John Mark Comer Denies Penal Substitutionary Atonement

John Mark Comer was leading a Portland megachurch called Solid Rock, which experienced tremendous growth. Amidst the growth, he became burnt out and Solid Rock dissolved as a megachurch, choosing for each franchise to become an independent church. John Mark Comer chose to pastor the Bridgetown location, which was not the largest. But then he got burnt out as a pastor and is now a motivational speaker and author.

Nevertheless, despite having questionable theology as it relates to theological liberalism, Comer has had a continued presence in Evangelicalism with various content collaborations such as Sadie Robertson Huff’s podcast.

A recent Instagram post of John Mark Comer went viral for staunch opposition to penal substitutionary atonement (PSA).

Penal substitutionary atonement was articulated most clearly in the Reformation era, particularly through John Calvin’s Institutes, though its roots lie in Anselm of Canterbury’s Cur Deus Homo (1098) and the earlier satisfaction models of the Western Church. At its core, the doctrine holds that Christ bore the legal penalty demanded by God’s justice, wages of sin being death, in the place of the elect, thus satisfying divine wrath and reconciling sinners to the Father. This forensic framework developed from Augustine’s emphasis on Original Sin and the necessity of divine justice being upheld, shifting from satisfaction to God to enduring God’s wrath on behalf of the sinner.

PSA was sharply challenged by Socinians during the Reformation and later by liberal theologians like Schleiermacher and Ritschl. However, it became the dominant view within Protestant orthodoxy, especially among Reformed, Lutheran, and Evangelical traditions, where it remains the cornerstone of gospel proclamation and soteriology.

The alternative view is the ransom position (sometimes called Christus Victor) that Christ’s death paid a ransom to Satan. This presents a problem because Christ’s resurrection would seemingly invalidate the death, and it elevates Satan, creating a dualistic framework. Thus, penal substitutionary atonement best explains how Christ’s death works without giving way to universalism, elevating Satan, and reconciling to the Resurrection. Thus, even Protestants who reject Calvinism generally accept PSA.

John Mark Comer’s opposition to PSA drew wide condemnation from Evangelical leaders such as Denny Burk and Mark Driscoll who referred to John Mark Comer as a progressive woke apostate.