As a result of Adrian Warnock posting on the atonement again, I moved The Atonement Debate up my reading list.

Since the debate began nearly four years ago I’ve found myself having some questions about how penal substitutionary atonement has been preached and explained. However I.Howard Marshall’s chapter ‘The Theology of the Atonement’ is excellent and I find myself in almost total agreement.

However he says this,

It is not a case of God punishing Christ but of God in Christ taking on himself the sin and its penalty. Indeed, at some point the challenge needs to be issued: where are these evangelicals who say that God punished Christ? Name them! Where are the evangelicals who will repudiate this statement, written by John Calvin: ‘We do not, however, insinuate that God was ever hostile to him or angry with him.’ You will not find them amongst serious theologians, although I recognise that popular preachers may err in this respect. (p63)

Hmm, I’m pretty sure some popular preachers have erred.