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HOUSMAIL
HM113
22 January 2004 WHAT DO YOU
MEAN -- ATONEMENT? In the Bible, "Atonement" is a word which
is used to describe what happens when sinners are reconciled to God through a
process of repentance and forgiveness. Although some tender hearts have great
difficulty with the concept of "blood sacrifice" of any kind, (and
others make rather too much of it!) it is nevertheless true that in the
Bible, forgiveness of sin, and payment of a "ransom" by a
"blood sacrifice" are inextricably bound together. So also are the
requirements for an appropriate heart's response to the conditional offer of
forgiveness, with its non-negotiable call to radical obedience, as taught by
Jesus in His Gospel. (Good News) It is unfortunate that what Jesus managed to say in
just a few one line quotes, and Paul and Peter later "explained" in
a handful of verses scattered over several epistles, has since been
"expanded" by so called "scholars" into countless
thousands of pages of conflicting theories about how it works. I simply
cannot believe that one must read and sort out the tangle of all that
complicated theological gobbledegook, in order to be "saved". It
has to be much simpler than that. THE
ATONEMENT IS FOR "BABES". It
is interesting to note that the word «atonement» appears in the New Testament
ONLY ONCE! Jesus Himself did not use the word at all, when preaching the Good
News! Of course that does not mean that he said nothing about being
reconciled to God! Nor does it mean that it is not in the Bible elsewhere.
Nor does it mean that it is not important. But it does mean that Jesus
thought He could preach the Gospel to "babes" (Matthew 11:25, Luke 10:21) without using the
word itself! (makes you think doesn't it!) WHAT
DOES THE WORD MEAN? To
understand what the Bible says about this subject, we should start with the
meaning of the word itself. ENGLISH Our
English word AT-ONE-MENT, comes from OLD ENGLISH which means the state of
being AT ONE. i.e. those so related, have a common cause. It is thus a
fitting word to describe what Christ has achieved for us. If we accept its
conditions we can be at one with God -- in heart, mind, and will!! HEBREW In
the Old Testament, it is two Hebrew words (KAPHAR and KIPPUR) which mean
"cover" or "covering". KAPHAR
refers more specifically to the personal blood sacrifices which were required
from individual sinners, as part of the process by which they could be
forgiven. KIPPUR
does have other uses, but the best known is a reference to a special annual
Jewish religious festival, called the "Day of Atonement". (Yom
Kippur) This was a feast ordained by God, when an annual blood sacrifice was
offered by the High Priest, to "cover" the sins of the nation. We
don't have space here to discuss all of this in detail. However it might be
helpful to briefly consider the personal blood sacrifices made by
individuals, in order to receive forgiveness and pardon. Leviticus 1:1-4 tells us that the
repentant sinner was required to bring an animal from his herd, lay his hand
on its head and kill it before the LORD. It was then to be laid on the altar
and consumed completely as a burnt offering. It
is not difficult to see the intended meaning. By laying his hand on its head,
the sinner identified himself with the animal about to be slaughtered. He was
offering the animal in place of himself. He was confronted with the reality
of death! He was confessing that in truth, he was the one who should be dead,
just like the animal he was offering. And instead, through accepting the
death of the animal in his place, God was forgiving his sin and pardoning him
from the penalty which would otherwise be his. Problem though! An animal life
is NOT an equal exchange for a human! Solution? We read in Hebrews, that it
all pointed forward to the reality of Jesus as the HUMAN fulfilment of the
prophecy which lay behind the symbols in those Old Testament ritual sacrifices. GREEK In
the New Testament «Atonement» is a Greek word (Katallage) which
appears in the Greek text four times but is translated as
"atonement" only once. (Romans 5:11 KJV) On the other three occasions it is translated
"reconciliation", (twice), and "reconciling", (once).
According to Thayers Greek Lexicon, the basic meaning is
"exchange". It has to do with the business of money changers, and
the exchange of currencies to equivalent values in others. It is thus a
fitting word to describe what happens when a sinner is "translated"
from the "dominion of darkness" to the "Kingdom of
Christ" through a change in inner spiritual nature. WHAT
IS IT MEANT TO ACHIEVE? The
common "Scholar's mistake" is to concentrate too much on the
"mechanical" theory of HOW IT WORKS. However, reconciliation with
God is a practical living relationship -- NOT mental assent to a technical
theory. Its usefulness is to be measured by whether or not the desired
results have been achieved in actual real life practice. Has God really come
down from Heaven to make His home with us? (John
14:23, 2 Corinthians 6:16-18) The Good News is meant to teach us how to make that happen. THE
GOALS Atonement
has the following specific goals: 1. It is God's response to the convicted and repentant sinner's
heart's cry for forgiveness and reconciliation. 2. It is God's way of changing our heart's attitude towards Himself
in order to establish a friendly personal relationship -- but it can do that
only if we believe and respond to the commandments inherent in the Good News
preached by Jesus. 3. It is God's doorway of entry to a life of discipleship, in which
Jesus can prepare us to share His inheritance in the Kingdom which will be
established on earth, in the "Age to Come". 4. It is the public confession that the sinner has broken God's
law, and that a death penalty has been incurred. 5. It is God's provision for the sinner to be forgiven, and thereby
be released from the overwhelming burden of a guilty conscience. 6. It is the public confession that what has happened to the
sacrificial animal, offered in "blood sacrifice", is a
demonstration of what should really happen to the sinner if the sacrifice is
not accepted. 7. It is the outward token and expression of a broken spirit and a
contrite heart. (Psalm 51:17) 8. It is the means by which sin is forgiven, a pardon is granted,
and the penalty is cancelled. (Note that all three of these are part of the
"process". None of them can stand alone without the others) 9. It is the means by which God publicly expresses the justice of
His past and continuing "forbearance", while the sinner is
permitted to work out his probation for conditional immortality. (Romans 2:6-9, Romans 3:23-25) THE
"BEGINNERS VERSION" OF THE ATONEMENT At
its simplest "beginner's version" bottom line, the sacrifice of
Jesus, and the meaning behind His use of the word «ransom» (Mark 10:45) can probably be
condensed to THREE simple questions and answers. Q1.
Who was on the cross? A.
Jesus. Q2.
Who should have been on the cross? A.
If I got what my sins deserved, I should have been there on that cross! --
NOT Jesus. Q3.
What has it achieved? A.
At this point each of us must speak personally and honestly before God for
ourselves. RECONCILIATION
WITH GOD -- THE DESIRED RESULT The
bottom line is that the Atonement is meant to reconcile us to God,
and if we are truly Brethren, it is also supposed to reconcile us with each
other -- sacrificially! (John 13:34) Note
that both of these are necessary! They are the TWO most important
commandments of all! (Matthew 22:36-39, Luke 10:25-28)
You cannot have one without the other! (1 John 4:20-21) Our heart's attitude towards our brother, is a mirror of the
quality of our love for God. If
it hasn't done THAT for us, we haven't understood it yet at all! And we
certainly haven't believed it in a way which could save us from enslavement
to our sins, and from the penalty which is reserved for unrepentant sinners
at the final Judgement. In
John's Gospel, Jesus allows the WORLD the right to judge the quality of our
Discipleship -- by that simple test. God is LOVE -- the presence of that sort
of love in us is the evidence that God lives within the temple of our bodies.
PRAISE GOD! The fulfilment of that Gospel promise lies at the very heart of
all the rest of it! This
is one of a series of papers on this topic. It should be read in company
with: *
HM114A Theories
of the Atonement - Part 1 - Faulty Foundations A Barrier to
Understanding *
HM114B Theories
of the Atonement - Part 2 - False Theories *
HM114C The
Lamb of God and the Ransom Allon |