Girard, Jonah and Penal Substitution

Rene Girard, a French literary critic and theorist, proposed a theory that has come to be widely accepted in many circles, called 'mimetic desire'. Girard argues that people don't just imitate the actions of others, they also imitate their desires. In effect, we will want what other people want, whether or not we even need it. Our imitation of popular clothing styles, music and mannerisms all have a deeper component, the desire to have what someone else wants. To Girard, it's this one simple human trait that leads to the many varied and complex rituals and taboos within culture and religion.

Girard also applied his theory to Christianity. Specifically, he applied it to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How?

Girard argued that mimetic desire will inevitably produce competition and rivalry, which will lead to violence. Violence undermines community and decreases individual survival. Girard theorized that in an effort to overcome communal dissolution, the community would unite against a single enemy on which they could put the blame for 'social degradation'. This person was the scapegoat.

There are many examples of this in most human societies. The ritual becomes a permanent part of each community's social and religious structure.

Girard applied this theory to Judaism and then to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Girard says that Jesus is the perfect scapegoat. Whereas most scapegoats are always guilty of something and at the center of controversy, Jesus was different in that he was completely innocent when he was killed as a scapegoat. His resurrection was his vindication.

Penal Substitution Atonement theology is a Christian explanation for sacrificial justice in that an innocent victim is chosen to be punished for the sin of another. The innocent one is sacrificed in the place of the guilty and the guilty one is released (their sins have been 'atoned').

So what about Jonah? Jonah has long been compared to Jesus Christ. He was called to preach to the sinful gentiles (Nineveh). He was willing to give his life to save the lives of others (when he was thrown into the sea). Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish, Jesus spent three days in the belly of the earth, before both were given back to the land of the living where they continued ministry.

I would like to focus a bit on Jonah before he was thrown over board. Jonah had been commanded by God to go to the Ninevites the people who lived in the city of Nineveh) and preach a message of repentance. Unless they repented, God would destroy them. Jonah resisted because he disliked and feared the Ninevites. On the ship, Jonah was running from the will of God. He was going in the opposite direction.

During the voyage, however, a storm at sea nearly tore the ship apart. The crew, out of fear for their lives, cast lots (something similar to casting dice) to find the person whose sin might have brought the storm on them and it fell on Jonah. Jonah confessed to the crew that the storm was his fault. God was punishing him for disobedience and the only way they could save themselves was by throwing him overboard. As soon as they did, the storm ceased.

This part of the story is a perfect example of how scapegoating works. Jonah was chosen as the scapegoat to save the lives of the other crew. But he was also guilty! This is where we tie the story to penal substitution. Jonah represents Israel, who has gone astray from God's will. They don't bring the message of repentance to the gentiles because they loathe them. The ship is the world, the sailors are the other nations of the world, and the storm is God's judgement.

Israel, in this sense, is guilty, and the world, at the direction of God, has come together to blame them for misfortune. The Jews are the guilty scapegoat. The only way out is to come forward and change. The proof of change is doing the work of God by going and preaching the message of repentance to the nations. This is where Jesus comes in. Jesus takes the place of a guilty Israel, who continues to refuse God's mandate.

Jesus is punished by the nations, in Israel's place, and then resurrected (because he is actually innocent of the charges) by God, who vindicates him, and begins a ministry, through the Church, by calling humanity to repentance from sin and reconciliation to God.

Jesus calms the storm, deterring the judgement of God, by completing Israel's mandate to be a light to the nations and doing the will of God. He also takes the wrath of the world system upon himself, as an innocent scapegoat, taking the retribution and vengeance of the human justice system against those they deem 'sinners' worthy of degradation and death. And he conquers death itself to prove both his innocence and the fulfillment of God's will.

However, like Jonah's message. Jesus' message of repentance from sin and reconciliation to God tells of another future judgement. The complete destruction of the city for refusing the message and continuing to fight against God.

External Comparisons Continued...

The book of Revelation appears to borrow heavily from the Old Testament. Below are some easily identifiable similarities that are not likely to be coincidences.

Obvious similarities with book of Daniel
1. the great image: Dan 2 and 3, Rev 13
2?. 666: dimensions of the image: Dan 3:1, Rev 13
3. the four beasts: Dan 7, Rev 13
4. Throne, resurrection, judgment: Dan 7:9-14, Rev 20
5. crowning/coming of son of man: Dan 7:13-14, Rev 5 and 19
6. mouth speaking boastful/blaspemous words: Dan 7, Rev 13
7. casting stars to the earth: Dan 8:10, Rev 12:4
8. self-exaltation above God: Dan 8:11, Rev 13
9. overcoming the holy-people: Dan 8:24, Rev 13:7
10. man with fire eyes, bronze feet, voice of a multitude: Dan 10, Rev 1 and 10
11. seal up the book: Dan 12:4, Do not seal up the book: Rev 22:10
12. swearing of still time left: Dan 12:7, swearing there is no more time: Rev 10:5-6

Obvious similarities between book of Jeremiah and book of Revelation = None that are obvious

Obvious similarities with book of Ezekiel
1. four living creatures: Eze 1, Rev 4
2. eating the scroll: Eze 2:9-3:3, Rev 10
3. destruction of 1/3: Eze 5, Rev 8:7-12
4?. 666: Eze 8:1 (the day before judgment: sixth year, sixth month, fifth day with a progression to the sixth day), Rev 13:18 (the day of judgment)
5. the righteous protected (by a mark): Eze 9:3-4, Rev 9:1-4
6. the whore: Eze 16, Rev 17, 18
7. judgment on the armies of the nations: Eze 38:18-39
8. invitation for birds to feast on flesh: Eze 39:17-20, Rev 19:17-18
9. measuring the New Temple: Eze 40-44, Rev 11
10. river of life/tree of life: Eze 47, Rev 22:1-2
11. gates named for the 12 tribes of Israel: Eze 48:30-33, Rev 21:12-13

Obvious similarities with book of Zechariah
1. four horses of destruction: Zech 1, Rev 6
2. horns of the nations: Zech 1, Rev 13
3. witnesses, lampstands and olive trees: Zech 4, Rev 11
4. flying scroll: Zech 5
5. horses of destruction: Zech 6, Rev 6
6. destruction of 2/3, refining 1/3: Zech 13:8-9, Rev 8:7-12
7. gathering of the nations to battle: Zech 14, Rev 16:12-14 and 19:19
8. darkness on the day of the Lord: Zech 14, Rev 8:12
9. river of life: Zech 14, Rev 22:12-13


These are easy to identify in just a surface reading of the texts. It is also obvious that they don't retain exactly the same interpretations from the Old Testament to the book of Revelation. I think sorting these out in terms of what symbolism is retained and what is changed is a much deeper and larger issue. One example of this would be the meanings of the four beasts (lion, bear, leapard, and terrible beast with ten horns). The book of Daniel has them as four seperate beasts, the book of Revelation as one single beast. The character traits remain similar and the general interpretation is as though they were 'nations', but they have been integrated into one by John on Patmos. And they have also taken a form similar to that of Satan Himself (the seven headed dragon). Not exactly the same interpretation as that intended by Daniel, similar but not the same. You could say these nations have been subsumed into the single nation of Rome, and that would be correct, but is that all that is being said here? Remember that the beast looks almost identical to the dragon (a seven headed creature itself, sporting ten horns). Is the heavenly version of Satan merely the Roman Empire (given to changes of time)? Not likely! The beast may very well represent the Roman Empire but its form is much more sinister, much longer lasting than a human Empire which rose and fell in some 1500 years (including the life of the Eastern Roman Empire).