Substitution is at the heart of the story of God’s people. Rather than staying removed far from his cursed creation, the Creator became one of us. God the Son became a son of Adam: living the life we could not live and dying the death we all deserved. This “Great Exchange” ”all of my sin exchanged for all of Christ’s righteousness ”is good news indeed!
Sadly, this truth that should unite all professing Christians, instead is one of the many points on which we are divided.
Our Eastern Orthodox friends believe that Protestants are too focused on the forensic nature of salvation, as if God were merely a divine bookkeeper making sure his tally sheet is balanced at the end of a very long workday.
Our Roman Catholic friends believe that too much talk about the free nature of this exchange threatens to short-circuit the inner transformation at the heart of their understanding of justification.
Even in some Protestant and Reformed circles, the doctrine of justification has fallen on hard times, as theologians wonder how much our reading of Scripture is colored by Reformation debates rather than the culture of Second Temple Judaism in which the Gospels and Epistles were written.
In this issue of Modern Reformation, we’re returning to the doctrine of justification because we believe that the “Great Exchange” ”sin for righteousness ”at the heart of our doctrine of justification is also at the heart of our ongoing Christian life. As many have reminded us, the gospel isn’t just the ABCs of the Christian life; it is the A-Z of the Christian life. If we approach the doctrine of justification as the fuel for our ongoing Christian life, how does that change the way we see God at work in us and through us? How does that set some of these debates in proper perspective? How are we drawn to worship and glorify the God who was made sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him?
To help us think through this important issue, we’ve asked a diverse group of writers to weigh in on the “Great Exchange.” Kate Treick is a writer, photographer, wife, and mother who takes a fresh look at this old doctrine and shows how it works itself out in the lives of two kinds of people in the church. Professor of Old Testament Iain Duguid takes us to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 52 and 53 to show us how the Servant’s life of faithfulness is credited to the account of those who find their hope and satisfaction in him. John D. “Jady” Koch, an Anglican pastor and theology student, reminds us of the issues still under discussion between Roman Catholicism and the Reformation. And we’re pleased to feature an interview with rapper Shai Linne who talks about the lyrics to his rap “Justified” and the place of theology in hip-hop music.
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