Petitionary Prayer: April 22

This month’s theme here at Rebecca Writes is petitionary prayer. On Tuesdays and Fridays throughout April, I’ll be posting one request I am making of God, and I’m inviting you to join me. You’ll find all the details here.

• Today I’ve prayed for youngest daughter again. Tomorrow is the big test for the training for her job as a flight attendent, and she came down with a nasty illness this morning.
  
• Dorothy is praying for her husband and a couple of other men who are experiencing job-related stress.
• Kim of Hiraeth reminds us that we can intercede for others without giving (or knowing) the details.
• Kim of The Upward Call is praying for her daughter, who dealing with many stressful things right now.

What are you praying for today?

Theological Term of the Week

penal substitution

The teaching that in his death Christ substituted for sinners, atoning for them by bearing the just penalty of God for their sin in their place; also called substitutionary atonement or Christus Vicarious.

 

• From the Scots Confession by John Knox, chapter 9:
  

  [We confess t]hat our Lord Jesus offered himself a voluntary sacrifice unto his Father for us, that he suffered contradiction of sinners, that he was wounded and plagued for our transgressions, that he, the clean innocent Lamb of God, was condemned in the presence of an earthly judge, that we should be absolved before the judgment seat of our God; that he suffered not only the cruel death of the cross, which was accursed by the sentence of God; but also that he suffered for a season the wrath of his Father which sinners had deserved.

• From Herman Ridderbos in Paul: An Outline of His Theology, page 190:
  

  [T]he substitutionary character of Christ’s death on the cross … recurs time and again in Paul’s epistles, when it is said that Christ “died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:14); or “died for us” and “gave himself up for our sins” (Rom. 5:6, 8; 14:15; 1 Thess. 5:10; Rom. 4:25; 8:32; Gal. 1:4; 2:20). To be sure, the expression “for us” in itself does not yet signify “in our place; it indicates that the death of Christ has taken place “in our favor.” Nevertheless, the substitutionary significance of these expressions cannot be doubted. And it is corroborated by such expressions as that in 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us; cf. Romans 8:3 and Galatians 3:13, where it is said that Christ has become a curse for us. In these passages the thought of the substitutionary (atoning) sacrifice is unmistakable, a thought that is enunciated in almost so many words when the phrase “One died for all’ is explained by the words “so then all have died’ (2 Cor. 5:14). Even is one could give certain passages taken by themselves another sense, the whole complex of the pronouncements mentioned above can allow no doubt to remains as to the “atoning,” substitutionary character of Jesus’ death, and every effort to detract from it readily does wrong to the most fundamental segments of Paul’s gospel.
  

• From Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Chapter 4:
  

  But beyond all this, there was a debt owing which must needs be paid; for, as I said before, all men were due to die. Here, then, is the second reason why the Word dwelt among us, namely that having proved His Godhead by His works, He might offer the sacrifice on behalf of all, surrendering His own temple to death in place of all, to settle man’s account with death and free him from the primal transgression.
  

Learn more

1. From Theopedia: The Penal Substitutionary Theory of the Atonement
2. Dr. Steve Sullivan:  Substitution (.pdf)
3. Al Mohler: Why Do They Hate It So? The Doctrine of Substitution (mp3 from this year’s Together for the Gospel Conference.)
4. D. A. Carson: Why Is the Doctrine of Penal Substitution Again Coming Under Attack?

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

 

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order. 

Sunday's Hymn: In Bunhill Fields

This Sunday’s hymn isn’t written, really, by someone buried in Bunhill Fields, but the last verse as we sing it is. John Rippon is best known for his hymnal, A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, Intended to Be an Appendix to Dr. Watts’ Psalms and Hymns. (You have to love those Puritanish titles, don’t you?) He included this hymn in it, but he took out two of Perronet’s original verses and added two of his own. We retain one of the verses he  added as our last stanza.

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name 

All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.

Let highborn seraphs tune the lyre, and as they tune it, fall
Before His face Who tunes their choir, and crown Him Lord of all.
Before His face Who tunes their choir, and crown Him Lord of all.

Crown Him, ye morning stars of light, who fixed this floating ball;
Now hail the strength of Israel’s might, and crown Him Lord of all.
Now hail the strength of Israel’s might, and crown Him Lord of all.

Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God, who from His altar call;
Extol the Stem of Jesse’s Rod, and crown Him Lord of all.
Extol the Stem of Jesse’s Rod, and crown Him Lord of all.

Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race, ye ransomed from the fall,
Hail Him Who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all.
Hail Him Who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all.

Hail Him, ye heirs of David’s line, whom David Lord did call,
The God incarnate, Man divine, and crown Him Lord of all,
The God incarnate, Man divine, and crown Him Lord of all.

Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget the wormwood and the gall,
Go spread your trophies at His feet, and crown Him Lord of all.
Go spread your trophies at His feet, and crown Him Lord of all.

Let every tribe and every tongue before Him prostrate fall
And shout in universal song the crownèd Lord of all.
And shout in universal song the crownèd Lord of all.

[John Rippon added this verse in 1787]

O that, with yonder sacred throng, we at His feet may fall,
Join in the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all,
Join in the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all!

 

—-Edward Perronet (Listen: Coronation)

 

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• The Fourth Sunday After Easter at Magic Statistics
• Out of Bondage at The Happy Wonderer
• O Saviour, Precious Saviour at Hiraeth
  
• Before the Throne of God Above at Seasoning of the Heart
• We Rest on Thee, Our Shield and Our Defender at Whatever Things…
• Praise to the Lord at Field Stone Cottage
• Lord’s Day 16, 2008 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Joy Unspeakable at JoythruChrist
• At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing at Conjubilant With Song.

Have you posted a hymn today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.