The Nature Of The Atonement

THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT
When we use the word “atonement” in the theological sense, we are referring to the work that Christ accomplished on the cross. A Sacrificial Atonement.
From earliest times, the Jew had built an altar for sacrifice. To the altar would be brought a lamb, white and without blemish. The lamb would be laid across the altar and then, as it was held down, the Jewish man would quickly and deftly cut its throat. As the blood poured out upon the altar, the man would place his hand upon the head of the dying lamb, signifying that this lamb was being identified with his sins and that it was dying in his place.

Later, it was the Tabernacle and then the Temple that became the center for sacrifices. It was here that the priests began to minister these sacrifices for the people of Israel. The idea of a lamb being slain was associated with the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus came on the scene, John the Baptist announced Him as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The mention of a lamb who was to take away sin was a very familiar concept to the Jew. He had a vivid picture in his mind what this represented. Yet there was something that was unique in the lamb described by John. The uniqueness was in the scope of accomplishment. The death of this lamb would take away the sins of the world.

None of the other animal sacrifices had been able to accomplish this. A lamb could be slain for the sins of a man. A lamb might occasionally be slain for the sins of a family. There were even times when a lamb was sacrifices for the sins of the entire nation. But never had there been a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7).

...For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7 b).
...Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:2 b).

Jesus fulfilled the principle of the sacrifice when He died upon the cross. It was a once and for all sacrifice that never needs to be repeated. This stands in contrast to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the “perpetual sacrifice of Christ.” The Council of Trent stated that, since the priesthood of Christ is perpetual, so also the sacrificial offering must also be perpetual. It went on to say that the mass is the true and proper sacrifice—that the mass is the actual sin removing sacrifice of Christ. By contrast, the Bible teaches that our sins are removed by His once for all sacrifice.

10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:10-12). The writer to the Hebrews could not be more explicit. He notes both that our salvation took place through the once for all offering of Jesus and that this one sacrifice for sins was for all time. The fact that Jesus subsequently sat down at the right hand of God is a sign that the work has been accomplished and never need be repeated. A Vicarious Atonement.
The principle of vicariousness includes the idea of a legal representative. Jesus served as our representative when He went to the cross in the same way that Adam acted as our representative when he sinned.

18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19).

I was not in the Garden of Eden when Adam sinned, yet his sin brought about not only his own fall, but the fall of the entire human race. He acted the part of our legal representative. In the same way, the death of Christ on the cross was as a representative for me. Galatians 2:20 says that I have been crucified with Christ. I had a legal representative on the cross who died in my place. A Substitutionary Atonement.
The concept of a substitute was an inherent part of a sacrifice. Isaiah spoke of One who would come to take sins upon Himself. Isaiah used the image of a sacrifice to describe this substitution.

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him. (Isaiah 53:6).

Jesus died in our place and instead of us. He was our substitute. He took our place on the cross, dying the death we deserved. Then He calls us to take His place as sons and children of God and co-heirs with Christ.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). When we read the Gospel accounts, we learn that the Romans had originally set aside three crosses. There were three thieves who were destined to hand upon those crosses. They had been apprehended, judged, and found to be guilty. They were placed under the sentence of death. But one of them never went to the cross. His name was Barabbas. Instead, another man went to the cross in his place.

Jesus died upon the cross of Barabbas and Barabbas went free. It wasn't that Barabbas did not deserve to be on the cross. It wasn't that he was any better than the other two thieves. He was probably worse. What made the difference? A substitute was provided to die in his place. The cross to which Jesus was nailed had been set aside for the execution of Barabbas. Barabbas deserved to die. He was a thief and a robber. He was guilty before the law. But Jesus died on his cross instead of Barabbas.

There is a sense in which Jesus died on a cross that had my name on it. He died instead of me. He died in my place and the judgment of God that would have been directed against me was instead directed toward Him.

13 And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14).

It was the custom of that day to post the crimes for which a criminal was being executed on the cross where he hung. This would serve as a warning to other would-be criminals. Do you remember the inscription that was on the cross of Jesus? It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The Jewish leaders didn't like that and they petitioned Pilate to have it changed, but he would not. And so, it remained. This passage tells us that there was another inscription posted on the cross that day. It was an inscription unseen by human eyes. It was the inscription consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us. It was the inscription of our sins. Don't miss this! Your sins were nailed to His cross. This indicates that He died for you. A Penal Atonement.
The penal nature of the atonement is seen in the fact that the death of Jesus was a punishment for sin. It was the payment of a penalty.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

Sin brought about a curse on the sinner. Jesus took that curse upon Himself. As He hung upon the cross, He cried out the word, “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” There was a reason for the cry. It indicated that the Father was turning His back on the Son and bringing judgment against Him.

It is suggested here that there was a moment in history when the First Person of the Trinity was, in a sense, sonless and when the Second Person of the Trinity was Fatherless—when the innocent Son of God was treated as though He were a guilty sinner. He took upon Himself our penalty. A Propitiatory Atonement.
Propitiation refers to that which satisfies anger; that which appeases. The concept of propitiation is illustrated in the work of the high priest in the temple. This is brought out by the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews when he likens the work of the high priest to that which was accomplished by Jesus.

Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17). When you speak of Jesus being a high priest, that takes you back to the Temple and to the greatest function of the high priest. The day of the high priest's ministry took place once a year on Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement.

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest of Israel would enter into the Holiest of Holies to come before the presence of God. He would bring with him a cup of blood from an animal freshly slain. He would sprinkle that blood upon the Mercy Seat. And that blood would serve as the satisfactory sacrifice for the sins of the nation. A common prayer among the Jews was that “God be to me a Mercy Seat.” The setting for this ministry is described in Hebrews 9:1-28.

Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place.

Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, 4 having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. (Hebrews 9:1-5).

Notice the phrase “mercy seat” in Hebrews 9:5. That is the Greek word i`lasthrioV. Neither is this an unusual translation, for every time you see a reference to the Mercy Seat in the Old Testament, it is translated in the Septuagint in this same manner.

What was the Mercy Seat? It was the top of the Ark of the Covenant. This was the seat of God. It served as the throne of God within the Temple. It was called a “seat” in that this was considered to be the throne of God. On either side of this “seat” there were statues of angels. Their wings overshadowed the seat and their faces gazed down toward the seat. The Ark itself was nothing more than a wooden box overlaid with gold. It originally held the broken pieces of the Ten Commandments, a pot of manna, and Aaron's rod. Each of these was symbolic. The Pieces: The fact that we have sinned and broken God's law. The Manna: God's gracious and nourishing provision.

Aaron's Rod: God's appointment of a Mediator.

Once a year, on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the High Priest would enter past the two veils into the Holy of Holies. He would come to the mercy seat. He would sprinkle the blood of goats and calves onto the mercy seat. This would be a satisfactory payment for the sins of the nation — until next year when it all had to be done over again. This is a picture of what Jesus did for us. He is both sacrifice and high priest.

Over the years there had been many high priests. Generation after generation had served this high office. Each year, for over a thousand years, a high priest had entered the Temple to offer sacrifices. But we have something unique. We have something that no Jew ever had. We have the High Priest who passed into heaven itself. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered in through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12).

Jesus did not offer the blood of animals in a temple. He gave His own blood on the cross. He served as both High Priest and as sacrifice. And then He entered, not a temple, but heaven itself. And He is there today as our High Priest.

Propitiation presupposes the wrath of God (Romans 1:18; Ephesians 2:3). In the ancient world, when one thought that he had committed some offense against one of the deities, he would go and offer a sacrifice of appeasement. By doing so, he would try to assuage the anger and the wrath of that deity. Thus, propitiation refers to satisfying the wrath of one who has been offended. Your sin has offended God. It makes you deserving of the anger and the wrath of God. That is the bad news. The good news is that Jesus was the satisfaction. He satisfied the righteous judgment of God. On the wall of the Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C. is the motto: “When the guilty is acquitted, the judge is condemned.” If God is to be a just God, then He cannot simply forgive sin. It must be judged. Our sin was judged at the cross.

Means|Death of Christ|
Place|The Cross|
Result|The Remission of Sins|

Some people have a problem recognizing the truth of God's wrath. That is because they have an inadequate view of both the absolute righteousness of God and the awfulness of sin. The price of propitiation was the blood of Christ, although it is appropriated through faith. Romans 3:25 speaks of how God has displayed Jesus Christ publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. The blood of Christ is the sign of the death of Christ. When we speak of the One who shed His blood, we are speaking of a life that was given.

Even though the result of propitiation was the appeasement of God's wrath, the initiation of that propitiation was based upon God's love. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). It is not that the Son forced the Father to love us; He already loved us. Neither is it that the Father forced the Son to die for us; He gave Himself for us. The propitiation provided by Jesus was sufficient for the whole world. Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world (1 John 2:2). In the Old Testament, the sheep died for the shepherd. In the New Testament, the Shepherd died for the sheep.

Sometimes it is objected that this view of propitiation makes it appear that the Father acts with strict and unrelenting judgment while the Son acts with mercy and love. We must therefore point out that, while propitiation presupposes the wrath of God, it also was brought about through the love of God. This is because love and wrath are not mutually exclusive. John Murray points out that “this love of the Father was at no point more intensely in exercise than when the Son was actively drinking the cup of unrelieved damnation, than when he was enduring as substitute the full toll of the Father's wrath. All of this is implicit in the saying of Romans 8:32, that the Father did not spare his own Son” (1984b:147).

6. An Expiatory Atonement.
The idea of expiation is closely linked to the concept of propitiation. These can be understood in contrast to one another.

Propitiation|Expiation|
To appease or satisfy wrath.|To erase or remove guilt.|
Directed toward the anger of God.|Directed toward the guilt of man.|
The sacrifice in the Temple appeased the just demands of a righteous God...|...by covering the guilt of the sins committed.| When the High Priest sprinkled the blood upon the Seat of Satisfaction, the blood served as a covering to cover the guilt of the nation. The word “atonement” in the Old Testament is translated from the Hebrew word Kippur—it describes a “covering.” The death of Christ covered our sins and removed them as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12).

7. A Redemptive Atonement.
Redemption presupposes slavery. The institution of slavery was common throughout the ancient world. Abraham had come out of Ur of the Chaldees owning a small army of slaves. The Israelites had become a nation of slaves in Egypt. Slavery was still enforced during the days of Christ.

Under most legal codes of those days, a slave was merely a piece of property with little or no personal rights. If you killed another man's slave, you might suffer the same punishment as if your had killed his cow.

There were a number of ways in which a man might become a slave. He might be born into slavery. The son of a slave was himself considered to be a slave. Or he might be captured by an invading army and become a prized captive, led away in chains to a foreign country to be sold as a slave. Or he might fall into debt so that he was forced to declare bankruptcy. This involved selling yourself into slavery to pay the debts that were owed.

Picture the situation. An Israelite living in the land of Canaan is hit with economic disaster. Perhaps a famine has come over the land and wiped out his crops. Rather than resort to begging, he can sell himself into slavery, using the proceeds to pay off his debts or care for his starving family. And so, he becomes a slave. How can he regain his freedom? It can only be if the redemption price is paid.

Now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of your becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger's family, 48 then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. (Leviticus 25:47-49).

If we look very closely, we can find four qualifications which were necessary for a Kinsman Redeemer to accomplish this redemption. It was only when a man possessed these four qualities that he was permitted to perform this task.

He must be a Kinsman. The passage is very specific that this redeemer must be related to the one whom he is going to buy back out of slavery. There must be some family connection.

He must be Free Himself. A slave was unable to purchase another slave. The most that a slave might be able to do would be to free himself from slavery. Therefore, a Kinsman Redeemer must himself be free of the debt and of the bondage which had fallen on the one who was to be redeemed.

He must be Able to Pay the Ransom Price. If he did not have the necessary sum of money which was required to pay the purchase price, then he would not be able to redeem his relative. Good intentions were not enough. He must have the wherewithal to accomplish those intentions.

He must be Willing to Pay the Price. It was not enough to have a kinsman who was able to accomplish the work of redemption. He must also be willing to make the sacrifice of paying the price. I imagine that there were a number of slaves with rich uncles who just didn't want to spend the money to release their unfortunate relative from slavery.

Each of these qualifications was fulfilled in the person of Jesus. God sent Him into the world's slave market to purchase men from their bondage to sin. a. He was a Kinsman.
This is why it was necessary for God to become flesh - to be born and to grow up and to walk this earth as a man. It was because only a man could die for other men to buy them back from the bondage of sin and death.

Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (Hebrews 2:14-15).

God could not die, for He is eternal life and the source of all life. It was only by being born as a man and taking on human flesh and becoming a man that He could experience death for us. b. He was Free Himself.
Jesus was the only man since Adam who has ever been free from sin. From the first sin in the Garden of Eden to this day, all men are under this bondage. Another man could not die for my sins since he would have to pay the penalty for his own sins. Only someone who is free from sin could be a substitute for the sins of another. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus lived His entire life on earth without committing a single sin. This qualifies Him as the only free man.

He was Able to Pay the Ransom Price.
Even if there had been a man who had been without sin, his death would not have had the infinite merit to pay for the sins of the whole world. At best, the sacrifice of a single finite man could atone for the sins on only a single man. But the death of Jesus was not the death of a mere man. It was also the death of an infinite being. It was the death of God in the flesh. God experienced death. He died in our place. Only the death of such a One could have been sufficient to save the world.

He was Willing to Pay the Ransom Price. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Php_2:5-8).

Jesus learned obedience by coming to do the will of the Father. No man took His life from Him — He willingly gave up His life for us. The story is told of a little boy who built a toy wooden sailboat, sanding it and then painting it with great care. He loved his little boat and was heartbroken when it was stolen. One day, as he was walking down the street, he happened to see the boat in a craft shot. He went in and bought the boat. Holding it in his hands, he said, “Now you are twice mine.” God created us and then He purchased us for the highest possible price. We are twice His.

8. A Triumphant Atonement. The world looks at the cross and sees a scene of defeat. They think a good teacher did the best he could and it got him crucified. But the truth is that the cross was a victory. It was a triumph over sin. On the night of His betrayal and arrest, Jesus said: Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out (John 12:31). The rest of the New Testament confirms the triumphant victory of the cross.

...The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8 b). But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14). When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Colossians 2:15). In the Roman world, when a general had won a great victory, he was awarded the honor of a Triumph. This was a glorious parade in which he rode in on a horse, leading a host of captives in chains down the streets of the city. The Arch of Titus still stands in Rome today as a testimony of his conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and of the triumph that was enjoyed by him. This same language is used to describe the victory Jesus won in His death, burial, and resurrection.

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.” (Ephesians 4:7-8). This passage has mistakenly been used by some to describe the Lord moving taking believers to heaven. But the language does not describe believers. The phrase “lead captivity captive” was a byword among the Jews that described the conquest of an enemy (Judges 5:12; Psalms 68:18). This is a picture of Jesus leading captives in victory. This joining of the victory of Christ with His giving gifts to men has an Old Testament counterpart.

Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12). The conquering king would receive the booty from the battle and then would distribute it to his most valiant warriors. The problem is that we have not been very valiant. But the Bible teaches we overcome through our faith. When we believe, we get to participate in the booty of Christ's victory. That booty consists of all the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3).

Aspect|Presupposes|
Sacrificial Nature|Inadequacy of animal sacrifices|
Vicarious Nature|Adam's sin|
Substitution Aspect|Man's inability to save himself|
Penal Nature|A divine judgment|
Propitiation|God's wrath against sin|
Expiation|Man's guilt|
Redemptive Quality|Man's slavery to sin|
Triumphant Nature|The kingdom of evil|