Why Renewal Feels Threatening (Part 1)

The Binary Created by Penal Substitutionary Atonement

This page is not a critique of people or churches.
It’s an exploration of how a particular theological lens can make spiritual formation feel unsafe.
You’re free to take what resonates and leave the rest.

If I'm free, why do I still feel pressure to perform?

Many believers genuinely love Jesus and want to walk in the freedom He gives.
And yet, they quietly feel pressure to appear “sorted,” “strong,” or “fully transformed.”
Struggle feels like failure.
Process feels like something to hide.
Honesty feels risky.
Most don’t know where that pressure comes from — only that it is very real.

And yet, something doesn’t quite settle. 

Something in us knows we are forgiven…
and yet something else in us knows we are still being formed.
But for many Christians, the idea of being “in process” feels dangerous, even shameful.
Not because they dislike growth — but because the theology they inherited tells them they shouldn’t need it.
This is where confusion often begins.

It helps to distinguish between:

Forgiveness as a completed event
(what Christ accomplished fully)

and

Renewal as an ongoing process
(what the Spirit continues to form in us)

Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA), as commonly taught, collapses these two into one.

It turns forgiveness into expectation:
“If Jesus took the punishment, I must now live as if I am fully finished.”
When this collapse happens, process feels like unbelief.

Let's unpack each a little

How PSA creates an unspoken binary

The common logic goes like this:

Jesus was punished instead of me
Therefore God now sees me as if I never sinned
Therefore if I struggle, something is wrong with my faith

This creates an internal binary:
Either I am fully transformed, or I am denying the cross.
There is no middle place for:

healing
formation
weakness
liminality
renewing of the mind
untangling distortion
growing in the Spirit

Process becomes threatening
Because under this lens:

struggle = unbelief
weakness = spiritual immaturity
formation = “not living in the finished work”
honesty = bad witness
need = embarrassment
being human = problem

The heart is forgiven…
but not allowed to be healed.
Why this is so deeply felt in PSA‑shaped churches
The theology unintentionally trains people to fear:

anything unfinished
anything messy
anything that takes time
anything that requires dependence

The message is:
“You should already be what Christ declares you to be.”
But Scripture reveals something much more human and hopeful:

declared righteous → Romans 5
still experience inward conflict → Romans 7
Spirit slowly forming life and peace → Romans 8

Paul never expected instantaneous perfection.
He expected transformation.

When believers realise they can be forgiven and in process:

- shame softens
- honesty increases
- compassion grows
- pressure lifts
- burdens drop
- prayer becomes relational instead of performative
- the Spirit’s work becomes visible

Fear gives way to freedom.
Pretence gives way to truth.

This page simply names how one particular interpretation can unintentionally create pressure.

This page is not an argument against PSA itself.
If this doesn’t align with your experience, you’re free to set it aside.

You might sit with one simple question: 

“Is it possible that Jesus finished the work for me — and the Spirit is still forming the work in me?”

There is no need to decide anything quickly.

You are allowed to be in process

Scripture References

A few passages that show the reality of process:

- Romans 7:14–25 — the tension of a renewed heart still experiencing conflict, that is a regenerate believer still either unconsciously or inavertently putting themselves under law.
- Romans 8:1–6 — no condemnation + the Spirit forming life and peace over time.
- Galatians 5:16–17 — flesh and Spirit opposing one another in believers.
- Ephesians 4:22–24 — renewal of the mind as an ongoing process.
- 2 Corinthians 3:18 — “being transformed” (present continuous).
- Hebrews 10:14 — “perfected once for all and being sanctified.”

Scripture never collapses forgiveness and formation into one event.