serves as a substitute for the punishment which demonstrates God can justly forgive sin without taking accountability for the broken law. This means God can justly forgive sin without undermining his Moral Government.

Purging and Purifying of the Conscience

The problem with these three philosophies is that they shift the mind away from the purging and purifying of the conscience, of which the Bible teaches, by associating the death on the cross with a cosmic transaction. The Bible teaches that the fundamental problem between a sinner and God is not the need for some kind of satisfaction, but actually, the underlying problem is an issue with the heart and conscience.

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts (or dead works) that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. (Hebrews 9:14-17)

The Bible specifically teaches that Jesus died to deal with the issue of the heart and conscience. He is also the “Mediator of the New Covenant.” God makes a New Covenant with his people, not a substitution for punishment.

“This is the covenant that will make with them after those days says the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds, I will write them.” (Hebrews 10:16)

Follow Me

Jesus also describes his death to his disciples of an example to follow. The cross is something one partakes in and not something one trusts in. It is not a ___ like told in the commonly taught theology of vicarious substitution

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25)

In all four Gospels of Jesus Christ, he never taught substitution to satisfy justice.

Let’s look at the purpose Jesus willingly went to the cross to die for us

After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11)

Jesus bore our iniquities so that the past can be put away by his death and no condemnation for past sins and God has granted forgiveness by the blood of Jesus Christ. Under the Old Covenant, the Israelites used animal sacrifices to offer to God for his forgiveness of their sins.

Aaron is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:21-22)

The high priest, Aaron, used the goat to bear the iniquities of the people. The goat was the means in which the people were able to put away the burdens of the past in order to move on with the future. Think of it as a fresh start granted by God’s grace so that we can move forward to serve God in spirit and truth with a clear conscience.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, everyone, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Jesus also gives us deliverance from being led astray and turning to our own way. God laid upon Jesus the burden of deliverance. Jesus also bore our sins to release us from bondage, not a transfer.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. (Luke 4:18)
For thus says the Lord: “You have sold yourselves for nothing, And you shall be redeemed without money.” (Isaiah 52:3)
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 8:34-36)
He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Sin is Not a Commodity or Virtue That Can Be Transferred

Sin is not a transferable property, vicarious substitution negates the moral issue within the heart and conscience. Sin is principled in choice and action both the sins of ignorance and the sins of intent. It cannot be transferred from one individual to another.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2)

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. (Galatians 6:14-16)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison… (1 Peter 3:18-19)

Based on these many scriptures in the Old Testament and the New Testament, there is no mention of vicarious substitution. It is about a covenant and rescue to people in bondage to sin.

Who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an anti-type which now saves us–baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 3:20-21)
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:21-25)
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Romans 6:4-6)
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. (1 Peter 1:22)

The New Covenant

Jesus establishes the New Covenant firmly upon the principle of true righteousness, the righteousness of God formed through the Spirit. He is highly exalted in setting forth the righteousness of God unto humanity.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:8-11)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:14-18)

It was Jesus Christ that brought the knowledge of God in all its fullness to the world. Through this knowledge, the ungodly may find justification. A first-fruit of righteousness, not some vicarious substitution of unrighteous fruits but to make those fruits themselves righteous.

Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:1-4)

The Blood of Jesus Christ is Life

The knowledge of Jesus isn’t about knowing of him, it is about partaking of him, not hiding behind him like vicarious substitution teaches.

Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven–not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)

Jesus was not talking about literally eating his flesh and literally drinking his blood. He meant this spiritually. We have to partake or participate in the example Jesus has laid down for us. It is symbolic of abiding and partaking in his substance or the Spirit of his life. Life is in the blood. The Israelites were forbidden to eat the blood of a dead animal.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Therefore, I said to the children of Israel, ‘No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.’ Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust; for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore, I said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. (Leviticus 17:11-14)

Physical life is found in the physical blood illustrates spiritual life found in the spirit. It is in the Spirit we find no condemnation because of righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. Not a righteousness of the letter of the law, rather, a righteousness of the spirit.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

We cannot live in the Spirit if we continue to sin, we live in the flesh.

Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” (John 8:19)
So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law 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)

The reason we have life and peace by being spiritually minded is do to our conscience being purged of dead works because all of our works has been alive to God through his spirit.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

Imputed Righteousness is Not Biblical

Substitution theology makes salvation positional rather than something manifest. It shifts the mind away from manifestly partaking in Christ in reality to partaking in Christ in position. The fundamental principles of reconciliation are one of Jesus making satisfaction by means of substitute which people then trusts is real. Under the New Covenant model, absent substitution, the principle of reconciliation is the purging and purification brought through entering into covenant by death and rebirth, in which the inward character or condition of the heart has been completely changed. We are literally made the righteousness of God in Christ, not in position but in reality. Under vicarious substitution, the cross is an abstract concept pertaining to some cosmic adjustment. In the Bible, the cross is a present reality partaking with Christ. Huge difference!

Vicarious Substitution is a very dangerous doctrine that destroys the concept of putting to death of the “old man” in repentance and Godly Sorrow. Without the “old man” dying, the new man cannot be born. It’s that simple. Substitution teaches that salvation is an abstract concept rather than a manifest reality. All “Reformed Theology” believes this (Catholics, Calvinist, Armenian, exec). Even if obedience is mandated as a required condition, in order to receive the provision of substitution, it is still false doctrine because the death of Christ is disconnected from the purging and purification of the conscience. A purging that can only occur through participation.

Vicarious Substitution vs. Gospel Doctrine

Substitution

Justification– Premised upon the satisfaction made by the substitution.

Gospel

Justification– Premised upon transformation made by participation in the New Covenant. The old life of sin and carnality is replaced by a new life of righteousness in the spirit.

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26-29)

The theology built on the Vicarious Substitution Doctrine negates the connection between the purpose of the “blood of Christ” by redeeming sinners from all iniquity and bringing them into a pure state.

Substitution

Blood of Christ– Connected to a satisfactory adjustment of status.

Gospel

Blood of Christ– Connected to the purging and purifying of the heart.

“The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5)
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:22-23)
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31)

I truly believe that the biggest problem in American Christianity is the fact that people believe they are born again when they are not. They believe they are saved simply by saying the words but not actually joining Christ in the crucifixion like he taught us. Look at our country today. The population is approximately 80% Christian, but this country supports abortion, gay marriage, transgender rights, divorce, broken families, depression, anxiety at an all-time high, suicides, school shootings, and occult worship. I could go on, but you get the idea. A major part of the problem is that the Christian values are being lost by the dangerous teachings of the churches that hold nobody accountable for their sins and make excuses as to why people can’t stop sinning.

The pulpits are being populated by false prophets and wolves that preach “great swelling words of emptiness.” (2 Peter 2:18) that lead people to destruction. There is no transformation of the heart because people are taught that God will do it all for them when that is just not biblical like what’s been outlined here. We need to get back to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the early church before the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is lost forever.

Want to know how the Doctrine of Original Sin entered into present-day Christian doctrine? <a href=”//wisdomwatchmen.com/where-did-the-doctrine-of-original-sin-come-from”>Find out more here!</a>

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