In this bonus episode of the Take Up the Sword Podcast, Ryan and Matt have a "raw" discussion on the idea that the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross could be considered "cosmic child abuse." Though this opinion of Christ's death is not new, the idea has gained a lot of traction among more liberal theologians in the past couple of decades. Ryan and Matt take a look at the idea of "penal substitution" and some of the arguments for and against this explanation of the sacrifice Christ made on the cross.

In this episode of the Take Up The Sword Podcast, Ryan and Matt get together to discuss a topic that makes some Christians uncomfortable - the wrath of God. They look at some of the arguments posed by both Christians and non-Christians alike that, "if God is Love, how can he have wrath?" They also discuss how wrath is one of God's attributes and how it relates to the other attributes of God (ie his Love, Holiness, Omniscience, etc.)

In this episode of the Take Up the Sword Podcast, Ryan gets to the passage that some scholars consider the most theologically dense portions in all of Scripture. After covering Paul's description of the unrighteousness of man, he now shows the righteousness of God in what Christ did for us on the cross. Ryan takes time to describe the propitiatory work of Christ on the cross and the differences in how various translations of the Bible communicate the message of Romans 3:25.

Resources used for this show include:

Bible translations - KJV, NIV, CSB, NASB, ESV, NLT

Douglas Moo - Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

Robert Mounce - Commentary on Romans

Martyn Lloyd-Jones - Commentary on Romans 3:21-4:25

H.A. Ironside - Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans

Adam Clarke - Commentary on the Bible

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown - Commentary on the Whole Bible

Steven Runge - High Definition Commentary on Romans