PART 3: IS IT WHAT HAPPENED?

In Part 1 we looked at some of the problems I and others have with Penal Substitution. In Part 2 we looked at aspects of God's character that are said to require Penal Substitution and found no conclusive evidence that this is the case. 

Now in Part 3  we turn to a closer examination of the Scriptures that are used to support the doctrine of Penal Substitution. In the first two chapters we will focus mainly on the gospel narratives, asking whether or not they support the idea, firstly, that the Father abandoned the Son on the cross; and secondly that the Father punished the Son for our sins on the cross. Then in the third chapter we will look more broadly at Bible passages which are said to teach the idea that Jesus died in our place. Is this really what these passages teach?