substitutionary atonement label this “crude transactionalism.” Nevertheless, the preposition anti does support substitution. a. In classical Greek. Anti uniformly means “in the place of,” and it has no broader meaning as, for instance, “for the sake of.”2 b. In Greek of the New Testament Period. Moulton and Milligan give no examples of anti meaning “on behalf of” or “for the sake of.” The common meaning is “instead of.” The same and only meaning is found in Polybius (ca. 200–ca. 118 B.C.), Philo,