Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Thought Life

Home
Evangelical
Did the Atonement Break the Trinity? On Tom McCall’s Essay

Did the Atonement Break the Trinity? On Tom McCall’s Essay

Last updated on: April 3, 2018 at 5:28 am by Owen Strachan

Did the Atonement Break the Trinity? On Tom McCall’s Essay 2018-04-03T05:28:55-06:00 Owen Strachan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-46)

************

This past weekend, Christianity Today published an editorial by Tom McCall, a well-regarded systematic theologian. McCall’s piece made several surprising claims. Below, I interact with several of its key arguments; see also this helpful blog by Denny Burk, and these tweets by Malcolm Yarnell.

McCall: “For many who hold this view, the Trinity is somehow “broken” as the communion between the Father and the Son is ruptured in the darkness of that Friday afternoon. And this is said to be good news and the heart of the gospel because Jesus absorbs the wrath of God in taking the exact punishment we deserve. God is changed from wrath to mercy and can no longer justly punish those for whom Christ died.”

McCall does not quote any theologians who use this word: “broken.” He himself references this language several times in his piece, but nowhere cites an actual evangelical theologian who says that the Trinity is “broken” at Calvary. McCall does cite C. J. Mahaney and quotes R. C. Sproul to this effect, but neither of these men say that the Trinity was “broken.” There may be a theologian out there who uses such language, but I do not personally know of them, and I’ve never heard a conservative evangelical quote them.

McCall: “There is no biblical evidence that the Father-Son communion was somehow ruptured on that day. Nowhere is it written that the Father was angry with the Son. Nowhere can we read that God “curses him to the pit of hell.” Nowhere is it written that Jesus absorbs the wrath of God by taking the exact punishment that we deserve.”

These four sentences pack quite a punch. There is indeed scriptural evidence that communion was impaired in the crucifixion of Christ. The passage cited above features Jesus crying out that the Father had forsaken him (see Psalm 22 for the Old Testament testimony he takes as his own in Messianic fulfillment). McCall cites Psalm 22:24 to argue against the Father turning his face away from the Son at Calvary, but there is no indication in the Gospels that the Father hears the Son’s prayer. At the very least, the Father does not grant the Son’s request that the cup pass from Christ; the sky is darkened on the day of Christ’s death, and he no longer enjoys the closeness with the Father that he always has. He asked three times for divine intervention, and none came (Matthew 26:36-46). This is unusual. This is not standard. The Son is still the Son, to be sure, but he is alone.

(Also, as a further word and update: I recognize like McCall that we need to pay attention to the full context of a New Testament citation of the Old Testament. However, I fear McCall is in danger of putting Psalm 22:24 in Christ’s mouth, rather than Psalm 22:1. Jesus does not say what Psalm 22:24 says; Jesus says what Psalm 22:1 says. When we interpret Christ’s words on the cross, then, we must pay attention to what he actually expresses, and cede it first priority. If Jesus had wanted to confess that the Lord had not hid his face from him, he would have cited Psalm 22:24. McCall is emphasizing the wrong verse from Psalm 22.)

Theologians and preachers–thousands and thousands and thousands of them in the evangelical tradition from a wide array of denominations and global locations–know that Habakkuk 1:13 teaches that God cannot look on sin. When Jesus dies on the cross, he does so as a blood sacrifice for sin, to such an extent that he becomes sin for us, all our guilt being laid upon him (2 Cor. 5:21). So it is that teachers like Sproul have argued that the Father turns his face away from the son, for at Calvary, the Father lays all our guilt on Christ. Christ becomes a guilt offering; he becomes a curse for all for whom he dies (Isa. 53:10; Gal. 3:13). So it is appropriate to say that the Father turned his face away from Christ. This does not entail a “broken Trinity”; it does show us the severity of divine judgment, judgment borne by the Son on the tree.

McCall’s denial of Jesus absorbing the wrath of God is serious business. If Jesus has not absorbed the wrath of God for sinners like us, it yet burns against us. Praise be to God that the Son has drained the cup of divine wrath for us.

McCall: “Finally, the “broken Trinity” and “God against God” views run aground on the doctrines of divine impassibility and simplicity as well as the doctrine of the Trinity. According to Christian orthodoxy, it not even a possibility that the Trinity was broken. If we know anything about the Trinity, we know that God is one God in three persons, and we know that God’s life is necessarily the life of holy love shared in the eternal communion of the Father, Son, and Spirit. To say that the Trinity is broken—even “temporarily”—is to imply that God does not exist.”

Our challenge here is to form our Trinitarian theology by Scripture first, and not by what any one theologian calls “Christian orthodoxy.” We love the great tradition (here’s one theologically-inclined book coming out soon that resources it), but if there is anything to be identified as “Christian orthodoxy,” it is first the teaching of the Word of God. The Word of God features the Son of God lamenting that the Father has “forsaken” him. This “forsaking” does not owe to what McCall terms “God against God” theology. The members of the Godhead execute the glorious plan of salvation in the execution of the Son. They do not work at cross-purposes with one another; they share a single cross purpose, you could say. But the one plan of God necessitates the death of the God-man, Jesus Christ, according to the Father’s will. As noted earlier, not for nothing does Christ pray in Gethsemane, “Not my will but yours be done” to the Father (Matthew 26:39). The language McCall critiques–that of a “broken Trinity”–deserves critique, for it is off-base. But the interruption of communion between the Father and the Son in the Son’s incarnational bearing of sin is a biblical reality. Denying it means denying the Bible.

McCall: “Indeed, we should be faithful to point out that “wrath remains” on all who reject the Son (John 3:36). At the same time, however, we are not at liberty to restrict our understanding of the intents, purposes, and breadth of Christ’s work.”

I don’t know exactly what this means. We “restrict” our understanding of the extent of Christ’s work only insofar as the Bible limits it. If the Bible says that Christ laid down his life for his bride, then we believe the Bible (Eph. 5:25). If the Bible teaches us that the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, we believe the Bible (John 10:11). If the Bible says that Christ died once for the guilty, we believe the Bible (1 Peter 3:18). There is a lively debate about how to understand the effects of the atonement, but one reason why many of us believe that the death of Christ satisfies the wrath of God is because of the verse that McCall cites here. If Christ dies for you, God’s wrath is spent in your case. But if Christ does not die for you, the wrath of God is coming for you.

McCall: “Narrowing Christ’s work to the limited sense of taking the punishment for our sins can cause us to miss (much of) the point. Yes, Christ came to get us out of hell, but he also came to get hell out of us and to make us holy as we walk in communion with the Triune God.”

I confess I find this a strange formulation. Again, there may be a theologian out there who narrows Christ’s work to merely taking our punishment upon him. If so, too bad, because the Bible weaves a soteriological tapestry for us with elegant strands of union, adoption, reconciliation, expiation, recapitulation, propitiation, and more. But on the other hand, Christ taking our punishment for sin upon him is not really “limited,” is it? It’s the greatest miracle there is. It is “much of” the point of biblical salvation. Our central problem is that sin has separated us from God and condemned us, everlastingly, to hell. The fact that “Christ came to get us out of hell” isn’t a small thing, but is a truth so wondrous we’ll proclaim it for all eternity.

There is no need to put “getting out of hell” and “making us holy” at odds with one another; Christ’s effectual death clears our account before God, satisfies the full requirements of divine justice per the intrinsic righteousness of God’s holy character, and when applied to us in historical time and space through the Spirit’s regenerating work enables our own participation “in Christ” in the holiness of God. McCall here puts tension between truths that are one in the biblical mind.

*************

In sum, I would not encourage anyone to believe in a “broken Trinity.” Many of us would affirm that Christ’s Godness cannot be killed at Calvary; the second person of the Godhead upholds the universe even as Jesus dies on the cross. McCall goes after Mahaney and Sproul in his article, but neither man would affirm what McCall says they do. Instead, these men and countless others affirm what the Bible plainly teaches: the Son of God went to the cross as a sin-sacrifice, and absorbed the wrath of God as the one effectual offering for those who will confess their sin and believe on Christ.

McCall’s piece, in sum, says some good things, but ends up being rather confusing to me, at least. It seems to tackle a problem that may exist, but is not represented in the mainstream evangelical tradition. No one I know of preaches a “broken Trinity.” I’ve never heard such language before, in fact. Instead, most preachers and teachers I know of unite the various biblical themes of the atonement, in the manner of Mark Dever in his 2006 cover essay for Christianity Today: “While Christ’s example of self-giving love may also defeat our enemies, may he not, by the same act, propitiate God’s wrath?” He may. He may indeed.

I think also of the words of Billy Graham, founder of Christianity Today: “God judges man by the standard of the only God-man who ever lived, Jesus Christ. Jesus, the innocent lamb of God, stands between our sin and the judgment of God the Father” (Billy Graham in Quotes, 82). So he does. Because this is true, we will praise the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth when we dwell with him, for eternity, in the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 13:8). His dereliction means our in-gathering; his wrath-bearing means our sin-overcoming.

Previous Post

March 16, 2018

Skeptical About Skeptics: A Few Thoughts on Doubt & the New Rob Bell Film, "The Heretic"

Next Post

April 10, 2018 A Historic Day for Midwestern Seminary: Andreas Köstenberger Joins the Faculty

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "heaven is a world of love" 9Marks abortion academics Adam Sandler adoption adultery adulthood aesthetics aging ajith fernando al mohler alice walker America american education american shaolin apologetics architecture atheism atonement august rush barack obama baseball basketball batman beauty berry mauve or muted wine Bible biblemesh biblical studies biblical theology biblical womanhood billy wolfe blogging bob kauflin body book culture book reviews boston celtics boston college bowdoin college bowling alone boyce college boyhood Brooke Fraser Bruce Ware bullies bullying business business ethics C.S. Lewis calling calvinism canada Capitol Hill Baptist Church carl henry carl trueman carolyn mahaney cbmw celebrity Chicago child's play children Christ Christ and culture Christian education christian hedonism christian ministry Christian vocation christian womanhood christianity and culture church government church history church internships church life church matters blog church membership church planting cities CJ Mahaney colin adams college college admissions college life college ministry collin hansen complementarianism conferences congregational worship conservative thought consumerism conversion council on biblical manhood & womanhood council on biblical manhood and womanhood covenant life church creativity credo magazine credobaptism cross movement crossway books crucifixion culinary culture cultural engagement cultural theology culture culture shift d. a. carson dads daily mail dan barry dancing with the stars daniel dennett darrell bock dating David Barash davy rothbart death death of God debt desiring God developmental league devotional thoughts dick morris dining disability discipleship doug sweeney douglas groothius economics economy education egalitarianism eliot spitzer ella rose strachan enlightenment entrepreneurs entrepreneurship environmentalism Eric Metaxas ethics evangelical theological society evangelicalism evangelism extended adolescence extreme home makeover family fatherhood feminism fiction film flame food foodstuffs football four gospels frank miller friendship gay gay Christianity gender roles genderblog george marsden girltalk gk chesterton God gospel gospel of John gospel risk gq greek mythology guillermo del toro happiness harold ockenga Harvard health heaven height hell henry center herb london higher education hillsdale hip hop historical theology history holidays holiness Holy Spirit home-school homemaking homes homosexuality hope human dignity human flourishing human life image of God imagination intellectual Christianity intellectual life iron man Islam J.I. Packer james mcavoy James Q. Wilson jeremy lin Jesus Christ jim hamilton joe namath John Calvin John McCain john owen john piper john rockefeller jonathan edwards journalism justice justin taylor kairos journal keira knightlet la times leadership lesbian life of the mind Lifeway links literature Lord's prayer louie giglio love male sex drive mall manhood manners Mark Dever Mark Driscoll marriage mars hill martial virtue martin luther masculinity materialism matthew hall maureen dowd memoirs of an ordinary pastor mentoring military millennials ministry missional missions monergism moral argument morality motherhood music national review nba new atheism new england New Testament new york new york times new yorker newsweek nietzsche northeast notre dame npr obedience oprah oprah's big give orphan care overheated prose award owen wilson pain parenting Park Community Church pastor-theologian pastoral ministry pastors persecution philosophes philosophy political philosophy politics poverty prayer preaching presidency presidential race pro-life professors proverbs psychology public school public square public theology publications quebec quilting race racism radical womanhood rap music rc sproul rebecca walker Reformation 21 relevant magazine religious liberty resources revelation revival richard dawkins richistan risky gospel robbie george robert putnam ron chernow Russ Moore salvation salvo magazine sam harris same-sex attraction sanctification scholarship science scripture secularism seminaries seminary life sex sex drive sexual ethics sexuality sexualized culture shooting sacred evangelical cows shootings simple church singleness social justice social media social networking Southern Baptists southern seminary sovereign grace Spanglish spirituality sports sports illustrated sports injuries stanford steve mccoy suburbia suffering superhero t. suzanne ellder Tea Leoni technology television the darjeeling unlimited the gospel coalition the southern baptist theological seminary the wackness theological journalism theology theology of work thinking Thom Rainer tim challies tim keller time magazine titan Together for the Gospel tom carson tom wolfe tragedy transgender travel trinity trinity evangelical divinity school truth twitter ty pennington unashamed workman Uncategorized violence virtue vocation voddie baucham war wayne gretzky wayne grudem weddings wikipedia will smith williams winnie hu womanhood work world magazine worship writing youth sports

Select a Month August 2021 July 2021 May 2021 March 2021 December 2020 October 2020 June 2020 February 2020 January 2020 October 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 November 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book directly follows Joshua?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Leviticus Numbers Judges Ruth