Most Protestants contend that Isaiah 53 pictures Christ paying the legal penalty of sin, many holding that Christ suffered the torments of hell to pay for sin (Luther and Calvin), yet nowhere in the passage is this specified. Phrases such as “pierced for our transgressions,” “crushed for our iniquities,” “the chastisement that brought our peace was upon him” (vr. 5), “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (vr. 6), “for the transgression of my people he was stricken” (vr. 8), “he will bear their iniquities” (vr. 11) and “bore the sin of many” (vr. 12) merely give the reason Christ suffered and died, but do not speak of these as the legal and eternal punishment for sin; rather, they are the means by which Christ “made intercession for transgressors” (vr. 12) so that God would “see the suffering of his soul and be satisfied” (vr. 11). This agrees with Scripture, which interprets the prophetic statements concerning Christ’s coming as a time of suffering and dying, not as experiencing the torments of hell (e.g., Mk 9:12; Lk 24:25-26; Ac 3:18; 1Co 15:3-4). God is not legally satisfied by Christ’s suffering
and death, but personally satisfied, for there was no law requiring Christ to offer Himself, and no law requiring God to accept a legal rectification . . . William Hogan [writes]: “The value of His acts of satisfaction can be measured from Christ’s personal innocence, and from the fact that all His human acts were charged with obedience and charity. This interior spirit made all His deeds pleasing to his Father — at least as pleasing as the sins of men were displeasing; His acts were thus capable of offsetting the denial of God’s glory implicit in man’s sin. The ‘balance of justice’ is not found in a certain degree of pain countering the offense given by a certain number of sins. The balance is found in the dignity and worth of the honor given to God countering the offense given by sin....The sacrifice gave a more than adequate compensation for the injury done by sin and is, therefore, an act of satisfaction...The satisfaction given by Christ is aimed at the elimination of guilt; it opens the way to man’s reception of new life and consequent reunion with God” (Christ’s Redemptive Sacrifice, pp. 82, 85). (Robert A. Sungenis, Not by Bread Alone: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for the Eucharistic Sacrifice [2d ed; Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc, 2009), p. 34 n. 34; square brackets added for clarification)
Further Reading