For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. ( Romans 8:3 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: )

One of my joys during the sabbatical I took in Cambridge, England, was meeting with two of the authors of the book Pierced for Our Transgressions (by Mike Ovey, Steve Jeffery and Andrew Sach).

Their vision for the truth of what Christ achieved for us and what the needs are in British and American Evangelicalism were so compelling that I agreed to write the foreword for their book. I recommend the book to you. If you share the belief that we lose the gospel if we lose the substitutionary, wrath-averting triumph of the cross ( Romans 8:3 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: ; Galatians 3:13 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: ; Isaiah 53:4 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. –6) then you may want to order the book.

On December 21, 2005, when I was told to get a biopsy for prostate cancer the most precious word was 1 Thessalonians 5:9 9 For God appointed us not into wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, –10, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”

How do I move from being a “child of wrath” ( Ephesians 2:3 3 among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:-- ) to being free from wrath? It is not because God is not a God of wrath. It is because he was “pierced for my transgressions” ( Isaiah 53:5 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. ).

This is not a mere academic dispute. Our present peace and our eternal life hangs on this work of Christ.