What Did the Cross Achieve?

By J. I. Packer and Mark Dever

A Classic Essay on Penal Substitutionary Atonement from Theologian J. I. Packer
Penal substitutionary atonement—the belief that Jesus's death on the cross satisfied God's wrath against sin—is central to the Christian faith, but frequently debated. Is it just to punish an innocent person in place of the guilty? How can the temporary death of one substitute for the eternal death of many? Why doesn't the cross grant Christians unlimited permission to sin? 
In this famous essay, late theologian J. I. Packer analyzes Scripture and the works of early Reformers to defend the truth of Christ's substitutionary suffering and death, the heart of the Christian gospel. Considered one of the most significant short works on penal substitutionary atonement from the 20th century, this careful, concise essay has influenced prominent theologians and is essential reading for students, pastors, and laypeople.

- From Renowned Theologian J. I. Packer: This work was originally delivered as a Tyndale Biblical Theology Lecture
- Part of the Crossway Short Classics Series: Other titles include The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way and No Little People; The Life of God in the Soul of Man; and Fighting for Holiness 
- Includes a Foreword by Mark Dever

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crossway Books
• Release date: Jul 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781433590528

J. I. Packer

J. I. Packer (1926–2020) is regarded as one of the most well-known theologians of our time. Once named to Time magazine's list of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America, Packer served as Board of Governors' Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. His books include Praying, A Quest for Godliness, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, and Rediscovering Holiness.

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What Did the Cross Achieve?

The Crossway Short Classics Series

The Emotional Life of Our Lord

B. B. Warfield

Encouragement for the Depressed

Charles Spurgeon

The Expulsive Power of a New Affection

Thomas Chalmers

Fighting for Holiness

J. C. Ryle

The Freedom of a Christian: A New Translation

Martin Luther

Heaven Is a World of Love

Jonathan Edwards

The Life of God in the Soul of Man

Henry Scougal

The Lord’s Work in the Lord’s Way and No Little People

Francis A. Schaeffer

Selected Sermons

Lemuel Haynes

What Did the Cross Achieve?

J. I. Packer

What Did the Cross Achieve?

J. I. Packer

What Did the Cross Achieve?

Copyright © 2023 Crossway

Published by Crossway

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Wheaton, Illinois 60187

This essay was first published as What Did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution, Tyndale Bulletin 25 (1974): 3–46. Used by permission of Tyndale House Cambridge.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

Cover image: The Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images

First printing 2023

Printed in China

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NEB are taken from the New English Bible, copyright © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press 1961, 1970. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.

Scripture quotations marked ASV are from the American Standard Version of the Bible. Public domain.

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-9050-4

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-9052-8

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-9051-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Packer, J. I. (James Innell), author.

Title: What did the cross achieve? / J. I. Packer.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2023. | Series: Crossway short classics | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022046431 (print) | LCCN 2022046432 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433590504 (paperback) | ISBN 9781433590511 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433590528 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ–Crucifixion. | Atonement. | Theology of the cross.

Classification: LCC BT450.P335 2023 (print) | LCC BT450 (ebook) | DDC 232.96/3–dc23/eng/20230217

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022046431

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022046432

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2023-07-23 06:57:17 PM

Contents

Foreword by Mark Dever

Series Preface

Biography of J. I. Packer

What Did the Cross Achieve?

Scripture Index

Foreword

I had the privilege of knowing James Packer, or Jim (as he told me and many others to call him), personally. I got to know him in 1984 when he was at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary teaching a class. After class, I saw him alone in the dining room, introduced myself, and asked him if he would like a home-cooked meal. He responded enthusiastically that he would. I called my wife and brought home J. I. Packer for dinner!

Jim Packer would introduce himself in his classes saying Packer’s my name and packing’s my game. By this he meant that he would stuff content into his lectures and reading assignments until the students were full with the material. He was a gifted Bible teacher and a master popularizer of Reformed theology.

For many of us Christians who came of age in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, J. I. Packer was our first, and often our best, teacher of theology. He was our guide to historic Christianity. His treatments of the atonement, the authority of the Bible, and other topics were both popularly written and theologically careful. To settle certain issues for myself, I turned again and again to his books, which I would then give out to help others. Fundamentalism and the Word of God, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, and his introduction to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ were the first serious theology texts read by many people in my generation. And of course, all of Packer’s skill shined forth in his bestseller, Knowing God.

All the while, Jim Packer was warm, kind, and pleasant. His mind was always alive, especially with thinking through the meaning of