In this episode of Peaceable and Kind, Derek Vreeland continues the Lenten journey through Fleming Rutledge’s The Crucifixion, focusing on substitution. While Rutledge explores eight major biblical images of the atonement, substitution receives the most pages and perhaps the most theological weight. 

Rutledge has suggested that all the biblical metaphors of atonement can be gathered under two headings: Christus Victor and substitution. Substitution means that Jesus died for us and in our place. Drawing from Galatians 3:13 and 2 Corinthians 5:21, the episode explores how substitution functions as a participatory exchange. Jesus becomes the curse so we might be freed from it. Jesus becomes sin so we might embody the righteousness of God. The emphasis is not transactional but transformational. 

Romans 8:3 becomes a key text: God “condemned sin in the flesh.” The Father is condemning Sin. He is not condemning the Son. The cross is the place where sin is judged and destroyed. Jesus dies as fully human because humanity is responsible for sin, and fully divine because only God can defeat death. 

To rethink substitution faithfully, Rutledge turns to Karl Barth. In Church Dogmatics IV and Dogmatics in Outline, Barth describes reconciliation as God putting himself in humanity’s place so that humanity might be put in God’s place. This vision echoes Athanasius of Alexandria: “God became man that man might become God.” Substitution, rightly understood, is relational, Trinitarian, incarnational, and resurrection-shaped. 

The episode concludes by affirming substitution as a biblical metaphor—but not the only one. The cross must be held together with incarnation, resurrection, and ascension. God does not turn away from humanity; even in judgment, God’s opposition to evil is the expression of divine love. 

Russell Moore’s interview with Flemming Rutledge is here: https://www.russellmoore.com/2023/03/29/fleming-rutledge-on-the-cross/ 

Books Mentioned 

The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge 

Stricken by God? edited by Brad Jersak & Michael Hardin 

A More Christlike God by Brad Jersak 

Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross by Hans Boersma 

Dogmatics in Outline by Karl Barth 

Scriptures Mentioned 

Acts 3:15 

Galatians 3:13 

2 Corinthians 5:21 

Romans 3:24–25 

Romans 5:12–21 

Romans 8:3 

 
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Order Derek's new Bible Study Series, God in the Neighborhood: 
Book 1: Incarnation: 8 Lessons on How God Meets Us || https://amzn.to/42jSZAs 
Book 2: Crucifixion: 8 Lessons on How God Saves Us || https://amzn.to/459bNUk 
Book 3: Resurrection: 8 Lessons on How God Restores Us || https://amzn.to/40T0sp0 

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