The puritan Thomas Goodwin, who was on the Westminster Assembly, got penal substitution right. He is one of the most respected Puritans who "stood up and spoke from the floor more often than any other [delegate] (357 times) at the creation of the Westminster standards in England in the 1640s" (Dane Ortlund).
Joel Beeke writes of his high estimation of Goodwin:
If I could have $5 for every time someone has asked me the question, "Who is your favourite Puritan to read?," I suppose I'd be a wealthy man by now. Though I would probably answer that question today by saying, "Anthony Burgess--and he's also one of the most neglected!," for nearly two decades I would have said, "Thomas Goodwin." I may be an oddball, but--dare I say it--I've usually gotten more out of reading Goodwin than reading John Owen.
Come and see what Goodwin wrote about God the Father's love and anger expressed toward His own Son while He suffered on that cross:
1. "That he, that is God blessed forever, should be made a curse, this you have in Gal. 3:13. That he, that is, 'the Holy One of Israel,' should be made sin, aye, and what is more, he that cannot endure sin, for nothing is more contrary to the holiness of God than sin, and yet 'he that knew no sin was made sin,' this you have in 2 Cor. 5:21. That God should never be more angry with his Son than when he was most pleased with him, for so it was when Christ hung upon the cross, God did find a sweet-smelling savour of rest and satisfaction even when he cried out, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'"
Thomas Goodwin, The Works Of Thomas Goodwin, Volume 4, Chapter 2, Glory Of The Gospel (Tanski Publications: Eureka, California: 1996), 275.
2. "Our Lord and Saviour Christ is God blessed for ever; therefore, say the papists, he did not suffer the displeasure of God in his soul. Why, say they, can God love his Son and be angry with him at the same time? And he that is God blessed for ever, can he be made a curse in his soul? Yes, take him as a surety. They take part with one truth of the gospel to exclude the other, whereas the gospel is a reconciliation of both these, and therein lies the depth of it."
The Works Of Thomas Goodwin, 277.
3. "And also this offering up himself was so sweet a smelling sacrifice to God (as Eph. V. 2), that although God expressed never so much anger against Christ as when he hung upon the cross, yet he was never so well pleased by him as then . . . ."
Thomas Goodwin, Christ Our Mediator, (Sovereign Grace Publishers, Grand Rapids: 1971), 136.
4. "The place where he had prayed, and been refreshed, there is his agony and encounter; a garden turned into hell. His sweet communion with God there is now turned into wrestling with God's anger falling on him here . . . ."
Christ Our Mediator, 200
5. "Thus when it is said, that Christ was made a curse, not only in bodily miseries, but in his soul also, the meaning is not that the hypostatical union was dissolved, or the influence of divine grace restrained, but only, that in regard of comfort he was ' forsaken' of God, and felt the fearful effects of his anger due to our sins, without sin and despair."
Christ Our Mediator, 272
6. "It signifies 'to be in horror.' No sooner hath these our sins presented themselves to him, as being our surety, but that withal thunder and lightning from God do presently strike him, and his wrath and curse for them suddenly arrests him; this was it that put him into such an amazement as contains in it both fear and horror. His Father is presented unto him as an angry judge brandishing his sword of justice."
Thomas Goodwin commenting on this passage: Mark 14:33: And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
Christ Our Mediator, 275.
7. "A soul having thus taken the guilt of sin upon it, God may justly vent his anger upon such a soul for sin, and express that anger against that soul, as against the sinner, though otherwise God loves him. For it is just with God to inflict his wrath and curse for sin on whomsoever he finds that sin, whether by personal guilt or by imputation. And therefore it is no wonder if he be accursed by God, who hath the guilt of that upon him which God hates, and therefore curseth. If God cursed the earth because of man's sin, which was but his house he dwelt in, then much more must man's surety expect wrath and a curse, who will be so hardy as to take his sin upon him."
Christ Our Mediator, 281.
8. "And further; that soul, though innocent in itself, may be made sensible of the impressions of that anger for sin thus imputed."
Christ Our Mediator, 281.
9. "He might look upon himself as a Son, and a Son performing an obedience to his Father, even in suffering his wrath, and never pleasing him more than now, and in that respect most beloved of him; and yet withal, as a surety for sinners, and so punished, and in that respect he might apprehend God for the present angry, and full of wrath against him, as being made sin and so a curse for us, yet so as to the end that he might be well pleased with sinners in him. And both these differing apprehensions of his did Christ accordingly express in that one sentence, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' He speaks it as apprehending himself a Son still, and united to God, and beloved of him, and yet forsaken by him, and, as a surety, accursed."
Christ Our Mediator, 283.
10. "But there was another principle in him, and that was present sense of the impressions of God's anger: his mind by sight or vision seeing nothing else, and his will by the impressions on it feeling nothing else."
Christ Our Mediator, 284.
11. "If your sins brought Christ upon his knees (as they did in the garden) before God as an angry judge, they may well bring you upon your knees also."
Christ Our Mediator, 290
12. "And considered either as lamb or shepherd, we find that God being angry with him whilst thus he bore our sins, insomuch as he is said in his wrath to have smitten this shepherd with his sword, and smitten him unto death . . . ."
Christ Our Mediator, 370
Some other pertinent quotations:
a. ". . . he was made a curse, and encountered his Father's wrath, which, first, the darkness that was then about him may inform us of. If ever the face of hell were upon the earth, it was at that day."
Christ Our Mediator, 278.
b. "Yea, and by reason of the incapacity of the damned in hell to take in the full measure of God's wrath due to them for their sins, therefore their punishment, though it be eternal, yet never satisfies, because they can never take in all, as Christ could and did, and so theirs is truly less than what Christ underwent. And therefore Christ's punishment ought not in justice to be eternal, as theirs is, because he could take it all in a small space, and more fully satisfy God's wrath in a few hours, than they could unto all eternity."
Christ Our Mediator, 285
c. "Here God blessed for ever is made a curse, the light and life of the world and fountain of life is killed, the Lord of glory debased, the fulness of the Godhead emptied, emptied to nothing; he who is one with God in essence, in title to glory, is separated and accursed from him and by him, and laid as low as hell; and all this because he was made sin."
Christ Our Mediator, 288
Thomas Goodwin, The Works Of Thomas Goodwin, Volume 4, Chapter 2, Glory Of The Gospel (Tanski Publications: Eureka, California: 1996), 275.
2. "Our Lord and Saviour Christ is God blessed for ever; therefore, say the papists, he did not suffer the displeasure of God in his soul. Why, say they, can God love his Son and be angry with him at the same time? And he that is God blessed for ever, can he be made a curse in his soul? Yes, take him as a surety. They take part with one truth of the gospel to exclude the other, whereas the gospel is a reconciliation of both these, and therein lies the depth of it."
The Works Of Thomas Goodwin, 277.
3. "And also this offering up himself was so sweet a smelling sacrifice to God (as Eph. V. 2), that although God expressed never so much anger against Christ as when he hung upon the cross, yet he was never so well pleased by him as then . . . ."
Thomas Goodwin, Christ Our Mediator, (Sovereign Grace Publishers, Grand Rapids: 1971), 136.
4. "The place where he had prayed, and been refreshed, there is his agony and encounter; a garden turned into hell. His sweet communion with God there is now turned into wrestling with God's anger falling on him here . . . ."
Christ Our Mediator, 200
5. "Thus when it is said, that Christ was made a curse, not only in bodily miseries, but in his soul also, the meaning is not that the hypostatical union was dissolved, or the influence of divine grace restrained, but only, that in regard of comfort he was ' forsaken' of God, and felt the fearful effects of his anger due to our sins, without sin and despair."
Christ Our Mediator, 272
6. "It signifies 'to be in horror.' No sooner hath these our sins presented themselves to him, as being our surety, but that withal thunder and lightning from God do presently strike him, and his wrath and curse for them suddenly arrests him; this was it that put him into such an amazement as contains in it both fear and horror. His Father is presented unto him as an angry judge brandishing his sword of justice."
Thomas Goodwin commenting on this passage: Mark 14:33: And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
Christ Our Mediator, 275.
7. "A soul having thus taken the guilt of sin upon it, God may justly vent his anger upon such a soul for sin, and express that anger against that soul, as against the sinner, though otherwise God loves him. For it is just with God to inflict his wrath and curse for sin on whomsoever he finds that sin, whether by personal guilt or by imputation. And therefore it is no wonder if he be accursed by God, who hath the guilt of that upon him which God hates, and therefore curseth. If God cursed the earth because of man's sin, which was but his house he dwelt in, then much more must man's surety expect wrath and a curse, who will be so hardy as to take his sin upon him."
Christ Our Mediator, 281.
8. "And further; that soul, though innocent in itself, may be made sensible of the impressions of that anger for sin thus imputed."
Christ Our Mediator, 281.
9. "He might look upon himself as a Son, and a Son performing an obedience to his Father, even in suffering his wrath, and never pleasing him more than now, and in that respect most beloved of him; and yet withal, as a surety for sinners, and so punished, and in that respect he might apprehend God for the present angry, and full of wrath against him, as being made sin and so a curse for us, yet so as to the end that he might be well pleased with sinners in him. And both these differing apprehensions of his did Christ accordingly express in that one sentence, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' He speaks it as apprehending himself a Son still, and united to God, and beloved of him, and yet forsaken by him, and, as a surety, accursed."
Christ Our Mediator, 283.
10. "But there was another principle in him, and that was present sense of the impressions of God's anger: his mind by sight or vision seeing nothing else, and his will by the impressions on it feeling nothing else."
Christ Our Mediator, 284.
11. "If your sins brought Christ upon his knees (as they did in the garden) before God as an angry judge, they may well bring you upon your knees also."
Christ Our Mediator, 290
12. "And considered either as lamb or shepherd, we find that God being angry with him whilst thus he bore our sins, insomuch as he is said in his wrath to have smitten this shepherd with his sword, and smitten him unto death . . . ."
Christ Our Mediator, 370
Some other pertinent quotations:
a. ". . . he was made a curse, and encountered his Father's wrath, which, first, the darkness that was then about him may inform us of. If ever the face of hell were upon the earth, it was at that day."
Christ Our Mediator, 278.
b. "Yea, and by reason of the incapacity of the damned in hell to take in the full measure of God's wrath due to them for their sins, therefore their punishment, though it be eternal, yet never satisfies, because they can never take in all, as Christ could and did, and so theirs is truly less than what Christ underwent. And therefore Christ's punishment ought not in justice to be eternal, as theirs is, because he could take it all in a small space, and more fully satisfy God's wrath in a few hours, than they could unto all eternity."
Christ Our Mediator, 285
c. "Here God blessed for ever is made a curse, the light and life of the world and fountain of life is killed, the Lord of glory debased, the fulness of the Godhead emptied, emptied to nothing; he who is one with God in essence, in title to glory, is separated and accursed from him and by him, and laid as low as hell; and all this because he was made sin."
Christ Our Mediator, 288
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Goodwin's book, Christ Our Mediator, is online for free.
To learn more about the great King Jesus and His glorious Gospel message, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here with a free, 3 day trial.
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