Was Jesus the second Isaac?
The story of Abraham and his “one and only son” Isaac actually foreshadows God the Father’s offering the redemptive sacrifice of the “second Isaac”—his “one and only Son” (John 3:16 NET). Rather than this being forced upon the Son—divine “child abuse,” as Richard Dawkins calls it—the Father is not pitted against the Son. Christ willingly laid down his life and then took it up again (John 10:15, 17–18). God sent his Son into the world (John 3:17) to bear Israel’s and humanity’s curse and alienation on the cross. Yet, God the Son himself came into the world (John 9:39) to save it. With three wills of Father, Son, and Spirit united as one, the Triune God gave his very self to rescue and redeem humankind: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19).
Abraham’s unquestioning yet difficult obedience to the covenant God not only helped shape and confirm Israel’s identity in Abraham but also provided a context for understanding God’s immense self-giving love in the gift of his Son. When Abraham’s dedication to God’s command was confirmed, God said, “Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Gen. 22:12).
Abraham’s unquestioning yet difficult obedience to the covenant God not only helped shape and confirm Israel’s identity in Abraham but also provided a context for understanding God’s immense self-giving love in the gift of his Son. When Abraham’s dedication to God’s command was confirmed, God said, “Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Gen. 22:12).
Harking back to Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, Paul uses this story to remind believers of God’s supreme dedication to them: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac anticipated God’s self-sacrifice in Christ. Abraham demonstrated his faithfulness to God, and God’s sacrifice demonstrated his faithfulness to us.19 The kind of demand God made of Abraham was one the Triune God was willing to carry out himself. So deep is God’s love for us (Rom. 8:31–32) that the late Scottish theologian Thomas Torrance was willing to go so far as to say that “God loves us more than he loves himself.”
Was the Crucifixion Divine Child Abuse?
Dawkins, we’ve seen, considers the command for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as tantamount to “child abuse and bullying.” We’ve responded to this charge, but we should go further: was the crucifixion an instance of divine child abuse? Does the crucifixion justify violence or perhaps passivity in the face of injustice?
We’ve seen that the charge of “abuse” doesn’t take into account the full scope of the biblical evidence—as though crucifixion was forced on the Son. Consider 1 Peter 2:21–25:
We have no passive victim here. Jesus’s death on the cross was part of the predetermined plan of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit. Each one suffered in this reconciling work. In weakness, Jesus actually conquered sin and the powers of darkness (John 12:31; Col. 2:15).
According to John’s Gospel, as we’ve seen, Jesus’s moment of being “lifted up” or “glorified” comes in the hour of God’s great humiliation. Rather than thinking of the crucifixion as the absence of God—with the darkening skies and the cry of dereliction (“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”)—this is actually the moment when God’s presence is most evident.
God shows himself in the crucifixion through a palpable darkness, an earth-quake, and the tearing of the temple curtain in two. (Compare this event with the darkening skies, thundering, and God’s voice at Mount Sinai.)
Was the Crucifixion Divine Child Abuse?
Dawkins, we’ve seen, considers the command for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as tantamount to “child abuse and bullying.” We’ve responded to this charge, but we should go further: was the crucifixion an instance of divine child abuse? Does the crucifixion justify violence or perhaps passivity in the face of injustice?
We’ve seen that the charge of “abuse” doesn’t take into account the full scope of the biblical evidence—as though crucifixion was forced on the Son. Consider 1 Peter 2:21–25:
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (NIV)
We have no passive victim here. Jesus’s death on the cross was part of the predetermined plan of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit. Each one suffered in this reconciling work. In weakness, Jesus actually conquered sin and the powers of darkness (John 12:31; Col. 2:15).
According to John’s Gospel, as we’ve seen, Jesus’s moment of being “lifted up” or “glorified” comes in the hour of God’s great humiliation. Rather than thinking of the crucifixion as the absence of God—with the darkening skies and the cry of dereliction (“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”)—this is actually the moment when God’s presence is most evident.
God shows himself in the crucifixion through a palpable darkness, an earth-quake, and the tearing of the temple curtain in two. (Compare this event with the darkening skies, thundering, and God’s voice at Mount Sinai.)
God’s great moment in history comes when all seems lost, when God seems defeated. God’s glory is revealed in God’s self-humiliation. No, the crucifixion was no act of divine child abuse. It was the history-defining event in which God gave his very self for humanity’s sake.
Copan, P. (2011). Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God (pp. 51–53). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
