The traditional Western liturgy for the Lord's Supper quite explicitly confesses Jesus as our peace offering in the Pax and in the Agnus Dei.—John Kleinig, Leviticus, p. 96.
Once more, it would be great to see a little context for this.
It’s simply a question of subject object relationship:
“liturgy … confesses Jesus as our peace offering”. Does that mean Jesus was the offering for our peace, or does that mean we offer Jesus as a peace offering in the liturgy? There are Lutherans who believe that the latter is true, although they do not deny the former.
I strongly suspect that Dr. Kleinig is saying that our Lord was a peace offering for our sins. If that is so, is “penal substitution” also necessary? Was our Lord’s offering of Himself not an acceptable sacrifice for our sins? As I recall, when Job suffered, and there is no question that he is a “type” of our Lord, he was not being punished; he was being tested because of some agreement between God and Satan, of which we do not know any details. Nor were Abraham and Isaac punished, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son. Scripture clearly says that Abraham was being tested. If atonement for the sins of the world indeed was accomplished through an offering, or a sacrifice, then it would have had to be a perfect offering, which is why we read in Hebrews 2:10, “It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
Once more, it would be great to see a little context for this.
ReplyDeleteIt’s simply a question of subject object relationship:
“liturgy … confesses Jesus as our peace offering”. Does that mean Jesus was the offering for our peace, or does that mean we offer Jesus as a peace offering in the liturgy? There are Lutherans who believe that the latter is true, although they do not deny the former.
I strongly suspect that Dr. Kleinig is saying that our Lord was a peace offering for our sins. If that is so, is “penal substitution” also necessary? Was our Lord’s offering of Himself not an acceptable sacrifice for our sins? As I recall, when Job suffered, and there is no question that he is a “type” of our Lord, he was not being punished; he was being tested because of some agreement between God and Satan, of which we do not know any details. Nor were Abraham and Isaac punished, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son. Scripture clearly says that Abraham was being tested. If atonement for the sins of the world indeed was accomplished through an offering, or a sacrifice, then it would have had to be a perfect offering, which is why we read in Hebrews 2:10, “It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
Peace and Joy!
George A. Marquart