Correspondence with KH On Penal Substitution 

From April 2017. Mako debated a Southern Baptist Arminian who defended the combination of Trump support and penal substitution. He claimed that penal substitution was “lost” by the early Christians, and only recovered later. Other topics include: Whether Jesus took on unfallen or fallen human nature; was Jesus forsaken by the Father in an absolute sense; what “curse” did Jesus take on or reveal at the cross in Galatians 3:13; why did Jesus go to the dead in 1 Peter 3 and 4; what else was “lost” by the early church?

Correspondence with ELS & MT3 On Penal Substitution 

From April 2017. Mako had a short debate on Facebook mostly about whether Isaiah 53 teaches penal or medical substitutionary atonement.

Correspondence with TF about the Goodness of God and the Will of God 

From May 2017. Mako had a short discussion on Facebook about how to understand God’s goodness and love, despite human evil, especially the fall of Genesis 3.

Debate on Facebook, Tim Catchim's post

From June 7, 2017. A long, sprawling, and sometimes entertaining debate when the Southern Baptist Convention declared that Penal Substitution is the gospel itself

Debate with Tim Keller and Derek Rishmawy: Was John Calvin Correct That Jesus "Descended Into Hell” to Be Punished Instead of Us?

From July 31, 2017 when DR had TK write this guest post on his blog; Tim Catchim weighed in to challenge the logic and the exegesis.

Debate on Facebook: Did Athanasius Believe in Penal Substitution?

From May 28, 2018 when Michael Bird suggested he did; Mako posted lots of material to refute that; he also debated an Old Testament professor about the Sinai covenant and God's justice being restorative vs. retributive

Debate on Facebook: Did Jesus Become the Object of the Father’s Wrath? Is Penal Substitution True?

From January 28, 2020. Michael Gonzalez started the original post but some later replies were hidden/deleted.

Debate on Facebook: Does the Orthodox Church Teach Penal Substitution? Should It?

From February 2020. This was a wide ranging discussion between Mako and two Orthodox Christians, one of whom was an Orthodox priest (at the time), about Scripture and the early patristic theologians. Topics include: the meaning of death in Scripture; the word “retribution” in the Bible; whether God responds to every human sin with a need to punish it.

Debate on Facebook: Is God’s Justice Retributive or Restorative?

From July 2020. This started when LF and ED argued with Mako that Paul says in Romans that God uses a retributive justice and wrath in response to human sin. Other topics include whether Romans 9 - 11 teaches monergism (no human free will) or synergism (human free will); whether either view leads to “despair”; whether early Christian monasticism focused on “deeds” or “desire”; whether hell is based on our “deeds” or “desire”; whether God is both good and evil, or simply good; whether medical substitution fits in a larger theological response that makes sense of human evil and other evil; whether God is two faced (two attributes) or is one-faced (one nature of purifying love).

Debate on Facebook: God’s Justice Retributive or Restorative When He Took the Egyptian Firstborn Children?

From September 2020. This started when LF argued that God took the Egyptian firstborn children because they sinned and God held them personally and individually accountable — a view Mako rejected. Per Romans 7, the Egyptians were not under the Sinai covenant as Jews, nor does God hold small children personally and directly accountable for sins. So God’s protection of Israel from Egypt has to be understood from the standpoint of Israel as a medical focus group, building up to Jesus as the true Israelite, the medical substitute who was able to fulfill Israel’s medical vocation.

Debate on Facebook: Is Penal Substitutionary Atonement Really Taught in Scripture?

From July 2021. AL posted an article about switching from Penal Substitution to the Orthodox understanding of Medical Substitution. GL replied by defending PSA and arguing that PSA is found in the Jewish Sacrificial System in Leviticus, Isaiah 53, Hebrews, and Romans. I (Mako) replied with rebuttals and questions. GL then exited that particular Facebook conversation thread, and posted another to his own wall. See also Debate on Facebook: Penal vs. Medical Substitution; Divine Retributive vs. Restorative Justice; Romans vs. the Whole Biblical Canon from July 2021. GL first argued that his interpretation of Romans was integrated with other parts of Scripture, then functionally argued that it was separate.

Debate on Facebook: Is Penal Substitution and Divine Retributive Justice in Scripture and the Early Church?

From June 2022. GNL claimed that PSA was both in Leviticus and the early church, referring to an article by The Gospel Coalition. Mako refuted point for point, showing how PSA was not present in the early church, and how “retributive justice” is a mistake. “Retributive justice” has to be read into various Old Testament passages where God took human life. The only way to say that God was backward-looking and retributive is by isolating the historical events from the literary-canonical interpretation already given to those events. In every case, God was forward-looking and restorative, by protecting Israel’s future and thus Jesus’ humanity. God was also forward-looking by eventually offering individuals and groups restoration in Christ.

Debate on Facebook: How to Coordinate the Medical and Legal Language in Scripture and the Early Church?

From October 2023. SW, an ordained Reformed minister and former professor of patristics, said we just need to hold the medical and legal language in balance. Mako said the medical language is fundamental, and the legal language indicates participation in the medical reality, like COVID vaccine documentation. Their conversation started because a mutual friend tagged Mako in. It began with practical ministry: which language do you use with who, and when? It continued into early church history. It covered the Swiss Reformed tradition and the Helvetic Confession, and what divine justice really is: retributive or restorative.