04.04 - Chapter 23 - The Atonement
Chapter 23 The Atonement The Importance Of The Doctrine The Atonement is the central fact of Christianity. Any system of Christian theology that leaves out the Atonement is not true Christianity. The Atonement was the subject of the first promise to man in Genesis 3:15. Christ said, “To this end was I born, and for this purpose came I into the world” (John 18:37). "The Atonement is that on which man’s salvation depends.
Whoever makes light of the Atonement makes light of his own and the world’s salvation." (David Clark)
Terms Defined To understand the doctrine of the Atonement certain terms must be apprehended with discrimination.
• Atonement. The Atonement is not sufficiently defined by calling it at-one-ment. That expresses only one idea in the doctrine which is the feature of reconciliation. The Atonement means far more than that.
• Guilt. The word guilt expresses two things; first, blameworthiness, pollution, moral turpitude, criminality; second, liability to punishment or penalty.
• Expiation. Expiation means purging out, washing away, covering, making reparation or satisfaction; especially by suffering a penalty such as expiating a crime. Paying the penalty implies the securing of remission. Expiation is a very important word in the doctrine of the Atonement.
• Propitiation. Propitiation means to appease or render favorable one who has been offended. Guilt is expiated [covered or taken away] and God propitiated [satisfied].
• Vicarious. Vicarious means substitutionary; a vicar is a substitute or one who takes another’s place.
• Reconciliation. Reconciliation means bringing into harmony or agreement.
• Imputation. Imputation means to charge to one’s account.
♦ Romans 2:26. "Shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?"
♦ Romans 4:3. "Abraham believed God and it was counted to Him for righteousness."
! Special Note. The sins of the elect were imputed to Christ and His righteousness was imputed to them. Thus, in the Atonement a vicarious sacrifice expiates guilt, propitiates God, and reconciles God and man. The Two-Fold Work Of The Atonement
• By obedience to the Law and by His suffering and death Christ accomplished the work of the Atonement that the Father had given Him to do.
• By His obedience Christ fulfilled the Law expressed in the Covenant of Works, which Adam failed to keep. By His sufferings and death Christ paid the penalty due for sin. The Law offered life for obedience and threatened death for disobedience. The precept of the Law as well as the penalty of the Law must be fulfilled. Christ met all the demands of the Law both precept and penalty. Had he failed in either, no Atonement would have been made, and no redemption effected. The reality of the expiatory work is not confined entirely to the physical sufferings and death, or what is called the objective side of the Atonement. The subjective side must have its weight. The physical suffering is not more important than the righteous disposition that led Him to submit to it. The spiritual attitude of Christ toward the work of Atonement has more qualitative value than the physical sufferings and death. We must feel that the Spirit of Christ worked the atoning work quite as much as by His bodily sacrifice or more. A distinction must be made between the usage of the terms subjective and objective in this connection. Christ’s physical experiences are called objective, and His spiritual experiences subjective. There was therefore a subjective and an objective side to Christ’s work. The Atonement Expresses both Divine Justice and Love
While there can be no discord between any of God’s attributes, some theologians have stressed God’s justice to the exclusion of His love, while others have stressed God’s love till justice was ruled out. For example, Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury (A.D. 1033-1109), taught that since all humans had sinned in and with Adam, God’s honor had been offended. Man must do something to satisfy that honor. But what could fallen man ever do? "No one but one who is God-man can make the satisfaction by which man is saved." By His voluntary death at Calvary, Christ provided the only way and only acceptable satisfaction. The theologians of the Reformation modified this position to teach that the justice of God, or the requirements of God’s Law had to be satisfied. While both forms of the Satisfaction Theory expresses an essential fact, they must be duly coupled with the love of God as the moving cause.
♦ John 3:16 “God so loved the world that He gave His Son.”
♦ Romans 5:8 “God commendeth His love to us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly.”
! Special Note. The Atonement is the supreme expression of God’s love. "It is the characteristic of love that it longs to impart itself and possess its object. To leave out God’s love is to leave out the heart of the Atonement" (David Clark).
If Anselm neglected the love of God, the advocates of the Moral Influence Theory of the Atonement, such as Abelard, have neglected to emphasize His justice. The temptation comes to repudiate substitution, satisfaction, and expiation as being unnecessary and even undesirable. It has been taught that man is moved by God’s love, turns to God in view of His love, and the Atonement is nothing but repentance. The antidote to extremism in any direction is to remember that any view of the Atonement that leaves out of accounts any attribute of God’s total nature is partial and to that extent misleading. Holiness is so essential to His nature that God cannot look upon sin with approval; and justice is so essential that sin cannot go unpunished. Love is so essential that holiness could not be perfect without it, and holiness in turn is so necessary to love that love would be capricious and erratic unless guided and controlled by holiness. The Atonement, therefore, is not the expression of one attribute of God’s nature, but of all. The Atonement And The Trinity The Atonement is equally the expression of all persons of the Godhead. All views that place Father and Son in any degree of opposition, as if the Father had to be placated at the expense of the Son, are misleading and mischievous in their tendency. The Son is equally involved with the Father in the expression of His justice; and the Father is equally involved with the Son in the expression of His love and sacrifice. The Atonement expresses the entire Godhead with all the Divine attributes. The Main Features Of The Atonement The Atonement Was Sacrificial
Some say, “We are not saved by Christ’s death, but by His life.” Unitarians who set up Christ as an example, but deny the efficiency of His death usually say this. Thus salvation comes as the reward of character and works as we pattern our lives after Christ. In contrast the Scriptures stress Christ’s death. Christ’s sacrifice was more than the sacrifice of a martyr. A man might be a martyr to a good cause, and His example very praiseworthy; but that sacrifice would make no Atonement for sin. The meaning of Christ’s death is miles deeper than mere martyrdom. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were types of Christ’s sacrifice, and whatever they meant, Christ’s death must also mean. As they were sacrifices for sin, so Christ’s death was a sacrifice for sin.
♦ John 1:29 "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
♦ 1 Corinthians 5:7 "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:"
♦ Ephesians 5:3 “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;”
♦ Hebrews 7:27 “Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”
♦ Hebrews 9:14 “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
♦ Hebrews 9:23 “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”
♦ Hebrews 9:26 “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
♦ Hebrews 10:12 “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;”
! Special Note. Many of these texts being specifically addressed to Jewish Christians, could bear no other meaning than this, that Christ was a sacrifice in the same sense as the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament dispensation. The Atonement Was Expiatory In the Atonement, Christ paid the penalty of sin, fulfilled the Law, satisfied justice, and secured remission for sins. Proof is derived from the Old Testament. The sacrificial rites of the Old Testament show how penalty was exacted, and remission and forgiveness declared.
Leviticus 4:1-35 and Leviticus 6:1-30 describe the sacrificial Atonement for sin.
♦ Leviticus 1:4 "And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make Atonement for him. This placing of the hand on the head showed the transfer of the guilt by the one offering the sacrifice."
♦ Leviticus 4:3-4 "If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the LORD."
♦ Leviticus 4:13-20 "And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty; When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD. And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation: And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the veil. And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar. And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make Atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them."
♦ Leviticus 4:22 "When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty;"
♦ Leviticus 4:26 "And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an Atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him."
♦ Leviticus 4:27 "And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty;"
♦ Leviticus 4:29 "And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering."
♦ Leviticus 4:31 "And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an Atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him."
All of these passages show that sin is expiated by sacrifice and forgiven. Other passages concerning the Passover shows how all were delivered who were behind the blood. Leviticus 16:1-34 gives the rites of the Day of the Atonement. All to point to expiation and removal of sin. The rites on the great Day of Atonement included the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat, showing how the blood stood between the Law and the sinner. The Law cursed the transgressor, but the blood removed the curse.
♦ Leviticus 16:8-10 "And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an Atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
♦ Leviticus 16:21-22 "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness."
♦ Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an Atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an Atonement for the soul."
♦ 2 Chronicles 29:23 "And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:"
♦ 2 Chronicles 29:24 "And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an Atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel." The Atonement Was Efficacious Like the Old Testament sacrifices, the death of Christ was effective. It covered sin.
♦ John 1:29 "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
♦ Matthew 26:28 "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
♦ Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
♦ Hebrews 1:3 "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"
♦ Hebrews 9:13 "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:"
♦ Hebrews 9:14 "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
♦ Hebrews 9:22 "And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."
♦ Hebrews 9:26 "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."
♦ Hebrews 9:28 "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
♦ Hebrews 10:4 "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."
♦ Hebrews 10:9 "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second."
♦ Hebrews 10:10 "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
♦ Hebrews 10:12 "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;"
♦ Hebrews 10:14 "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
♦ 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
♦ Revelation 1:5 "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"
♦ Revelation 7:14 "And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
♦ Revelation 7:15 "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." The Atonement Was Vicarious The vicarious feature of the Atonement is so essential that no bloodless, non substitutionary Atonement theory adequately represents the facts or the meaning of the Atonement.
Old Testament Scriptures
There are many passages which describe the laying of hands on the head of the victim thereby teaching the transfer of guilt to the victim and the vicarious nature of the offering.
♦ Leviticus 1:4 "And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make Atonement for him."
♦ Leviticus 16:21 "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:"
! Special Note. The vicarious nature of the Atonement is indicated when the priest confessed over the head of the scapegoat all the iniquities and transgressions of Israel.
♦ Leviticus 16:22 "And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness." This passage shows the imputation of the guilt of the person presenting the offering. The name by which the victim was called—sin offering or guilt offering—indicated the transfer of the sin or guilt to the offering.
♦ Isaiah 53:4 "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."
♦ Isaiah 53:5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
♦ Isaiah 53:11 "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
New Testament Scriptures
♦ John 1:29 "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
♦ Matthew 20:28 "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
♦ Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
♦ 2 Corinthians 5:15 "And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."
♦ 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
♦ Galatians 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"
♦ 1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"
♦ Hebrews 9:28 "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
♦ 1 Peter 2:24 "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." The Atonement And The Law The Atonement satisfied the demands of justice of the Law. The Law of God cannot be annulled neither can its demand be lowered. “How should man be just with God?” is the cry of the awakened conscience. "But how shall God be just and justify the ungodly?" was the question that Divine love set itself to answer. Love says, “Save the sinner!” Justice says, “Exact the penalty!” Both are attributes of God. How then shall God be just and justify the ungodly? The Atonement of Christ is the answer. "The Atonement of Jesus Christ satisfies the demands of justice and awakens the cry of Divine love, and as well gives the awakened conscience a sufficient ground of hope." (David Clark)
♦ Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
♦ Romans 3:25-26 "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
! Special Note. Romans 2:1-29, Romans 3:1-31, Romans 4:1-25 argues that all men are sinners, all are condemned by the Law for sin, and yet God effects redemption by Christ. Redemption is received by faith.
♦ Romans 7:4 "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."
♦ Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. "
♦ Romans 8:2 "For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death."
♦ Galatians 2:16 "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law: for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified."
♦ Galatians 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"
♦ Galatians 4:4-5 "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, To redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believeth."
♦ 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
♦ Php 3:9 "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" The ceremony that took place in the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament Tabernacle showed that the blood of the sacrifice met the demands of the Law. Much modern theology demands the remission of sin without Atonement. It makes light of sin and abrogates the Law. The whole teaching of the Bible in the rituals of the Old Testament, and in the teachings of the New Testament shows that a substitute was always present to bear the penalty when sin is forgiven.
♦ Hebrews 9:22 "And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." “If penalty were remitted by sovereignty merely, without any judicial ground or reason whatever; if it were inflicted neither upon the sinner nor upon his substitute, this would be the abolition of penalty, not the remission of it” (Dr. William T. Shedd).
Arminianism And The Atonement In 1603, a professor of divinity in the University of Leyden charged the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination with making God the author of sin. His name was Jacobus Arminius.
After his death (1560-1609), the followers of Arminius living in Holland published a document called "Remonstrance" (1610) opposing the doctrine of sovereign grace.
I. That God, by an eternal and unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ his Son, before the foundation of the world was laid, determined to save, out of the human race which had fallen into sin, in Christ, for Christ’s sake and through Christ, those who through the grace of the Holy Spirit shall believe on the same his Son and shall through the same grace persevere in this same faith and obedience of faith even to the end; and on the other hand to leave under sin and wrath the contumacious and unbelieving and to condemn them as aliens from Christ according to the word of the Gospel in John 3:36, and other passages of Scripture.
II. That, accordingly, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, died for all men and for every man, so that he has obtained for all, by his death on the cross, reconciliation and remission of sins; yet so that no one is partaker of this remission except the believers [John 3:16; 1 John 2:2].
III. That man has not saving grace of himself, nor of the working of his own free-will, inasmuch as in his state of apostasy and sin he can for himself and by himself think nothing that is good--nothing, that is, truly good, such as saving faith is, above all else. But that it is necessary that by God, in Christ and through his Holy Spirit he be born again and renewed in understanding, affections and will and in all his faculties, that he may be able to understand, think, will and perform what is truly good, according to the Word of God [John 15:5].
IV. That this grace of God is the beginning, the progress and the end of all good; so that even the regenerate man can neither think, will nor effect any good, nor withstand any temptation to evil, without grace precedent (or prevenient), awakening, following and co-operating. So that all good deeds and all movements towards good that can be conveyed in thought must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ. But with respect to the mode of operation, grace is not irresistible; for it is written of many that they resisted the Holy Spirit [Acts 7:1-60 and elsewhere passim].
V. That those who are grafted into Christ by a true faith, and have thereby been made partakers of his life-giving Spirit, are abundantly endowed with power to strive against Satan, sin, the world and their own flesh, and to win the victory; always, be it understood, with the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit, with Jesus Christ assisting them in all temptations, through his Spirit; stretching out his hand to them and (provided only that they are themselves prepared for the fight, that they entreat his aid and do not fail to help themselves) propping and upholding them so that by no guile or violence of Satan can they be led astray or plucked from Christ’s hands [John 10:28]. But for the question whether they are not able through sloth or negligence to forsake the beginning of their life in Christ, to embrace again this present world, to depart from the holy doctrine once delivered to them, to lose their good conscience and to neglect grace--this must be the subject of more exact inquiry in the Holy Scriptures, before we can teach it with full confidence of our mind. These Articles thus set out and delivered the Remonstrants deem agreeable to the word of God, suitable for edification and, on this subject, sufficient for salvation. So that it is not needful, and tends not to edification, to rise higher or to descend lower. (Philipp Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, Vol. III) Summary Of The Remonstrance • God elects or rejects individuals on the basis of foreseen faith or unbelief.
• Christ died for all men and for every man even though only believers are saved.
• Man is in need of divine grace or he shall never be saved by good deeds.
• The grace of God can be resisted.
• Whether or not those who are saved can fall away again unto everlasting judgment is a subject that needs more study.
Answer. The historical Reformed answer to the Remonstrants took place in 1618 by a synod at Dort. The followers of Jacobus Arminius were compelled to leave the national Reformed Church. The initial biblical response to the Remonstrants is that Christ’s Atonement had an inherent worth that rendered it a complete satisfaction. Christ being a person of infinite worth and dignity made an Atonement of infinite value and therefore sufficient for all time and all men of those who will be the heirs of salvation. "Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him." (Hebrews 7:25) The Atonement Is Propitiatory And Conciliatory The Atonement of Christ propitiates or satisfies God. It renders Him favorable or gracious so reconciliation is effected between God and man. Individuals can come to God by Christ because He has fully satisfied the justice of the Father (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:14; Romans 3:25-26; John 17:2; Hebrews 9:15). The question arises whether God is reconciled to man or whether man is the one who is being reconciled to God. "Does the Atonement effects a change in God toward man?" Or, "Does the Atonement effect a change in man toward God?" The Scriptural teaching bearing on this dramatic distinction is expressed.
♦ Romans 5:1 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ:"
♦ Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
♦ 2 Corinthians 5:18 "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;"
♦ 2 Corinthians 5:19 "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."
♦ 2 Corinthians 5:20 "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God."
♦ Colossians 1:21 "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled."
Scripturally, the Atonement primarily affects God’s relation to the sinner by satisfying His justice, removing His just displeasure against a sinner, and affording the basis of grace and pardon. Christ’s sacrifice was “to save from wrath” (Romans 5:9) and open the way for reconciliation. Ultimately the change affects man; and by the grace of God leads to a subjective change in him by which he by which he is reconciled to God reconciles him to God. This is directly ascribed to the Atonement. In brief, the Atonement expiates sin, propitiates God, and reconciles first God to man, and second man to God.
Summary • The Atonement was sacrificial • The Atonement was expiatory • The Atonement was vicarious • The Atonement was sufficient • The Atonement was propitiatory • The Atonement brought reconciliation
If it is possible for one person to pay the debt of another, or become a substitute for another, it was possible for Christ to pay our debt and to be our Substitute, which is why the Christian sings about The Old Rugged Cross. In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see; For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, To pardon and sanctify me.
"Although the price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ till after His incarnation yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit thereof were communicated to the elect in all ages successively from the beginning of the world, and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein He was revealed, and signified to be the seed which would bruise the serpent’s head, and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, being the same yesterday, and today, and forever. (The Baptist Confession Of Faith Of 1689, Chapter 8, Section 6; study 1 Corinthians 4:10; Hebrews 4:2; 1 Peter 1:10-11; Revelation 13:8; Hebrews 13:8) Objections to the Atonement
# Argument. “The Atonement represents God as unmerciful, cruel, vindictive, and bloodthirsty if He requires a sacrifice of a life to appease His wrath.”
Answer. It was an act of mercy to mankind to permit a substitute. It was a greater act of mercy that God not only permitted a substitute but that He Himself provided one, and He became that substitute. Since the Law of God could not be annulled nor lowered and sin could not go unpunished, God Himself in the person of His Son submitted to the penalty in order to set man free. That was mercy in superlative. God so loved the world that He gave His Only-begotten Son. No man can deny God’s mercy after reading John 3:16.
# Argument. “There is no need of an Atonement.”
Answer. This is a very prevalent objection at the present day. It is said that all that is necessary is for the sinner to repent and for God to forgive Him on the ground of His repentance. This is not God’s view of this matter. God has taught us something very different in His Word. From end to end the Bible teaches that salvation is only by a vicarious sacrifice.
Christ must go to Calvary.
♦ Matthew 26:39 "And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."
♦ Mark 8:31 "And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."
♦ Luke 9:22 "Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day."
♦ Luke 24:7 "Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."
♦ Luke 17:25 "But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation."
♦ John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:"
♦ John 12:34 "The people answered him, We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?"
♦ John 20:9 "For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead."
♦ Acts 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
♦ Acts 17:3 "Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ."
♦ Hebrews 3:16 "For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses."
♦ Hebrews 9:22 "And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."
♦ Hebrews 9:23 "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."
Atonement and the Sovereignty Of God
It is God’s prerogative to state the conditions on which individuals may be saved. It is the responsibility of those who hear the gospel to accept the conditions as God has laid them down. No one yet wiser than God. Since God has provided a vicarious sacrifice, it is not for anyone to say there is no need of it. That is inexcusable presumption. It is teaching for doctrines the commandments of men and it is wrong. If a person should repent and obey perfectly the Law of the Lord after hearing what it commandments are, that would be but duty. However, even such obedience could not atone for previous acts of transgression before repentance occurred and obedience began. The Law that has been broken and the wrong that has been done still require Atonement for ethical improvement is not sufficient to save the soul.
Moral Reformation is not Enough
God cannot remit sin without Atonement because He has threatened to punish it, and His veracity is at stake. He has declared that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). “The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). In light of this, “How shall God be just and justify the ungodly?”
Athanasius (AD 293?-373) answered the concept that the Atonement was not needed in his day. “Suppose,” he said, “that God should merely require repentance in order to salvation. This would not be improper in itself did not conflict with the veracity of God. God cannot be untruthful even for our benefit. Repentance does not satisfy the demands of truth and justice. If the question pertained solely to the corruption of sin, and not to the guilt and ill desert of it, repentance might be sufficient.”
Athanasius realized that reformation does not satisfy the whole requirement of God’s holiness. The guilt and punishment of sin must be dealt with as well as sin’s perversion. God’s perfect Law and God as a perfect governor cannot ignore either the corruption of sin or its guilt and penalty. In His provision for man’s salvation God has had due regard for every aspect of sin and guilt. To ignore the guilt and deal only with the pollution of sin would compromise the essential attributes of God. Moreover if repentance alone is necessary, the whole incarnation was useless and Christ has come and died without sufficient reason.
Sin cannot be pardoned without Atonement because God is the moral ruler of the universe and cannot sacrifice the interests of moral government. Sin is not merely a private matter. It concerns the government of the world. Private rights may be relinquished but not public welfare nor universal laws. The objection, if true, would lower God’s attribute of righteousness and destroy regard for all Law. The Majesty and Mercy of God The Atonement best displays God’s glory and conserves man’s highest good. If God adamantly demanded the punishment of sin and refused any substitute He could not display His mercy. If He excused sin without Atonement He could not display His holiness and justice. If either of these attributes of mercy and justice were obscured in man’s sight, then man would not feel constrained to be better than His God. The Atonement vindicates every attribute of God and reveals His nature to man for His admiration and emulation.
# Argument. “It is unjust to punish the innocent for the guilty.”
Answer. This objection makes an absolute distinction between the offering and the one making the offering. If God had laid the penalty on some innocent being without his consent, that would have been injustice; but if God Himself assumed the penalty it was no injustice to man, and no injustice to him who voluntarily assumed it; but rather the expression of Divine and infinite love.
# Argument. “If sin is punished it cannot be forgiven, and if forgiven it cannot be punished.” This objection is illustrated in this manner: “If a murderer is pardoned he cannot be hanged, and if hanged he cannot be pardoned. "
Answer. If a murderer is pardoned the Law is simply set aside and true justice is not exacted. But God’s Law is not set aside. Rather, His justice and mercy are exhibited in the Substitute who bore the penalty at Calvary to secured the remission of sins. Justice and mercy met in a Divine Atonement for sins.
# Argument. “Christ could not suffer the penalty of sin without enduring remorse and eternal death.”
Answer. Christ’s infinite dignity and worth gave to His sufferings an infinite value which was full legal equivalent for the sins of a race; and more than sufficient for all the penalty due to the whole race, for all the sufferings of the race would be only finite at most.
Theories of the Atonement
# The Moral Influence Theory. This theory, a most unworthy one, denies the expiatory and vicarious nature of Christ’s work and assigns its value to the moral effect produced by Christ’s teaching, example, and manifestation of self-sacrificing love. According to this theory Christ is not an expiatory sacrifice, not a substitute for man, paid no penalty, and made no satisfaction to justice. But Jesus is a teacher. He is an example, and a manifestation of Divine love. Christ saves not by His death, but by His life. He produces a moral effect thereby on the hearts and minds of men which may be designated the “Moral Influence Theory.”
# The Ransom Theory. According to this theory Jesus paid a ransom to free us from the bondage of sin. Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 tells us that Christ came "to give his life a ransom for many." 1 Timothy 2:6 speaks of Jesus "who gave himself a ransom for all."
# The Legal Theory. The atonement is described as an act of obedience to the law which had been violated by sinners. A penalty had to be borne in order to rescue the guilty. Jesus paid that penalty. The righteousness of God was vindicated. In specific passages the death of Christ is represented as demanded by God’s law and government. (A.H. Strong) Galatians 4:4-5 speaks of Christ being "born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law." Jesus said in Matthew 3:15 that certain things had to happen for "thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus fulfilled the righteousness of the law because He did not come "to destroy the law or the prophets." (Matthew 5:17) So Jesus "became obedient even unto death" (Romans 5:19) He "gave himself for our sins". (Galatians 1:4)
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a true." (Galatians 3:13 cp. Deuteronomy 21:23) By Christ’s legal death, He exhibited God’s righteousness in the pardon and restoration of sinners. Romans 3:25-26 speaks of Him "whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God." The death of deaths in the death of Christ was "a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant." (cf. Hebrews 9:15) From Theory To Truth: Scriptural Satisfaction
"The complete answer to all theories is the exhibition of the true nature of the Atonement as taught in the Scriptures. All theories of the Atonement are efforts in the right direction, to understand and express its meaning; but quite likely any or all of them fall short of a perfect expression. It takes the whole Bible to explain the Atonement. Our widest conceptions may touch only the fringe of its meaning. The Atonement in its height and depth and length and breadth is beyond our mental and spiritual limitations. Before the cross of Calvary the world has paused, and gazed, and wept, and worshipped, in adoring wonder; and well it may." (David Clark) Expiation and substitution are the biblical facts of the Atonement, not a theory. The Bible explains:
• for whom the Atonement was made to expiated sin;
• how it made satisfaction to God;
• to what was the satisfaction made;
• and how it affects those who are to be the heirs of salvation. In summary, the Atonement satisfies the just demands of God the Father. In recognizing this we discern once more the attributes of God: love and justice. And there is a wonderful harmony. "There is love in His justice and justice in His love. The whole Divine being expresses Himself in the exercise of any attribute as the whole man does in thinking, feeling and volition. The Atonement is a satisfaction to God’s love as well as to His justice. " (David Clark) "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so."