The Work
The Cross of Christ was published by Inter-Varsity Press (Leicester) in 1986. It is approximately 384 pages and is organized in four parts: 'Approaching the Cross,' 'The Heart of the Cross,' 'The Achievement of the Cross,' and 'Living Under the Cross.' The book is Stott's most sustained and comprehensive theological work, bringing together his lifetime of preaching and biblical scholarship on the meaning of the atonement.
The book was widely recognized immediately as a landmark in evangelical theology. It has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and has been translated into numerous languages. It is regularly cited as the definitive popular treatment of atonement theology from an evangelical perspective - accessible to non-specialists while engaging seriously with the full range of scholarly debate. Christianity Today named it one of the most important books of the twentieth century.
Biblical Engagement
Romans 3:21-26 is the book's central biblical text and the passage to which Stott returns most frequently: 'But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe... Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.'
Stott's argument is that Paul's use of hilasterion ('propitiation' or 'expiation') in Romans 3:25 indicates that Christ's death addressed the wrath of God - not by bribing or placating an angry deity, but by God himself, in the person of his Son, absorbing the penalty that sin deserves. This is the penal substitutionary account: the penalty is real, the substitution is real, and both are initiated by God's love rather than demanded by God's wrath as an independent force.
Galatians 3:13 - 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree' - is the Pauline text most explicitly supporting penal substitution. Stott treats it at length: 'made a curse for us' (Greek genomenos hyper hemon katara) means that Christ took upon himself the curse that Deuteronomy 21:23 pronounces on anyone hanged on a tree - a curse that Paul applies to the entire law's condemnation of sin.
Isaiah 53:5 ('But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed') is the Old Testament's most explicit statement of substitutionary suffering, and Stott devotes substantial attention to its New Testament application. The Servant's suffering is 'for our transgressions' - on account of and in place of the people's sin. Jesus's own application of Isaiah 53 to himself (Luke 22:37: 'For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors') is treated as decisive evidence that penal substitution is Jesus's own understanding of his death.
2 Corinthians 5:21 - 'For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him' - is the most compact statement of the great exchange in all of Paul's letters. Stott unpacks 'made to be sin' carefully: this does not mean that Christ became a sinner, but that he was treated as sin - that the full weight of human sinfulness was laid upon him so that the full righteousness of God might be imputed to those who are 'in him.'
Author and Context
John Stott wrote The Cross of Christ at age sixty-four, drawing on a lifetime of biblical exposition. He had preached through Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, 2 Corinthians, and the Gospel narratives of the Passion many times. The book represents the mature synthesis of his theological thinking on what he consistently identified as the center of the Christian faith.
The immediate context was the 'atonement debate' of the 1970s and 1980s. Feminist and liberal theologians had argued that penal substitution portrayed a divine 'child abuse' (John argues that God punishes Christ, who is innocent, instead of the guilty sinners - which appears to replicate an abusive parental dynamic). Process theologians had argued that the wrath of God was an inappropriate metaphor for the divine response to sin. Liberal evangelicals had argued for moral influence theories (the cross demonstrates God's love and inspires human moral response) without the element of divine judgment.
Stott's response was to insist that none of these alternatives adequately explained the New Testament language of substitution, propitiation, and the bearing of sin - while acknowledging the genuine pastoral and moral concerns that motivated the critiques. He argued that penal substitution, properly understood, is not divine child abuse (because it is God who takes the initiative and God who, in the person of the Son, absorbs the penalty) but the most dramatic possible demonstration of divine love.
Structure and Argument
Part One ('Approaching the Cross') establishes the necessity of the cross by examining the problem of human sin and the holiness of God. Stott argues that the cross is necessary because of the character of God - a God of absolute moral integrity who cannot simply ignore sin without compromising his righteousness - not because of human legal requirements or social conventions.
Part Two ('The Heart of the Cross') is the book's doctrinal center. Stott examines the major atonement theories (moral influence, Christus Victor, governmental, penal substitution), argues for penal substitution as the theory most consistent with the range of New Testament language, and defends it against the 'child abuse' objection through the concept of the 'self-substitution of God' - God himself, in the person of the Son, bearing the penalty that God the Father requires.
Part Three ('The Achievement of the Cross') addresses the scope and effects of the atonement: propitiation (satisfying divine wrath), redemption (liberation from sin's slavery), justification (legal acquittal), reconciliation (restored relationship), and victory (Christus Victor over the powers of evil). Stott argues that these are not competing metaphors but complementary perspectives on a single event.
Part Four ('Living Under the Cross') addresses the ethical and social implications of the cross: self-understanding, suffering, evangelism, social justice, and the world's religions.
Critical Reception
The book received near-universal acclaim in evangelical circles. Alister McGrath called it 'the finest statement of evangelical soteriology of the late twentieth century.' Reviewers praised its combination of scholarly rigor (Stott engages the technical literature on hilasterion, the Isaiah 53 Servant Songs, and the history of atonement theology) with accessible prose and warm pastoral application.
Critical responses came from those who argued that Stott's defense of penal substitution was inadequate. Steve Chalke's The Lost Message of Jesus (2003) revived the 'cosmic child abuse' objection. Joel Green and Mark Baker's Recovering the Scandal of the Cross (2000) argued that penal substitution is culturally contingent rather than biblically required. Stott and his defenders (including Wayne Grudem, Mike Ovey, and Simon Gathercole) responded that these critiques misread the New Testament language and confused the caricature of penal substitution with the doctrine itself.
Theological Significance
The book's theological significance is its synthesis: it holds together the full range of New Testament atonement language (propitiation, redemption, justification, reconciliation, victory) without reducing the atonement to any single metaphor, while insisting that penal substitution is the indispensable center without which the other metaphors lack their theological grounding. This comprehensive-yet-centered approach represents the most persuasive available presentation of evangelical atonement theology.
Legacy
The book has been the standard reference in evangelical atonement theology for nearly forty years. It is assigned in evangelical seminaries, used in church confirmation classes, and cited in every subsequent discussion of atonement theology in an evangelical context. Its influence on a generation of British evangelical preachers - and through them on evangelical preaching worldwide - is incalculable.
Reading Alongside Scripture
Readers should study Romans 3:21-31 (justification through faith in Christ's blood), Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (the Suffering Servant), Galatians 3:10-14 (Christ becoming a curse for us), 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (the ministry of reconciliation), Leviticus 16 (the Day of Atonement and the scapegoat), and Hebrews 9:11-28 (Christ as the perfect high priest and sacrifice).
Further Reading
- Derek Tidball, David Hilborn, and Justin Thacker, eds., The Atonement Debate: Papers from the London Symposium on the Theology of Atonement (2008) - collects the major contributions to the post-Chalke debate, including responses to the 'cosmic child abuse' objection. - Henri Blocher, In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (1984) - while focused on Genesis, Blocher's theological method is close to Stott's and illuminates the same Reformed-evangelical approach. - Leon Morris, The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance (1983) - the most thorough technical defense of penal substitution, complementary to Stott's more pastoral treatment.