Meanings
- uncountablelifestyleThe theory of atonement which holds that Jesus died on the Cross in place of human sinners.
As part of that literal reading, concentrating on a line of thought on salvation pursued by St Paul, came the penal substitution theory, and Fundamentalists rightly concluded that these were the aspects of Christianity most vulnerable to attack from nineteenth-century intellectual developments.
2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 863Synonyms: vicarious atonement
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe theory of atonement which holds that Jesus died on the Cross in place of human sinners.
Cite this entry
penal substitution. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penal%20substitution
“penal substitution.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penal%20substitution. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “penal substitution,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penal%20substitution.
Source: penal substitution on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.