When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. –Joh 19:30
As we have been developing this article over the last year, we have become increasingly aware of a growing interest in this subject. Various papers and booklets have been, or are being, written about it. Some writings debate specific theories of the Atonement, while others reason about various terms or Bible verses. What ideas and statements concerning the atonement are found in the clear teachings of Scripture, and which are misunderstandings or wrong interpretations?
I. The Atonement
The term atonement is usually understood to explain all or part of what happened spiritually (for the believer) when Christ went through His suffering, death, and resurrection. Sometimes the term atonement is used to define that which brings men and women to a place of “at-one-ment” (to be at one) with God. How does that event in history still affect us today, some 2,000 years later?
In these discussions, there is the tendency to forget that the finished work of Christ includes multiple aspects, with each one contributing to a different effect for the believer today. These different aspects include Christ’s Suffering, His Blood, His Death, His Burial, His Resurrection, and His Ascension.
a. His Suffering
His suffering covers the physical, emotional, and mental anguish He endured that culminated with His death on the cross. Here we see that …it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day … that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name… –Luk 24:46-47. The suffering servant, as portrayed in the whole of Isaiah chapter 53, gives a vivid picture of this aspect of the atonement. Isaiah describes Him as being …wounded for our transgressions, [and]
…bruised for our iniquities: –Isa 53:5. Here we also have the reality that with his stripes we are healed. –Isa 53:5. Finally, we see that He was oppressed, and he was afflicted… –Isa 53:7, and that he endured …travail of his soul… –Isa 53:11
Let’s note a few more of the many passages that speak of His suffering: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God… –1Pe 3:18;Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered –Heb 5:8; For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings –Heb 2:10.
A sometimes forgotten purpose of Jesus’ suffering is that, as believers, we are to identify with His suffering as given in the following passages: For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ –2Co 1:5; …if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together –Rom 8:17; That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death –Php 3:10.
b. His Blood that was Shed
The blood of Christ being shed for the atonement of sinful man needs some careful consideration as a specific vital aspect of the whole. Of course, it is included in points a. and c., but the Scriptures also give much attention to this particular part. It would perhaps require a whole book to expound on this aspect, but we should note one thing on this point. It is with the shedding of the blood of Jesus that we have God’s specific solution for the remission of our sins given here in Jesus’ own words, For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins –Mat 26:28.
In Hebrews chapters 9 and 10, we have very detailed explanation showing how the “blood sacrifices” of the Old Testament were not perfect in themselves, rather they were a “type” that pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice—Jesus, the Lamb of God. It is in this context that we have this—that …almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. –Heb 9:22. This is particularly important to remember when we consider that some people claim that God could just simply forgive sin without death or the shedding of blood if He so chose. These people use the story found in Matthew 18:23-35 as their proof text. It would do us well to consider that this story is revealing the “why” (compassion) of the outcome, not the “how” of the details. We cannot take this story out of context of Scripture and build a doctrine that undermines all the rest of Scripture. Thus, we conclude that in God’s economy He has ordained that sin must be washed away with the blood of Christ—And from Jesus Christ, who … washed us from our sins in his own blood, –Rev 1:5.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 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 –Rom 3:23-25. Here we see that for anyone of us that has sinned (ALL of us), we have our propitiation made possible through faith in His (Jesus’) blood.
c. His Death
Jesus said, …I lay down my life for the sheep –Joh 10:15, and again He said, …I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again… –Joh 10:17-18.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. –Heb 2:9-10. When you partake of communion …ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come –1Co 11:26.
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. –Rom 6:3-4
It is during this period of Jesus’ time on earth that the earthly, mortal part of Him separated from that which was heavenly, eternal, and immortal.
d. His Burial
We note again, as referenced above, the truth that Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death… –Rom. 6:4. While all these aspects are a part of the whole, the burial represents …a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die… –Joh 12:24. First is the ending of life (pouring out of the blood), then death, then burial, then resurrection. The burial part is the confirmation that death has occurred. It brings finality, closure, and an end to the former. It is the necessary interval between death and resurrection.
It is also the time of Jesus’ entrance into Hades, the place of departed souls, of which we are given only glimpses through several passages of Scripture.
e. His Resurrection
In His resurrection we are raised with Him in newness of life. (Romans 6:4) …wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead –Col 2:12. So, in His resurrection we are raised up with Him from death (if we were dead prior) and are provided the power to walk in newness of life (the power to have victory over sin).
f. His Ascension
In His Ascension we understand that …he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. –Act 1:9. It is due to His leaving this earth that we have many key aspects for the believer’s life today. There is the provision of the Holy Spirit made possible once Jesus left this earth. We have the promise of His going to prepare a better home for us to someday join Him in everlasting joy. We have Jesus sitting at the right hand of the throne of God interceding for us. We have Jesus acting in the role of our sympathetic High Priest, one that knows and understands our every need and struggle, since He has the experience of living on the sinful earth inside a mortal body.
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Herein, we start to see how each part of the Atonement achieves a different result for the believer and that each part is only that—A PART. A part of the whole. A part of the finished work of Christ. These lists could each go on and fill page after page of all the blessings and benefits each one enables for the believer. For the sake of space, we will stop on this part for now and continue with the rest of the article, but hopefully this will stimulate each of us to further meditation in God’s Word on these matters.
II. Common statements that are not Biblically correct
There are some popular statements which we may hear concerning the atonement that do not accurately describe what the Scriptures teach. But because they are popular in our conversations, or perhaps they’re even the words of a familiar song, they may skew our understanding of the finished work of Christ. For some examples, let’s look at the following statements:
a. “Christ took my place on Calvary.”
This may seem like a logical conclusion, because He died for us, …the just for the unjust… –1Pe 3:18. and He died that we might live. There is no question that it was for us, but the preposition, for, can be understood several different ways. It can mean in my place, or it can mean on my behalf. Most of Scripture clearly emphasizes that He died on my behalf, but less clear is the idea of a direct substitution. Emphasizing substitution leads us to the following concept: He died in my place, so I don’t need to. If this becomes the primary way of thinking about the atonement, we may miss what is equally important—that since He died, so I must also die with Him. See Rom 6:1-11
b. “The guilt of my sin was placed on Christ.”
There are passages that speak of Christ bearing our sins. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many… –Heb 9:28 and, Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree… –1Pe 2:24. But what is the proper understanding of what it means to ‘bear (carry) our sins’? We do NOT find Scripture which supports the idea that the guilt of my sin was transferred to Christ. Christ offered Himself to be the sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:10-12), the propitiation for our sins (1Jo 2:1), to put away sin, even to be the forgiveness of sin. This great work of dealing with sin was accomplished without Him ever losing His condition as the Lamb without blemish.
There is one passage we should note on this topic, For he [God] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who [Jesus] knew no sin… –2Co 5:21. When we look at the Greek word in this verse translated as ‘sin’ and compare this passage with all the other Scriptures, it seems the intended meaning for this phrase to be sin is more clearly defined as to be a sin offering. Christ’s soul was not blackened with the guilt of our sin, else He could not have retained His position …as of a lamb without blemish and without spot –1Pe 1:19. A proper understanding of the sense in which He took our sins is that He assumed the settlement for them.
c. “He took the wrath of God upon Himself.”
Concerning God’s wrath, we know that …he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him –Joh 3:36; …the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness –Rom 1:18; …and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others –Eph 2:3.
However, atonement was made, and then, in Romans, Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him –Rom 5:9. So, it is clear that the wrath of God toward us on account of sin is now averted when we are justified by His blood. However, the Scriptures do not say that Christ suffered the wrath of God. It may seem like a logical conclusion that if wrath was averted, and atonement was being made, then God’s wrath for sin must have fallen upon Christ, but that is not so stated in the scriptures. If we look at the picture of Abraham offering up his son Isaac, there was no wrath on Abraham’s part. Finally, God was “in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself” and here what is emphasized is that Christ’s sacrifice to put away sin demonstrates to us the great love that the Father has toward us.
d. “God no longer looks at me; all He sees is Christ.”
The atonement should not be viewed, as perhaps many do, as a cloak for sin (to cover it). It is also sometimes stated this way: “Since Christ died on the cross for my sin, and I believe in Him, now Christ’s righteousness is all that God sees. When God looks at me, He no longer sees my sin; all He sees is Christ’s righteousness.” There is a great deal of error in this view, and the fruit of it is that many become complacent and tolerant of sin in their own lives. Through the atonement in Christ, God has made available to us everything needed for cleansing and to be made holy, but no, God does not credit Christ’s righteousness to our account. God’s purpose in the atonement was to make us righteous by purging our sin. We are to reckon ourselves dead unto sin, alive unto God. This does not mean that we have attained to a state of perfection, but we allow the atonement to be continually effective in our life.
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For now, in section III, we are making summary statements, and in sections IV & V we are simply putting subheadings in place. Lord willing, we can take more time to flesh each one out in a future article. Until then, we encourage each one to do your own Bible study to more fully understand the whole of Scriptures teaching on the subject in its entirety. Finally, it is our sincere desire that each of us would take heed that we are not deceived by the many voices from without and from within that Satan wishes to use to turn the church of Jesus Christ away from …the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. –Jud 1:3
III. What the Atonement does NOT do
a. Does NOT transfer guilt from one to another
As we stated above, our guilt did not blacken the soul of Christ. He provided atonement that our sins might be forgiven. He made, or was made, an offering for sin, and He was wounded for our transgressions, and by this act our sin is purged, and our guilt is taken away, without Him becoming guilty in our place.
b. Does NOT transfer righteousness from one to another – from Christ to us
Through Jesus our Lord we receive, given unto us, all things that pertain to life and godliness. We can say that our righteousness is only in Him, but we don’t say that His righteousness is somehow credited to our account when we are deficient. See also below on the issue of walking in the Light.
c. Does NOT protect us from harm/Does not build a hedge of protection around us
Our Sovereign Father provides our protection according to His will. Our protection does not come from the atonement, rather it comes out of our relationship with God as we walk by faith in obedience and draw near to Him. God protects, according to His will, those who are His. There is no guarantee that bad things will not happen, rather God promises that He will be with His children through whatever He allows them to go through.
d. Does not keep Satan away from us
Our Father does that according to His will (see Job 1 & 2, also 1 Cor. 10:13). We do not need to “plead the blood for our protection” as though the blood of Christ was a means to ward off evil powers. We have the armor of God, shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, with all prayer, to overcome the powers of darkness.
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IV. What the Atonement DOES do
- It Reconciles
- It Prepares a Sacrifice for Sin
- It provides a Sin Offering
- It Redeems
- It Ransoms
- It provides Forgiveness of sins
- It provides Remission of sins
- It cleanses us
- It enables God to see us as blameless
- It makes us righteous in God’s sight
- It causes believers to become a part of God’s family
- It causes believers to become brothers and sisters
V. What ALL was finished
- His Suffering
- His Temptations
- His Labors on Earth—His preaching and teaching
- The Sacrificial System—…sacrifices, which can never take away sins –Heb 10:11
- The Law—…was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ… –Gal 3:24
- Limited Access to God—And the veil of the temple was rent in twain… –Mar 15:38
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