In the book "The Day the Revolution Began" scholar and author N.T.Wright addresses the commonly held belief that Jesus death on the cross was not only to absolve us of our sins but actually was the beginning of a commissioning of Christians to a new vocation as a royal priesthood reconciling all creation. Too often, contemporary Christians have seen the cross in a reduced way simply in terms of an angry God punishing Jesus for our sins. It has been my view as interpreted by scripture and the historic church teaching, that this is misconstrued. The idea of "penal substitution" came out of the reformation but as a misunderstanding of the traditional view of the death of Christ. In NT Wrights book he expands the idea saying that the reformation understanding is limited and also did not go far enough. This is an important work that encourages Christians to enter into a fuller understanding of the mystery of Jesus' death on the cross.
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