What is substitutionary atonement?

One reason the Gospel bothers Americans is the way it so violently undermines our cultural values of individualism and self-achievement. It’s conceptually challenging for men nursed to adulthood on Americanism to cast all their identity chips onto someone else’s achievement. But there is at least one precedent.

Men love sports. And a sports fan is someone who invests himself vicariously in the achievements of his chosen team, thrilling and despairing right along with them as if he were actually a member of it. This is fundamentally contrary to those American ideals. But it is extremely Christian.

Jesus Christ is my champion, once and for all winning the greatest world series ever played, so fully vanquishing His opponent that an eternity of re-watching the tape will never become boring to me. And the spiritual equivalent of putting on a jersey and celebrating Team Trinity’s victory is what I do every morning when I ponder the Gospel and try my best to not depend on my own weak performance for my sense of worth.