Bearing Our Sins: Why the Cross Is More Than a Moral Example

Reformed Thinking · Aug 31, 2026 · 41m

Deep Dive into Bearing Our Sins: Why the Cross Is More Than a Moral Example

The provided sources argue that reducing the cross of Jesus Christ to a mere moral example is a destructive error that undermines the core of the Christian gospel. While First Peter 2:21–25 presents Christ's patient, nonretaliatory suffering as an exemplary pattern for believers, this moral example is structurally and logically dependent on the objective reality of penal substitutionary atonement. The moral exemplar theory, historically championed by figures like Peter Abelard and Faustus Socinus and revived in modern…