HOME | contents | Atonement- its meaning | need of reconciliation | NT evidence | atonement- the fact
As we saw in the last chapter,
human beings are, through their own fault, fallen beings.
God made us for union with Himself
in which alone is our hope of happiness and peace.
But we misused the free will that He gave us.
Since we could not save ourselves from the state into which we had fallen,
God determined to save us by reconciling us to Himself.
This reconciliation is called the Atonement.
The doctrine of the Atonement is the third of the three fundamental doctrines
of the Christian religion.
The other two, without both of which belief in the Atonement is impossible,
are the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
The word Atonement (at-one-ment) appears to have been invented by William
Tyndale, the first translator of the Bible into modern English (1525-31).
It means the reconciliation of two who have been separated,
and it represents the Greek word καταλλαγή (Z (Rom.5.11;
II Cor.5.18).
The corresponding verb, καταλλάσσειω,
to reconcile, is found in Col.1.20.
In the Old Testament "atonement" represents the word "kapper",
which means the removal of what causes anger
and is more commonly translated "propitiation". (See pp.186-8.)
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Men of all ages and races have felt the need for reconciliation with God.
The three questions, which every religion that is to attempt to satisfy the
needs of man must answer are:
The only true answer to all three questions is found in the Christian doctrine of the Atonement.
A typical case of the need for reconciliation with God is found in the Book of Job
(23.3 ff.):
Oh that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat! ;and (31:35):
Oh that I had one to hear me!
and that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written! ;cf. 9:33:
There is no daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
The result on the mind of the sense of sin is found already in Gen.3.7-8
and is described in Rom.7.7-25 with which the Confessions of St. Augustine
may be compared.
It was the Law of Moses, as St. Paul knew, that deepened the sense of sin,
and therefore made the need of a Redeemer urgent.
A similar need is found in the "Bhakti" sects of Hinduism and in
the cult of Amida in Japanese Buddhism (which may be due to Christian influence).
In the Old Testament one purpose of sacrifice was the reconciliation
of man to God, but it is not confined to the Old Testament.
Sacrifice was almost universal in ancient religions.
However, the Hebrew sacrifices were not even supposed to do more than take
away the guilt of sin committed ignorantly.
If one man sin against another, God shall judge him;
but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him?
(I Sam. 2:25).
[According to some, "the judge shall judge him."]
But what neither the Hebrew nor any other sacrifice could do,
our Lord Jesus Christ has done
(Heb.7.25, and indeed the whole Epistle to the Hebrews;
Rom.5.11, and the argument of Romans).
Other religious teachers have sought to find the means of freedom from
sin.
The Buddha claimed to have discovered the Way.
Muhammad preached what he said was the Truth.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and also the Life (John 14.6).
No man,
He said,
cometh unto the Father but by Me.
Mankind needs not only a Teacher but a Redeemer.
No religion satisfies that need but the religion of Christ.
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The principal work of our Lord on earth was not what He said
but what He did, being who He was.
He was God the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
He came to die and rise again that He might save us.
His teaching is of great importance,
but it is entirely secondary to His death and resurrection.
One quarter of each of the Gospels is devoted to the last week of His
life:
Matt.21-28; Mark 11-16; Luke 19-24; John 12-20.
The Apostles in their preaching seldom referred to His teaching
but always to His resurrection
(Acts 2:24; 3:15; 4:10; 10:40; 13:30; 17:31; 23:6; 26:8).
Our Lord foretold His own death and resurrection,
first in mysterious hints (Mark 2.20: "The bridegroom shall be taken
away"),
but after St. Peter's confession much more clearly
(Mark 8.31; Matt.16.21; Luke 9.22),
and sternly rebuked St. Peter for protesting.
After the Transfiguration His prophecy was repeated (Mark 9.12; 10.33).
But we have no clear reason given for His coming death.
The only hint in the Synoptic Gospels before the Last Supper is "to
give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10.45; Matt.20.28).
In St. John we find Him saying, "The good shepherd giveth his life for
the sheep"
(St. John 10.11, 15, 17, 18); cf. 12.24: "if it die, it beareth much
fruit".
At the Last Supper according to St. Mark 14:24, our Lord said to His disciples,
This is My blood of the covenant,
which is shed for many.
Behind these words lies a long history.
The early Hebrews could not conceive of a binding covenant that was not accompanied
by sacrifice.
When our Lord said that the wine was "the blood of the covenant which
is shed for many", He knew that His death was imminent.
His blood was to reconcile man to God,
which was the purpose never fulfilled of the old sacrifices,
and the wine that was poured out was in some sense a sacrifice.
In what sense we shall see later.
In the parallel passage, Matt.26.28, the words "unto remission of sins" are
added.
It is sin that prevents man's reconciliation with God
and which must be removed if reconciliation is to take place.
According to one reading the covenant is here the "new" covenant.
The passage also occurs in St. Luke (22.20),
but it is not certain whether it is there part of the original text.
St. Luke tells us that in His walk with the two disciples to Emmaus after
the Resurrection, our Lord showed from Scripture that the Christ must suffer
(St. Luke 24.25, 44).
No doubt it was Isa.53 that was chiefly used for this purpose,
but the Law was also used.
The reference may be to Gen.3.15; Num.21.9, mystically interpreted; Micah
5.2; Zech.9.9, 12.10; Mal.3.1; etc.)
There does not appear to be any more evidence from the Gospels.
Our Lord said that He would die for men and that His death would be a sacrifice.
So far as we know, He did not say how.
But when we turn to the Acts and to the Epistles of St. Paul, we find
much more definite evidence.
St. Paul says,
I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
(I Cor.15.3).
This shows that his teaching was what he had been taught at the time of
his conversion, and confirms what we find in the early chapters of the Acts.
The Apostles from the very first proclaimed that the death of their Master
was the fulfillment of Isa.53:
He is the Suffering Servant foretold by the prophet (Acts 8.32-35).
He is the Servant of the Lord who has raised Him from the dead (Acts 3.13,
26; 4.27, 30).
There is no salvation in any other but Him (Acts 4.12).
This is the Gospel that St. Paul preached to the Galatians
and for which he claimed,
in what is probably his earliest epistle,
absolute exclusiveness (Gal.1.9).
He did not receive it from man but through revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal.1.12)
The teaching of St. Paul, which can be only summarized here, is the chief
basis of the doctrine of the Atonement.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Col.1.15).
He was sent forth by God
to redeem them that were under the Law (Gal.4.5).
He is the second Adam who came to restore what had been lost by the fault
of the first Adam (Rom.5.14-17).
He died "for us" (Rom.5.6-8:
the word used is ὑπέρ, on behalf
of, not ἀντι, instead of.
As we shall see, the distinction is important.
It was the intention of God the Father
through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself,
having made peace through the blood of His Cross
(Col.1 .20).
He gave Himself up for us as an offering to God
(Eph.5 .2).
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself
(II Cor.5 .18-19).
It was not by His death only but also by His resurrection that He redeemed us,
for
if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain:
ye are yet in your sins
(I Cor.15 .12).
We are not redeemed as separate individuals.
We are one body of which Christ is the Head
(I Cor.12.13, 27; Col.1 .18; Eph.1.22,
2.16, 5.25-30).
It is by baptism that we are made members of this body (Rom.6 .3
ff; Eph.5.26).
Baptism represents a death unto sin
and a new birth unto righteousness,
which gifts it also conveys.
It is both symbolic and instrumental.
[See O. C. Quick, The Sacraments.]
But our redemption by our Lord does not mean that there is nothing for us
to do.
Without that redemption we could do nothing.
His grace is necessary at every stage to our doing anything good.
But by the help of that grace we are to work out our own salvation (Phil.2.12);
hence the emphasis constantly laid by St. Paul on right conduct (Rom.12;
etc.).
St. Paul was not a systematic theologian.
We know his teaching only by a selection from his letters.
He taught that our salvation and redemption are due entirely to the death
and resurrection of our Lord,
but he does not explain how.
St. John confirms this doctrine in a different way.
The evidence from the discourses in the Fourth Gospel has here been separated
from that of the Synoptic Gospels because we cannot be sure whether these
discourses, as we have them, are our Lord's own words, or whether they are
the result of many years of inspired meditation by the author.
God so loved the world,
that He gave His only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life
(3.16).
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of man be lifted up;
that whosoever believeth in Him may have eternal life
(3.14-15).
Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for (ὑπέρ) his friends:
ye are My friends,
if ye do whatsoever I command you
(15:13).
And St. John supports this doctrine in his first Epistle:
If any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous,
and He is the propitiation for our sins
(I John 2.1-2: cf. 4.10; Rev.13.8).
St. Peter tells us that our Lord bore our sins on the Cross (I Pet.2.24)
and that His resurrection applied to us by baptism saves us (3 .21).
The Epistle to the Hebrews represents our Lord as the true High Priest,
of the order of Melchizedek,
and therefore permanent (6 .20 ff.),
offering Himself to the Father (7 .27),
and cleansing us by His blood (9 .11-14) cf. I. John
1.7; Rev.7.14.
He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb .9.26).
He was offered to bear the sins of many (9 .28).
His offering perfects them that are sanctified (10 .14).
Indeed this is the theme of the Epistle to the Hebrews that must be read as whole.
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It is then clearly taught by the New Testament that Christ died and rose
again to save us from our sins and to reconcile us to God, and that the means
of this salvation is membership of the Church through baptism.
Our pardon through His death has two aspects:
But the New Testament does not tell us precisely how His death saves us,
nor has the Church ever defined any dogma on the subject.
It is a mystery that cannot be wholly understood.
But we are not without material for building up theories to explain it (see pp.
179-86).
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