Shalom,
Some people say penal substitution is a childish way of looking at the incarnation of the Word. They say this theory was appealing back when brutal punishments were common even for petty crimes. But for the modern mind, other theories (like Russian orthodox view) may be better.
What say you?
Simon
I understand the view of penal substitution to be that Christ suffered "these things" for us so we wouldn't have to, if we just accepted His work as true. The Orthodox view I understand to be that Christ had bought us from the power of the devil, and if we just achieve theosis (union with God), we shall be in heaven with Him, who is now there. I must say that especially the Orthodox view, at least in my eyes, cannot be called homogenous or perhaps among all Orthodox adherents (Russia Orthodoxy is not very different from the mainstream, I think). For example, there are some fathers (I think it could be Macarius of Egypt or someone else around that time, I don't remember exactly) who teach that unless we purge ourselves from all lust, we shall in no wise see heaven, while other fathers preach that we cannot, by any means ever purge ourselves from all lusts, and the more we do, the more we realize how much more there is to purge (this view is taught by one prominent theologian who teaches Russian priests in Moscow, I have heard some audio recordings of his teachings). In any case, the idea stays the same: the goal is theosis.
It is extremely sad to note though, that what Orthodox church calls humility, can sometimes prevent an Orthodox from being confident that he or she is saved. For example the same mentioned theologian who preaches at Russian universities keeps emphasising one father who said: "where the devil will be, there will I be also", portraying this as the ideal humility a person can acquire for themselves. Obviously this excludes, on this person's part, the acceptance that he or she, is now in theosis, i.e. "saved", even though he or she may have a second ago received Holy Spirit in communion, and are now, essentially are one with God, are in theosis, saved (at least until they do something that causes the Spirit to leave, if they don't deal with the guilt quickly enough and sufficiently enough). This problem is due to contradictory teachings present in the church. It seems to me that the Orthodox in general say that salvation is only a hope thing, one can never believe that he or she will be in heaven, as this is viewed as "pride" and "delusion". They fear to talk about it though, because fathers are considered to be great authority, and anything opposing them a sin.
