Is Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA) Biblical?

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Do you believe in penal substitutionary atonement and could you explain what it is? Yes. It's a thoroughly biblical concept. The word penal means penalty.

[00:00:09]You do a crime, you get a penalty for what's done, what you've done wrong.

[00:00:13]Substitutionary means in the place of.

[00:00:16]So Jesus gets the penalty in place of us so that we can have atonement peace with God. That's what PSA is. Penal substitutionary atonement. Basically, it's equivalent of Jesus taking the punishment for my sins. And so sadly, there's people who would deny that, particularly Orthodox people would deny PSA saying that it's wrong or unbiblical or breaks the Trinity. And there's just no biblical argument they're making for that. They want to think that maybe he just died as an example, something like that. But they want to deny that he actually bore the wrath of God. But the Bible was very clear that he did. Isaiah 53:5, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

[00:00:57]And with his wounds we are healed. Even how the NIV translates this one, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds we are healed. See that he got our punishment.

[00:01:11]He got our chastisement. He got everything that we deserve. The wrath of God. He got it instead of me. Instead of you if you'd believe. Verse 10 also says, "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him." Who? The will of Satan.

[00:01:25]No, it says the will of the Lord to crush Jesus Christ, the son of God. The father is crushing his own son and it says he has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. So yes, this is the heart of the gospel. If you do not believe in penal substitutionary atonement, you're rejecting the finished work of Christ on the cross. You have no payment for your sins, which means you have to bear the payment to yourself.

[00:01:54]the punishment yourself. So yes, definitely hold on to Jesus taking the punishment for all your sins.