I was thinking…
I think that the best analogy of penal substitution is that of the good ole boy system. You know, where the lawyer knows the judge, and if you are provide enough incentive to your attorney, well, it might just be able to get you off, even if you are a murderer.
Now, with Christus Victor, the biblical model of atonement presents Christ as winning the victory over death without any bribing from us.
I believe there are merits in PSA and the same for all of the various theories regarding the Atonement… The one hurdle that I can’t seem to climb over with the PSA issue is the insistence that God’s wrath had to be satisfied this way…
It makes God out to be a legalist, who CAN’T be Lord of Lords over his own rules and creation… Can you really be in relationship with a legalist?