If Christ did not bear the punishment for us, what is the meaning of redemption then?! If there was no Punishment at all (but merely the cancelling of a punishment) then where is the fulfillment of the Divine justice? Did Christ suffer and die for no reason?! The lifting of the punishment from us was the result of Christ enduring it instead of us. This is the teaching of the Church throughout the ages, and also the teaching of Scripture. – H.H. Pope Shenouda (How the Redemption of Mankind was Fulfilled, pages 64-65)
These two virtues met on the Cross. The Lord was just and merciful. Just, as He paid the price of sin. And merciful, as He had pity on mankind, who was condemned to death So He died for us. There is no contradiction at all between God’s justice and his mercy. His mercy is full of justice, and His justice is full of mercy. He is just in His mercy, and merciful in His justice. There are virtues that integrate with no contradiction. It is different with mankind. The justice of one turns into cruelty with no mercy. Or his mercy turns into underestimation of the rights of justice, encouraging others to err, though unintentionally. (The Spiritual Man, Page, page 167)
The talk about God’s love might make you joyful, while the talk about his justice troubles you. However, you have to face the whole truth. This is the divine truth that does not separate God’s justice from God’s love. God’s justice is merciful and God’s mercy is just. God’s justice is full of mercy and His mercy is full of justice. The two together are the whole truth, the complete truth. We do not act in spiritual matters according to half the truth. (Words of Spiritual Benefit, 51-100, Volume II)
There is no objection that you would bear the guilt of another one and be punished for that instead of him; or that you bear the responsibilities of another one, and to carry them on instead of him. And as saint Paul said to Philemon about Onesimus: “But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, an writing with my own hand, I will repay” (Philemon 18-19). As much as you can, participate in the sufferings of others, and carry them in their place. Be a Cyrenian bearing the cross of another. When we make the sign of the cross, we remember many of the theological and spiritual meanings which are connected to it. 1. We remember the love of God for us, who accepted death instead of us, in view of our salvation. “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:6). When we make the sign of the cross, we remember “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). 2. And in the Cross, we remember our sins. Our sins which He has borne on the Cross, and for which He Incarnated and was crucified. With this remembrance, we become humiliated, our souls become contrite, and we thank for the price which He paid for us “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20). 3. And in the Cross, we remember the divine justice: How forgiveness was not on account of justice. But the divine justice took his right on the Cross. We do not then consider sin as a slight matter, the sin whose price is such as that. 4. In our signing of the Cross, we declare our discipleship to this crucified One. (Feast of the Cross, page 11)
It was necessary for Him to rise because His death was a mere temporary one to perform a double message. It was possible for him not to die according to His nature and also “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ” (Rom 6:23). Moreover he did not commit any sin. He accepted to die instead of us in order to give His life for us as the apostle said ” being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. ” (Rom 3:24,25) (Contemplations on the Resurrection, page 51)
The mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ is an atonement, which means that He mediates for the forgiveness of our sins, being the Atoner who paid our debts on our behalf. His mediation means that He says to the Father: “Do not count their transgressions because I have carried their iniquity” (Is.53: 6). Thus He stands as a Mediator between God and men; or rather, He is the only Mediator between God and men; He fulfilled God’s Divine Justice and granted people the forgiveness of sins, by dying for them. This is what St. John the Apostle meant when he said: “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1John.2: 1,2). Here, the atoning mediation is very clear. It is a mediation for the sinner: “If anyone sins”, and this sinner needs atonement. The only One who offered this atonement was Jesus Christ the righteous. Hence He can mediate for us through His blood which was shed for us. The same meaning is given in the words of St. Paul the Apostle about the Lord Jesus Christ being the only Mediator between God and men. He says: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1Tim.2: 5,6). The Lord Jesus Christ mediates for us as the Redeemer who sacrificed Himself and paid the price of our sins. (Comparative Theology, page 77)
“Those who fight God’s “justice” deny a fundamental character in it and focus only on his mercy and love. If they fight God’s justice in the name of mercy, let them know that the attributes of God are inseparable from each other. God is merciful in his justice, and God’s mercy is a just mercy. They focus on the love of God, but ignore the many verses that speak of His justice, or try to interpret them to follow the color of their own thinking! If they quote some of the words of the Fathers, they quote them in a concise manner, and take phrases without regard to context. They do the same with their quotations from the Divine Liturgy. For example: “You have changed for me the punishment into salvation!” They focus on the word “Salvation”, but they ignore that it is salvation from punishment! Then with all audacity, they say that God does not punish anyone! When they use the phrase “You have removed the curse of the law from me” they focus on the work of Christ the redeemer in removing the curse of the law from us. And they forget that God has placed those curses on anyone who violates His commandments (Deut 27:28). And when the use the words “You sent the law to help me”, they focus on the word “help”. Yet they forget that the law was helpful from a guidance standpoint, but it was also a scale of justice and judgment, so that people are condemned according to the words of that Law. I do not have time to quote all the examples of their quotations. But I say that in order to focus on the love of God, they deny all words of punishment. So they deny the punishment of death, the punishment of [God’s] curse, and all that pertains to eternal torment! They consider that God has no business or economy in all this! They say that it is man who caused all this to himself by his free will. We do not deny that man is the one who subjects himself to punishment. But at the same time it is he who has submitted himself to the judgment of God. “ – H. H. Pope Shenouda (New Heresies, Chapter 2)
Was the sacrifice of Christ a sacrifice of love or punishment?
The matter is very clear which is: The sacrifice of Christ was out of love for us, as well as a fulfillment of the punishment that was upon us, which is the sentence of death. So [the sacrifice] combines both together…There is punishment, but Christ carried it instead of us, because of His love for us. Otherwise, what is the meaning of the term “satisfy the penalty” and “fulfill the penalty”? Who satisfied the penalty except Christ? And who fulfilled the penalty except Christ? All of this was instead of us. For, as the Scripture says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53: 6). Because of the “sin of all of us”, the Lord Christ suffered, died, and was buried. Otherwise: Why did he die? Were it not for the punishment that was upon us ?!…Here we ask: Is there a difference between the Old and New Testaments? God – as Scripture says – is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.“ (Heb. 13: 8) “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17). If in the Old Testament “the sinful soul is to die,” the same judgment is in the New Testament also. We see this in the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). We see this with the end of [the life of] Judas “the son of perdition” (Jn 17:11). We see this in the blows of Revelation…As for the expression that the Son bore the penalty of death at the hand of the Father instead of us to fulfill God’s justice, this is not an estrangement from the Spirit of the New Testament, as one author says. But this is the faith of the whole church, and the faith of its fathers and saints.” — H. H. Pope Shenouda (New Heresies, Chapter 3, pp 59-60)
Father’s relationship with the Son on the cross
“We return to discussing the phrase ‘The Father did not punish the son, but gave Him up out of love’ to discuss together an important topic: the Father’s relationship with the Son on the cross. The phrase ‘the Father punished his Son’ is provocative because the Son was not a sinner that the Father should punish Him. What is more correct [to say] is that the Father accepted that His Son would bear the punishment of humanity. Thus, he sent him as a propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). Regarding the phrase “gave Him up out of love” we cannot pass it by lightly. But stop at the word “gave”, that is gave Him up unto death of the cross, and gave Him up as a sacrifice for sin (Isaiah 53:10) to be counted among the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12 ). He gave Him up [to be] wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities “yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted “ (Isaiah 53: 5, 4) “and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb” (Isaiah 53: 6, 7). Do we pass by all this lightly and say “gave Him up out of love [only]”?! – H. H. Pope Shenouda (New Heresies)
The burnt offering was made a symbol to satisfy the heart of God, who was angered by our sins. Therefore the whole sacrifice was offered to God alone. It was forbidden for any one to eat from it. Neither the offerer, nor his friends, nor the priest himself could eat from it; but the sacrifice had to remain burning on the altar day and night till it was reduced to ashes. That fire indicated God’s justice. But changing the burnt offering to ashes was a symbol of the sacrifice’s yielding till the end in order that God’s justice might be paid in full (Lev 6:8-13). Therefore it was said about the burnt offering “It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.” (Lev 1:9,13,17). There was also the sin offering and the crime offering, which were symbolic of God’s justice being paid in full because “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Heb 9:22). Blood was payment in full in return for death as “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23). The blood of animals was a symbol of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ performed reconciliation between God and man. This matter was accomplished on the cross through atonement and redemption. (Contemplations on the Sermon on the Mount, page 131)
The devil shows Gods’ love in a way that makes one lose the fear of God! He benefits to a great extent from the words of St. John, giving them a wrong interpretation, “There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Thus, he tries to remove God’s fear from the hearts of people under the name of love, while the Bible says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10). Here, I tell you about a book I wanted to publish about “The fear of God” and the relation between such fear and love. I had prepared this book more than a year ago and made an announcement about it but I postponed publishing it. Now, I feel that it is necessary to publish it because many people benefit from God’s love wrongly so that they get away from spiritual caution and become unmindful. All this is due to the intrigues of the devil! Indeed, God is very loving and forgiving, but He is also just and holy. As God has no limits to His love, He has no limits to His justice, and to His holiness. His holiness does not accept sin, and His justice punishes it. This is with respect to God’s love for us; what about our love for God? (Diabolic Wars, page 111)
The Lord Christ on the cross was representing all mankind. He represented all humanity in paying the wages of sin to the Divine Justice. ” All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Is. 53:6). For this reason, He was on the cross “a burnt sacrifice… a sweet aroma unto the Lord” (Lev. 1:9), and He was a sin offering, and also a “Passover” (1 Cor. 5:7). He was offering to the Father an atonement for our sins, and as He offered this sacrifice, He said to the Father “forgive them”. In other words: “I have satisfied the Justice that You, 0 Father, have demanded, and therefore, forgive them”. (Many Years With People’s Questions, – Part I, Biblical Questions, page 66)
He is not only God, but He also took on Him a human nature like ours; a complete human nature. Hence it is written that He shared with us everything except sin (Heb 2:17) and unless He had taken our nature, He would not have been able to satisfy the divine justice on our behalf. (Many Years With People’s Questions, Part II, Theological & Dogmatic Questions, Page 158)
Divine grace cannot be in conflict with divine justice. God’s grace is not at the expense of His justice, nor is it diminished by it! We should not just imagine God as being loving in the New Testament, and vengeful in the Old. God is the same yesterday, today and for ever. He was loving in the Old Testament, yet punished sin, and He is loving in the New Testament, where He also punishes. David said about the God who punished in the Old Testament: “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us”. (Ps. 103:10-12) In the New Testament, the love of God was made manifest on the cross, totally blended with His justice, “abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Ps. 86:5). (Many Years With People’s Questions, Part III, Spiritual and General Questions, Page 54)
The protestants argue that the death of Christ satisfied the claims of the divine justice in all aspects.. Would God then require us to satisfy them again? No, God does not require us to do so. Besides, we
haven’t the ability to satisfy the divine justice. The Lord Jesus Christ has paid off all the claims of the divine justice. He made an unlimited atonement sufficient for the remission of all the sins of all people in all ages. However, we repeat here what we have already said before that the blood of Christ is one thing and the deserts of this blood is another thing. All we have to do is not to satisfy the claims of the divine justice, but to be worthy of the deserts of the blood of Christ. We do not try to satisfy the divine justice, for this has been performed on the cross when the Lord shed His blood on our behalf. But we have only to be worthy of the blood of Christ. (Salvation in the Orthodox Concept, Page 168)
The remembrance of the Judgment brings about tears, especially if it is accompanied by the remembrance of one’s sins and weeping over them. How difficult is the phrase, “(He) will render to each one according to his deeds”! Or the phrase, “and their works follow them”! I wonder, of what type are these works which will follow us? Are they worthy of tears? In remembering the Judgment, the person also remembers God’s justice. That is why the Church places in front of us this truth everyday in “The Prayer Before Sleeping”, in which the person praying says, “Behold, I am about to stand before the Just Judge in fear because of my numerous sins…”. In remembering the Judgment and sin, we remember also the saying of the apostle: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb 10:31) (Tears in the Spiritual Life, page 42)
We recognize in Christ’s words on the Cross the property of giving. We are apt to wonder that while He was on the Cross, in a state of being battered and in submission, He was a giver. He gave forgiveness to His persecutors, gave Paradise to the thief on His right side, gave His Blessed Mother a spiritual Son and provided her with care and attention. He gave beloved John the blessedness of accommodating Mary in his house, and gave the Father the price of the Divine Justice as ordained, He gave humanity atonement and redemption, and gave us also security that the act of salvation has been accomplished. In short, He has given everybody his due while no one gave Him anything. He offered all that to humanity though humanity offered Him nothing in return except gall and vinegar…(The Seven Words of Our Lord on the Cross, Page 7)
“Father, forgive them, for I have paid off the wages of their sin, and they stand in no debt. I have satisfied the divine justice; I repaid all their debts, now forgive them. Here I am dying on behalf of those who crucified Me and on behalf of those who loved Me. When I say, “Forgive them. I do not mean only those, but all those who seek refuge in My blood: All penitent sinners from the day of Adam to eternity. Forgive them, as ‘For this purpose I came to this hour'” (John 12:27). (The Seven Words of Our Lord on the Cross, Page 16)
This phrase “Forgive them” was all for announcing the era of forgiveness and that is not a promised forgiveness, but a paid for forgiveness. It is a declaration that the Divine Justice was satisfied that the penalty has been paid in full. It is a deed – a document entitling the purchaser to the merchandise he paid for. He purchased us with His own blood, and the only thing left for Him to do is to take us, to carry us with Him to Paradise that we may enjoy eternal life with Him, and where He is we also will be. It seems as though He was telling the Lord, “What are You asking these people for?” What sort of claim do You have against them? Isn’t it that You want to inflict death upon them as a penalty for their sins? Here I am dying in their place. I am paying You off what they owe You. Relieve them of this verdict! You are being paid in full – shortly after, I will announce to You that “It is finished “…(The Seven Words of Our Lord on the Cross, Page 21, 22)
The word “Forsaken” means that the torment of Crucifixion was actual and that God’s wrath was excruciating. The act of abandonment was the climax of all torment on the Cross; all torment of redemption. Here Christ resembles a burnt sacrifice. An offering to God for the atonement of sin – to be consumed by the divine fire until it turns to ashes and satisfies fully the Divine Justice…He said that because He took the shape of a servant, and became similar to man. “But made Himself of no reputation. taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men ” (Phil. 2: 7 and 8). He said these words because “He humbled Himself”, “and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:9) He spoke as the Son of man, who has taken over a human nature and taken man’s position, and agreed to represent humanity before God, assumed all human sins and is paying off all their debts. Here we see that all humanity is talking through Him. As He assumed all human sins, and a sin is a separation from God and a cause of God’s wrath, all humanity is crying through Christ, saying: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (The Seven Words of Our Lord on the Cross, Page 45, 47)
And as His disgrace was complete, His physical pain and God’s wrath were perfected. The Lord has paid it all –offered Himself as a sacrifice, and the fire went on, consuming His offering until it turned into ashes (Lev 6:10). When Our Lord realised that He had completed the act of redemption and atonement, and that He had satisfied the divine justice fully and nothing else could be done, He cried triumphantly: “It is finished.” (The Seven Words of Our Lord on the Cross, Page 55)
H.H. Pope Shenouda’s Theology in Line with Early Church Fathers
Psalm 88:6-9
You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them.
Romans 8: 3-4
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us
Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse [sentence] of the law by becoming [fulfilling] a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.
Liturgy of Saint Gregory
I laid aside Your law by my own opinion. I neglected your commandments. I brought upon myself the sentence of death. You O my Master have turned for me the punishment into salvation. As a good shepherd you have sought the stray.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202) , Against Heresies Book V, Chapter 16-17
For we were debtors to none other but to Him whose commandment we had transgressed at the beginning. Now this being is the Creator (Demiurgus), who is, in respect of His love, the Father; but in respect of His power, He is Lord; and in respect of His wisdom, our Maker and Fashioner; by transgressing whose commandment we became His enemies. And therefore in the last times the Lord has restored us into friendship through His incarnation, having become “the Mediator between God and men;” propitiating indeed for us the Father against whom we had sinned, and cancelling (consolatus) our disobedience by His own obedience; conferring also upon us the gift of communion with, and subjection to, our Maker. For this reason also He has taught us to say in prayer, “And forgive us our debts;” since indeed He is our Father, whose debtors we were, having transgressed His commandments
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (313 – 386 AD) – Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril
These things the Savior endured, and made peace through the Blood of His Cross, for things in heaven, and things in earth. For we were enemies of God through sin, and God had appointed the sinner to die. There must needs therefore have happened one of two things; either that God, in His truth, should destroy all men, or that in His loving-kindness He should cancel the sentence. But behold the wisdom of God; He preserved both the truth of His sentence, and the exercise of His loving-kindness. Christ took our sins in His body on the tree, that we by His death might die to sin, and live unto righteousness.
St. Athanasius (296 – 373 AD) – Letter to Marcellinus
And Psalms 88 and 69, again speaking in the Lord’s own person, tell us further that He suffered these things, not for His own sake but for ours. Thou has made Thy wrath to rest upon me, says the one; and the other adds, I paid them things I never took. For He did not die as being Himself liable to death: He suffered for us, and bore in Himself the wrath that was the penalty of our transgression, even as Isaiah says, Himself bore our weaknesses.
St. Athanasius – On the Incarnation of the Word
He saw that corruption held us all the closer, because it was the penalty for the Transgression; He saw, too, how unthinkable it would be for the law to be repealed before it was fulfilled. He saw how unseemly it was that the very things of which He Himself was the Artificer should be disappearing…Thus, taking a body like our own, because all our bodies were liable to the corruption of death, He surrendered His body to death instead of all, and offered it to the Father…The Word perceived that corruption could not be got rid of otherwise than through death; yet He Himself, as the Word, being immortal and the Father’s Son, was such as could not die. For this reason, therefore, He assumed a body capable of death, in order that it, through belonging to the Word Who is above all, might become in dying a sufficient exchange for all, and, itself remaining incorruptible through His indwelling, might thereafter put an end to corruption for all others as well, by the grace of the resurrection…For naturally, since the Word of God was above all, when He offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life of all, He fulfilled in death all that was required.
St. Athanasius (296 – 373 AD) – On the Incarnation of the Word
For the Word, perceiving that no otherwise could the corruption of men be undone save by death as a necessary condition, while it was impossible for the Word to suffer death, being immortal, and Son of the Father; to this end He takes to Himself a body capable of death, that it, by partaking of the Word Who is above all, might be worthy to die in the stead of all, and might, because of the Word which was come to dwell in it, remain incorruptible, and that thenceforth corruption might be stayed from all by the Grace of the Resurrection. Whence, by offering unto death the body He Himself had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from any stain, straightway He put away death from all His peers by the offering of an equivalent. For being over all, the Word of God naturally by offering His own temple and corporeal instrument for the life of all satisfied the debt by His death.
St. Athanasius (296 – 373 AD) – Contra Arianos, Discourse II, Chapter 21
‘Unless the Son shall make you free;’ and the Son, who made free, has shewn in truth that He is no creature, nor one of things originate, but the proper Word and Image of the Father’s Essence, who at the beginning sentenced, and alone remitteth sins. For since it is said in the Word, ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return,’ suitably through the Word Himself and in Him the freedom and the undoing of the condemnation has come to pass…He sends His own Son, and He becomes Son of Man, by taking created flesh; that, since all were under sentence of death, He, being other than them all, might Himself for all offer to death His own body; and that henceforth, as if all had died through Him, the word of that sentence might be accomplished (for ‘all died’ in Christ), and all through Him might thereupon become free from sin and from the curse which came upon it, and might truly abide forever, risen from the dead and clothed in immortality and incorruption.
St. Athanasius (296 – 373 AD) – Discourses Against the Arians, Discourse II
‘Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession Jesus, who was faithful to Him that made Him.’when became He ‘Apostle,’ but when He put on our flesh? and when became He ‘High Priest of our profession,’ but when, after offering Himself for us, He raised His Body from the dead, and, as now, Himself brings near and offers to the Father those who in faith approach Him, redeeming all, and for all propitiating God?
St. Gregory Nazianzen (329 – 390 AD) – Oration 30.5
He makes my disobedience His own as Head of the whole body. As long then as I am disobedient and rebellious, both by denial of God and by my passions, so long Christ also is called disobedient on my account…Of the same kind, it appears to me, is the expression, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” It was not He who was forsaken either by the Father, or by His own Godhead, as some have thought, as if It were afraid of the Passion, and therefore withdrew Itself from Him in His Sufferings (for who compelled Him either to be born on earth at all, or to be lifted up on the Cross?) But as I said, He was in His own Person representing us. For we were the forsaken and despised before, but now by the Sufferings of Him Who could not suffer, we were taken up and saved. Similarly, He makes His own our folly and our transgressions; and says what follows in the Psalm, for it is very evident that the Twenty-first Psalm refers to Christ.
St. Ambrose (337- 397 AD) – Flight from the World, ch. 7, sect. 44
And so then, Jesus took flesh that He might destroy the curse of sinful flesh, and He became for us a curse that a blessing might overwhelm a curse, uprightness might overwhelm sin, forgiveness might overwhelm the sentence, and life might overwhelm death. He also took up death that the sentence might be fulfilled and satisfaction might be given for the judgment, the curse placed on sinful flesh even to death. Therefore, nothing was done contrary to God’s sentence when the terms of that sentence were fulfilled, for the curse was unto death but grace is after death.
St. John Chrysostom (349 – 407 AD) – Commentary on Galatians
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree.” In reality, the people were subject to another curse, which says, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in the things that are written in the book of the Law.” (Deut. xxvii. 26.)…It was like an innocent man’s undertaking to die for another sentenced to death, and so rescuing him from punishment. For Christ took upon Him not the curse of transgression, but the other curse, in order to remove that of others. For, “He had done no violence neither was any deceit in His mouth.” (Isa. liii. 9; 1 Peter ii.22.) And as by dying He rescued from death those who were dying, so by taking upon Himself the curse, He delivered them from it.
St. John Chrysostom (349 – 407 AD) – Homilies on Colossians
Seest thou how great His earnestness that the bond should be done away? To wit, we all were under sin and punishment. He Himself, through suffering punishment, did away with both the sin and the punishment, and He was punished on the Cross. To the Cross then He affixed it; as having power, He tore it asunder.
St. John Chrysostom (349 – 407 AD) – Homilies on Second Corinthians, Homily XI
And what has He done? Him that knew no sin He made to be sin, for you. For had He achieved nothing but done only this, think how great a thing it were to give His Son for those that had outraged Him. But now He has both well achieved mighty things, and besides, has suffered Him that did no wrong to be punished for those who had done wrong. But he did not say this: but mentioned that which is far greater than this. What then is this? Him that knew no sin, he says, Him that was righteousness itself , He made sin, that is suffered as a sinner to be condemned, as one cursed to die. For cursed is he that hangs on a tree. (Galatians 3:13) For to die thus was far greater than to die; and this he also elsewhere implying, says, Becoming obedient unto death, yea the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8) For this thing carried with it not only punishment, but also disgrace.
St. John Chrysostom (349 – 407 AD), On the Epistle to the Hebrews
“To appear,” he says, “in the presence of God for us.” What is “for us”? He went up (he means) with a sacrifice which had power to propitiate the Father. Wherefore (tell me)? Was He an enemy? The angels were enemies, He was not an enemy. For that the Angels were enemies, hear what he says, “He made peace as to things on earth and things in Heaven.”( Col. i. 20.) So that He also “entered into Heaven, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
St. Augustine (354 – 430 AD) – REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICHAEAN, Book XIV, p.7
He was cursed for our offences, in the death which He suffered in bearing our punishment…The believer in the true doctrine of the gospel will understand that Christ is not reproached by Moses when he speaks of Him as cursed, not in His divine majesty, but as hanging on the tree as our substitute, bearing our punishment, any more than He is praised by the Manichæans when they deny that He had a mortal body, so as to suffer real death…Confess that He died, and you may also confess that He, without taking our sin, took its punishment. Now the punishment of sin cannot be blessed, or else it would be a thing to be desired. The curse is pronounced by divine justice, and it will be well for us if we are redeemed from it.
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – Commentary on Luke
Christ therefore ransomed from the curse of the law those who being subject to it, had been unable to keep its enactments. And in what way did He ransom them? By fulfilling it. And to put it in another way: in order that He might expiate the guilt of Adam’s transgression, He showed Himself obedient and submissive in every respect to God the Father in our stead…
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – Commentary on the Gospel of St. John
And the meaning of the figure is in no way affected by the fact, that the men who hung by His side were malefactors; for we were by nature children of wrath, before we believed in Christ, and were all doomed to death, as we said before…And the title contained a handwriting against us—the curse that, by the Divine Law, impends over the transgressors, and the sentence that went forth against all who erred against those ancient ordinances of the Law, like unto Adam’s curse, which went forth against all mankind, in that all alike broke God’s decrees. For God’s anger did not cease with Adam’s fall, but He was also provoked by those who after him dishonoured the Creator’s decree; and the denunciation of the Law against transgressors was extended continuously over all. We were, then, accursed and condemned, by the sentence of God, through Adam’s transgression, and through breach of the Law laid down after him; but the Savior wiped out the handwriting against us, by nailing the title to His Cross, which very clearly pointed to the death upon the Cross which He underwent for the salvation of men, who lay under condemnation. For our sake He paid the penalty for our sins. For though He was One that suffered, yet was He far above any creature, as God, and more precious than the life of all. Therefore, as the Psalmist says, the mouth of all lawlessness was stopped, and the tongue of sin was silenced, unable any more to speak against sinners. For we are justified, now that Christ has paid the penalty for us; for by His stripes we are healed, according to the Scripture. And just as by the Cross the sin of our revolt was perfected, so also by the Cross was achieved our return to our original state, and the acceptable recovery of heavenly blessings; Christ, as it were, gathering up into Himself, for us, the very fount and origin of our infirmity.
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, Book XII
Bearing the Cross upon His shoulders, on which He was about to be crucified, He went forth; His doom was already fixed, and He had undergone, for our sakes, though innocent, the sentence of death. For, in His own Person, He bore the sentence righteously pronounced against sinners by the Law. For He became a curse for us, according to the Scripture: For cursed is everyone, it is said, that hangeth on a tree. And accursed are we all, for we are not able to fulfil the Law of God: For in many things we all stumble; and very prone to sin is the nature of man. And since, too, the Law of God says: Cursed is he which continueth not in all things that are written in the book of this Law, to do them, the curse, then, belongeth unto us, and not to others. For those against whom the transgression of the Law may be charged, and who are very prone to err from its commandments, surely deserve chastisement. Therefore, He That knew no sin was accursed for our sakes, that He might deliver us from the old curse. For all-sufficient was the God Who is above all, so dying for all; and by the death of His own Body, purchasing the redemption of all mankind. The Cross, then, that Christ bore, was not for His own deserts, but was the cross that awaited us, and was our due, through our condemnation by the Law. For as He was numbered among the dead, not for Himself, but for our sakes, that we might find in Him, the Author of everlasting life, subduing of Himself the power of death; so also, He took upon Himself the Cross that was our due, passing on Himself the condemnation of the Law, that the mouth of all lawlessness might henceforth be stopped, according to the saying of the Psalmist; the Sinless having suffered condemnation for the sin of all..
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke
And to-day too we have seen Him obedient to the laws of Moses, or rather we have seen Him Who as God is the Legislator, subject to His own decrees. And the reason of this the most wise Paul teaches us, saying, “When we were babes we were enslaved under the elements of the world; but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” Christ therefore ransomed from the curse of the law those who being subject to it, had been unable to keep its enactments. And in what way did He ransom them? By fulfilling it.
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, BOOK IX, v31,32
For if we examine as well as we may the real character of the mystery of His work, we shall see that He died, not merely for Himself, nor even especially for His own sake; but that it was on behalf of humanity that He suffered and carried out both the suffering in itself and the resurrection that followed. For in that He died according to the flesh, He offered up His own life as an equivalent for the life of all; and by rendering perfect satisfaction for all, He fulfilled in Himself to the uttermost the force of that ancient curse. And in that He has risen again from the dead to a life imperishable and unceasing, in Himself He raises the whole of nature.
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – The Gospel According to John, Book XI, Chapter VIII
He once more mediates as Man, the Reconciler and Mediator of God and men; and being our truly great and all-holy High Priest, by His own prayers He appeases the anger of His Father, sacrificing Himself for us. For He is the Sacrifice, and is Himself our Priest, Himself our Mediator, Himself a blameless Victim, the true Lamb Which takes away the sin of the world…For the inspired Moses, and with him the eminent Aaron, continually intervened between God and the assembly of the people; at one time deprecating God’s anger for the transgressions of the people of Israel, and inviting mercy from above upon them when they were faint; at another, praying and blessing the people, and ordering sacrifices according to the Law and offerings of gifts besides in their appointed order, sometimes for sins, and sometimes thank-offerings for the benefits they felt that they had received from God. But Christ Who manifested Himself in the last times above the types and figures of the Law, at once our High Priest and Mediator, prays for us as Man; and at the same time is ever ready to co-operate with God the Father, Who distributes good gifts to those who are worthy…and that once for all, because of our sin, and is an Advocate for us: And He is the propitiation for our sins, as John saith; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world
St. Cyril of Alexandria – Letter 41 (To Acacius, the Bishop Conerning the Scapegoat)
The Father made him a victim for the sins of the world. “He was counted among the wicked,” l having endured a condemnation most suitable for the wicked. And the divinely inspired prophet Isaiah will also vouch for this, saying, “We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way, but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all,” “yet it was on our behalf he suffers,” “and by his stripes we were healed…“By the grace of God he tasted death for all,” and he made his life be an exchange for the life of all. One died for all, in order that we all might live to God sanctified and brought to life through his blood, “justified as a gift by his grace.” For as the blessed evangelist John says, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.”
St. Cyril of Alexandria (378 – 444 AD) – Commentary on the Gospel of St. John
For since the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sufficed not unto the purging away of sin, nor yet would the slaughter of brute beasts ever have destroyed the power of death, Christ Himself came in some way to undergo punishment for all.
St. Severus of Antioch (465 – 538 AD) – LETTER TO EUPRAXIUS THE CHAMBERLAIN
So also he is said to have become sin, because he endured the death that was the due of sinners; for, while he is himself the pure justice of the Father, he is crucified between two robbers; but these on account of their offences, and in accordance with the passage in the Gospel of Mark who says, “And with him they crucified two robbers, one on the right hand and one on the left, and the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, ‘He was numbered with the unjust'”. So he became sin to remit the sins of others: so also he paid the debt that was incurred for us, and we ourselves became righteousness in Him; for those who have been freed from debts are righteous, and are not termed liable.