Photograph: Boston’s Copley Library

201: Go Deeper Into the Bible

201: Lesson

 
 

Watch/listen to this one minute YouTube Short video. Then, make two lists.

First, list some passages of the Bible where you think God is motivated by the desire to inflict pain for its own sake on people — to punish us for our sinful acts. This might include: Passages of hell and divine fire (Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:38 - 50; Revelation 20:10 - 15); God calling for the death of animals in the Jewish sacrificial system (Leviticus 1 - 10 and 16).

Second, list some passages where you think God placed this pain on Jesus instead. This might include: the Suffering Servant of Isaiah suffering and dying for things he did not deserve (Isaiah 53:4 - 12); Jesus’ cry from the cross that he felt like God the Father had forsaken him (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).

Over the course of the 200-level portion of this Study Guide, we hope to address the Bible passages that are on your list. If we do not, use the form on the Home page to email us.

201: Confirm What You Learned

Consider how Jesus read Isaiah’s passage about hell and fire.

In Mark 9:38 - 50, he quotes Isaiah 66:24, which draws on the image of bodies left in a battlefield after a defeat.

“If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:47 - 48; Isaiah 66:24 in italics).

Notice the context. Jesus was warning the disciples against excluding people who are praising Jesus and proclaiming him, but without “officially” being part of the band of disciples. Jesus compares them to children (Mark 9:33 - 37). The disciples then admit they told a man to stop casting out demons in Jesus’ name, simply “because he was not following us” (9:38).

Jesus corrects them. They should not have done that, he says. “He who is not against us is for us” (9:39 - 40). Then, Jesus continued to compare those other excited but “unofficial” Jesus-proclaimers to children:

“42 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, 44 [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell 46 [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, 48 where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:42 - 48; Isaiah 66:24 in italics).

The brackets [ ] in v.44 and 46 indicate that the earliest manuscripts we have of the Gospel of Mark do not have the quotation of Isaiah 66:24. So there is uncertainty about whether it was in those places in the original. Maybe early copyists removed it from even earlier manuscripts because the repetition of “hand… foot… eye…” made the point clear? Or, maybe they added it because repeating “worm… fire” reinforced the point? Whatever happened, there is no uncertainty about v.48. Jesus quotes the grisly vision of Isaiah 66:24.

Then Jesus says something absolutely unexpected:

“49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (9:49 - 50, italics mine).

Jesus links salt and fire. As meat is prepared by salt, people are prepared by divine fire. Who will be salted with fire? Who will experience the fire of Isaiah’s vision of hell? Only those who resist Jesus? No. Everyone.

Everyone?

Right, Jesus says. Everyone will be seasoned, flavored, or prepared with the divine fire.

Now consider: Is this Penal Substitutionary Atonement? How can it be, if it is neither substitutionary nor punitive?

  1. If Jesus does not take the experience away from anyone, then there is no substitution. In fact, Jesus requires divine fire of everyone. Pause to ask yourself what feelings and questions you have about this.

  2. Perhaps both Isaiah and Jesus were saying that God is a refiner’s fire, calling for our partnership in that refining work. Divine fire is an image of purification. It’s a common Old Testament image drawn from metalworking: fire melts metals so the metalworker can separate dross from gold (Psalm 17:3; 26:2; 66:10, 12; 105:19; cf. Judges 17:4; 2 Samuel 22:31; Nehemiah 3:8, 32; Isaiah 1:24 - 31; 4:3 - 5; 41:7; 48:10; Jeremiah 6:29; 9:7; 10:9; 11:20; 12:3; 17:10; 20:12; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:2 - 3). When God made special appearances in divine fire in the burning bush (Exodus 3) and on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19), the Israelites interpreted those appearances as purifying (Isaiah 1:24 - 26; 4:3 - 5). God’s motive in His divine fire is to purify with our partnership, not to punish. For example, God purified Isaiah’s lips by the divine fire in the burning coal (Isaiah 6:6), so he could speak God’s words. Will we experience God with joy or resentment? That depends on us. Do you want to be purified in His love? Or will you resist?

  3. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16) — confirmed at Pentecost when the Spirit came with fire hovering over the heads of the disciples (Acts 2:3). Jesus received the Holy Spirit in fullness (Matthew 3:13 - 17; Luke 3:21 - 22) to overcome all temptations in ways no one else could or did (Matthew 4:1 - 11; Luke 4:1 - 13; Hebrews 1:3; 2:10; 5:7 - 10; 12:1 - 2), to share his Spirit with us and do the same in us — so then, is he not the one who offers divine fire to all people? As in, everyone will be salted with fire? We would have to understand Jesus as a Medical, not Penal, Substitute. And we would be “saved by his life” (Romans 5:10) — his life of missional love, incidentally — not just by his death per se. How does this shift your understanding of who Jesus is and what he did for you?

  4. Can wanting to exclude other people — as the disciples in Mark’s Gospel did — result in a would-be disciple experiencing the fiery Holy Spirit as hell? Consider: What internal sinful loves would such a person be holding onto, which Jesus wants to purify away? Part of our purification involves letting Jesus empower us to love others like he did. What Jesus did in himself, he does in us. In the wilderness, Jesus battled temptations to not truly love others (Matthew 4:1 - 11; Luke 4:1 - 13), and then, in the Nazareth synagogue, proclaimed God’s grace towards the Gentiles (Luke 4:14 - 30). Luke’s sequence suggests Jesus’ internal experience of the fiery Holy Spirit is the foundation for his external mission. Not surprisingly, during his earthly life, Jesus trained his disciples to invite not just Jews, but Samaritans and Gentiles, to himself and his new community; at Pentecost, Jesus further empowered them by the fiery Holy Spirit. If Jesus, then, salts everyone with fire, then it seems possible for someone to resent Jesus for loving someone s/he resents.

  5. Consider again Jesus’ quote from Isaiah. Is Jesus himself taking liberties by quoting Isaiah 66:24? Or would Isaiah have agreed with the quote? Can divine fire either purify or defeat a person, depending on their posture? Notice that Isaiah reminds us that, in the Exodus, God appeared as the pillar of light and fire (1:24 - 31; 4:3 - 5) and then the divine fire that engulfed Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). Those are positive and promising memories. Recall that the Israelites refused to go up Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:13; Deuteronomy 5:4 - 5), so Moses walked up and into God’s fire, and came out with his face shining with glory as he was, in part, purified (Ex.34:19 - 25). The whole sanctuary was then modeled after Mount Sinai. Thus, in Isaiah’s vision, God touched Isaiah’s lips with a representation of the same fire that partly purified Moses, since Isaiah’s burning coal was taken from the bronze altar (6:6 - 7), which represented that divine fire on Mount Sinai. And Isaiah then proclaimed the reign of God’s chosen human king, the Servant: The Servant-King’s reign will spread like fire from Mount Zion throughout the world to purify people and consume sin (10:16 - 22; 33:10 - 15; 48:10; 66:20 - 23). So Isaiah’s last image is of those who resist that King. They will be like enemies defeated and shamed on the battlefield: their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched (66:24). In other words, yes: Isaiah holds this very view of divine fire, the view Jesus also has. And the early Christians understood that. They used communion liturgies in worship that compared the bread and wine to the burning coal of Isaiah; Eastern Orthodox and Catholics still do. Does this demonstrate to you that you need to read biblical books in a thematic, not piecemeal, way?

  6. If you would like a fuller explanation, consider reading this explanation of divine fire in Matthew’s Gospel, since Matthew narrates many more instances of this theme than Mark does: Hell as Fire and Darkness: Remembrance of Sinai as Covenant Rejection in Matthew's Gospel. It is a long essay exploring how Jesus used the phrase "fire and darkness" as a reminder of the story of God at Mount Sinai, where Israel rejected the covenant, and resisted being purified by God. That is why they sent the eighty-year old Moses mountain-climbing instead. Jesus spoke of fire as an intertextual connection to the Old Testament appearances of God. The paper explores virtually all the New Testament texts dealing with divine fire as a literary motif.

Read Atonement 202

See the Atonement 202 page to glance at another passage of Scripture that is often used to defend Penal Substitutionary Atonement: Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” from the cross. Didn’t Jesus go through some form of divine abandonment so that we don’t have to?

Revisit Atonement 101 and 102

Revisit the Atonement 101 page to see the Definitions again. Or revisit the Atonement 102 page to reread the articles covering Why Care? Practical Implications.