Genesis Marks the Spot

Carey Griffel
  • 5.0 (43)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Raiding the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith.

  1. 1d ago

    Death Cannot Stop New Creation: Galatians 3 and the Curse - Episode 185

    What does Paul mean when he says that Christ “became a curse for us” in Galatians 3:13? This passage is often pulled into atonement debates as though Paul were making a direct statement about God punishing Jesus instead of us. But Galatians 3 does not stand alone. It belongs inside Paul’s whole argument about resurrection, deliverance from the present evil age, slavery, Torah, Abraham’s promise, the Spirit, sonship, inheritance, and new creation. In this episode, Carey walks through Galatians with special attention to the curse language in chapter 3. The question is not simply what the word “curse” can mean in isolation, but what Paul is doing with it in the flow of the letter. Christ does not become cursed because the Father turns against the Son. Rather, Israel’s Messiah enters the place marked by covenant curse, brings that condition to its end, and opens the blessing of Abraham to Jew and Gentile together in the Spirit. This also means Galatians fits naturally within a divine council-informed biblical theology—not because the gods are the whole point, but because Paul’s gospel is a liberation story. Humanity is enslaved under sin, flesh, the world, curse, and hostile powers. Christ breaks the old order and brings his people into the family of God as sons and heirs. On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/   Website: genesismarksthespot.com    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot    Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/   Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan  Chapters (00:00:00) - Why Galatians 3:13 Needs the Whole Letter(00:05:32) - Deliverance, Slavery, and the Present Evil Age(00:08:41) - Galatians Begins with Resurrection(00:11:39) - Christ’s Self-Giving and the Father’s Will(00:17:27) - A Divine Council Atonement Text(00:21:09) - Rival Gospels and Re-Enslavement(00:28:03) - Crucified with Christ: Participation, Not Replacement(00:33:08) - Spirit, Abraham, and the Nations(00:37:18) - Torah, Curse, and the Blockage of Blessing(00:40:19) - Christ Became a Curse for Us(00:46:44) - Blessing, Spirit, and Abraham’s Offspring(00:52:32) - Slaves Become Sons and Heirs(00:56:40) - For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free(00:59:25) - What Counts Now Is New Creation(01:02:15) - The Curse Loses Its Claim

    1h 7m

  2. Jun 19

    The Divine Council Without the gods: Atonement and Glorification - Episode 184

    What is atonement actually for? After several episodes working through substitution, penalty, wrath, ransom, and sin-bearing, this episode steps back to ask the larger question. If atonement is not only about what Christ saves us from, then what does Christ save us for? Carey looks at atonement in its broad sense of at-one-ment: reconciliation, restored communion, and the bringing together of what has been fractured. That means the conversation cannot be limited to legal status, guilt removal, or even the technical language of sacrifice. Scripture’s larger story moves from creation and human vocation, through the ruptures of Genesis 3, Genesis 6, and Babel, into the promise to Abraham, the calling of Israel, the coming of Christ, the gift of the Spirit, and the formation of one new humanity. This episode also approaches the Divine Council worldview from a different angle. Instead of focusing mainly on the gods of the nations, rebellious powers, or the mechanics of cosmic geography, Carey focuses on the end goal of the story: glorified humanity in Christ. The gods are part of the mid-story conflict, but they are not the destination. The story moves toward the incarnate Son, resurrection glory, and sons and daughters brought into the inheritance of the Son. Along the way, we look at Abraham’s offspring as stars, the relationship between number and glory, Daniel 12, Matthew 13, 1 Corinthians 15, Torah as covenant wisdom, Jew-Gentile unity, Ephesians 2–3, the body of Christ, the work of the Spirit, and why spiritual warfare is not finally about fascination with the powers, but about allegiance, holiness, worship, unity, and new creation. This episode sets the stage for the next conversation on Galatians 3, the curse of the law, and penal substitutionary atonement. In this episode: Atonement as at-one-ment, reconciliation, and restored communion Why Genesis 1 matters before Genesis 3 The Divine Council worldview as a story moving toward glorified humanity Abraham’s offspring as dust, sand, and stars Star language, resurrection glory, and sonship Torah as covenant wisdom rather than mere law code Christ as the union of heaven and earth The church as one new humanity in the Spirit Why spiritual warfare includes unity, holiness, worship, allegiance, and resurrection hope On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/   Website: genesismarksthespot.com    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot    Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/   Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan Chapters (00:00:00) - Setting Up the Atonement Question(00:03:57) - The Divine Council Without the Gods(00:07:38) - Mid-Story Powers and End Goal Reality(00:11:49) - Humanity’s Heaven-Facing Vocation(00:16:21) - Abraham After Babel(00:20:42) - Numbering the Stars(00:23:40) - Stars, Glory, and Abraham’s Offspring(00:27:47) - Resurrection Glory in Daniel and Matthew(00:32:08) - Adam, Christ, and the Resurrection Body(00:34:04) - Israel, Torah, and the Promise to the Nations(00:38:17) - Torah as Covenant Wisdom(00:44:22) - The Incarnation as At-One-Ment(00:48:35) - One New Humanity in the Spirit(00:51:18) - The Body of Christ and Participation(00:53:15) - Why This Matters for Galatians 3(00:55:30) - Sons of God in the Son(00:59:34) - Spiritual Warfare as Allegiance and Formation

    1h 4m

  3. Jun 12

    Bearing Sin: Burden, Forgiveness, and Collapsing Frames - Episode 183

    What does it mean to “bear sin”? Many Christians hear the whole doctrine of penal substitution inside that phrase, but the biblical language is more varied than that. In this episode, we use frame semantics to trace sin-bearing through Cain, Joseph, priests, the scapegoat, Yahweh’s forgiveness, Isaiah 53, Matthew 8, and 1 Peter 2. Across Scripture, bearing sin can involve accountability, priestly mediation, representative responsibility, removal, forgiveness, healing, intercession, and return to God. So before we assume that “bearing sin” means punishment-transfer, we need to ask: who is bearing, what is being borne, and what does the bearing accomplish? Trauma-Informed Church Kid: The Burden of Forgiveness On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/   Website: genesismarksthespot.com    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot    Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/   Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan  Chapters (00:00:00) - The Problem with Collapsing Frames(00:05:02) - Cain, Guilt, and Consequence(00:08:31) - Joseph and Forgiveness(00:14:26) - Questions for Sin-Bearing Texts(00:18:39) - The Range of Nasa(00:28:54) - Sinners and Priests Bearing Sin(00:34:54) - The Scapegoat and Removal(00:37:36) - God Lifts Away Sin(00:41:29) - Isaiah 53 and the Righteous Sufferer(00:47:30) - Matthew 8, 1 Peter 2, and Jesus(00:57:38) - Why Sin-Bearing Shouldn’t Be Flattened

    1h 2m

  4. Jun 5

    Ransom as Release: Redemption Beyond Payment - Episode 182

    When we hear the word ransom, we often think first of payment. But is payment really the center of the biblical frame? Continuing the discussion of substitution-replacement by looking at ransom and redemption language across Scripture. From the Exodus to Leviticus 25, Psalm 49, Isaiah, Mark 10, and 1 Timothy 2, ransom is shown to be about release, rescue, restoration, and belonging to God—not merely a transaction or legal payment mechanism. Jesus gives himself as a ransom for many and for all, doing what humanity cannot do for itself. But that does not automatically mean penal substitution or punishment transferred instead of us. Instead, ransom language fits within the larger biblical pattern of liberation, costly self-giving, and the righteous sufferer who opens the way for others. On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/   Website: genesismarksthespot.com    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot    Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/   Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan  Chapters (00:00:00) - Ransom and Substitution(00:02:58) - Ransom as Rescue(00:08:07) - Is Ransom Substitution?(00:14:28) - Ransom for All(00:23:06) - What Jesus Does(00:27:55) - The Righteous Sufferer(00:36:56) - Reading Ransom Texts(00:40:45) - Exodus Redemption(00:43:42) - Kinship and Inheritance(00:49:39) - Life, Death, and Limits(01:00:19) - Redeemed Without Money(01:03:31) - The Full Ransom Frame(01:08:02) - Jesus Redeems

    1h 11m

  5. May 29

    Take Me Instead: The Limits of Substitution-Replacement - Episode 181

    Last week, we began collecting biblical data for substitution-replacement: one person, animal, object, payment, or group taking the place of another. This week, we look at the complicated cases. Moses offers himself for Israel. Judah offers himself instead of Benjamin. David wishes he had died instead of Absalom. Then Caiaphas and Barabbas bring substitutionary logic into the story of Jesus through political calculation and judicial injustice. These passages display substitution in the Bible, and they also complicate it. They show a difference between substitutionary willingness and substitutionary requirement or calculation. The Bible honors self-giving love, mediation, grief, and transformed brotherhood without automatically making replacement the mechanism of redemption. So when we come to Jesus, the question is not simply whether he is “greater” than Moses, Judah, or David. The question is how he fulfills the pattern: by becoming a replacement victim, or by giving himself for others and calling his people into that same cruciform life. On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/   Website: genesismarksthespot.com    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot    Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/   Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan  Chapters (00:00:00) - The Question of Substitution-Replacement(00:06:49) - Substitutionary Willingness vs. Mechanism(00:08:35) - Moses’ Rejected Offer After the Golden Calf(00:20:55) - Judah, Benjamin, and Transformed Brotherhood(00:26:16) - David’s Grief Over Absalom(00:31:17) - Replacement Reversed in Proverbs(00:35:59) - Caiaphas, Political Calculation, and Unwitting Prophecy(00:47:36) - Barabbas and Substitution Through Injustice(00:55:15) - What These Replacement Texts Actually Show(00:59:11) - Self-Offering, Jesus, and Cruciform Life

    1h 9m

  6. May 22

    Instead of Isaac: The Ram and the Logic of Replacement - Episode 180

    We begin a focused exploration of substitution-replacement: the idea that one person, animal, object, payment, or group takes the place of another so that the replaced party does not undergo the same role, fate, obligation, service, death, claim, or consequence. How does Scripture actually use replacement language? Does “instead of” give us penal substitution? Does “life for life” imply that an innocent third party may die in place of the guilty? And what should we make of the ram offered instead of Isaac in Genesis 22? Substitution-replacement is a real biblical category, but not a simple one. The episode closes with a careful look at Genesis 22, asking whether the ram offered instead of Isaac should be read as a truly desired substitute, or whether the text is more centrally about testing, obedience, divine provision, the preservation of the promised son, and the revelation that Yahweh is not like the gods who demand child sacrifice. On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/   Website: genesismarksthespot.com    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot    Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/   Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan  Chapters (00:00:00) - Defining Substitution-Replacement(00:11:41) - “For Us” Is Not Automatically “Instead of Us”(00:16:21) - Questions for Testing Replacement Texts(00:18:45) - Ordinary Replacement: Stones, Sons, and Priestly Office(00:27:35) - Life-for-Life and the Image of God(00:35:36) - The Levites Instead of the Firstborn(00:42:59) - Genesis 22: The Ram Instead of Isaac(00:46:37) - Abraham’s Test, Argument, and Divine Provision(00:58:11) - Hebrews 11 and How the NT Uses Genesis 22(01:01:59) - Don’t Go with Backwards Logic

    1h 7m

  7. May 15

    The Servant and the Lamb: Rethinking Substitution - Episode 179

    The discussion continues on substitution, representation, and the biblical patterns that lead us to Christ. Looking at Joseph, Isaiah 53, Passover, and Rahab, we explore the pattern of the righteous sufferer and the refuge provided through judgment. Rather than assuming that every sacrifice or suffering text must be about replacement-substitution, this episode asks what the texts themselves actually say. Joseph suffers because of the sins of his brothers, but he is not swapped out for them. Isaiah 53 gives prophetic and priestly depth to that same pattern. Passover marks a household for refuge and forms Israel as a delivered people. Rahab’s scarlet cord marks another household of refuge in the midst of judgment. These stories point us toward Christ as the faithful one, the righteous sufferer, the Passover, and the true refuge in whom God gathers and preserves his people. Shared last week, but again, here is a video by Spencer Owen of Trauma-Informed Churck Kid that breaks down Isaiah 53 and the Suffering Servant: The Suffering Servant   On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/   Website: genesismarksthespot.com    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot    Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/   Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan  Chapters (00:00:00) - Substitution vs. Representation(00:04:20) - Typology and Biblical Patterns(00:11:04) - Joseph and the Righteous Sufferer(00:13:05) - Isaiah 53 in the Larger Pattern(00:22:08) - What Did Jesus Do?(00:28:31) - Passover: Refuge, Not Replacement(00:39:17) - The Blood as a Sign(00:45:06) - Death Does Not Equal Substitution(00:50:13) - Christ Our Passover(00:52:18) - Rahab and the Household Refuge Pattern(00:59:29) - Christ as Refuge for Incorporation

    1h 5m

  8. May 8

    For Us, Not Instead of Us: The Suffering Messiah - Episode 178

    This episode follows up on episode 177 by turning from the “penal” question to the “substitution” question. If Jesus died “for us,” does that necessarily mean he died “instead of us” as a replacement substitute? We carefully distinguish substitution, representation, participation, mediation, and vicarious suffering, showing why these categories should not be collapsed into one broad idea. Scripture gives many examples of people acting or suffering for others without being substitutes. The main example is Joseph. Joseph suffers because of his brothers’ sin, but he is not punished instead of them. He is betrayed, cast down, enslaved, falsely accused, imprisoned, and later exalted. God sends him ahead to preserve life, preserve a remnant, and keep the covenant family alive. Joseph gives us biblical grammar for understanding Jesus as the righteous sufferer: the beloved Son rejected by his brothers, handed over through human evil, brought down into death, exalted by God, and made the source of life for those who come to him. “For us” is bigger than “instead of us.” Here is a video by Spencer Owen of Trauma-Informed Churck Kid that breaks down Isaiah 53 and the Suffering Servant: The Suffering Servant   On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/   Website: genesismarksthespot.com    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot    Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/   Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan    Chapters (00:00:00) - From Wrath to Substitution(00:07:18) - “For Us” Is Bigger Than “Instead of Us”(00:12:40) - Defining the Categories(00:22:52) - Participation, Mediation, and Burden-Bearing(00:34:40) - Why These Distinctions Matter(00:35:24) - Joseph: The Righteous Sufferer Sent Ahead(00:39:08) - Because of His Brothers, Not Instead of Them(00:44:36) - Sent Ahead to Preserve Life(00:46:05) - Human Evil and God’s Preserving Purpose(00:50:33) - Forgiveness Without Penalty Transfer(00:54:47) - Transformation, Repentance, and Wrath

    1h 6m
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About

Raiding the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith.

Information

  • Creator
    Carey Griffel
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    186
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2022
  • Show Website
    Genesis Marks the Spot

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