Word of the Week … Atonement
What is atonement? What did the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ actually achieve? And how? How can a God of love use such a violent method for salvation? Isn’t a God who treats his own Son this way nothing more than a cosmic child abuser? This week’s Word of the Week is Atonement…
This is a hot topic at the moment and there is much discussion about various aspects of atonement. It is impossible to do justice to any of the arguments here, let alone all of them! This brief talk should simply be seen as an introduction to the subject.
To understand more on this subject I would strongly recommend John Stott’s masterly book entitled, ‘The Cross of Christ’. I would also recommend the 2007 book, ‘Pierced for our Transgressions’ by Jeffery, Ovey and Sach.
Although the word ‘atonement’ only occurs twice in the New Testament, the theme is certainly there. Atonement is taken from the Latin word, ‘reconciliatio’ and is therefore normally translated reconciliation. When we looked at Salvation and Sin, we discovered humanity’s problem is we are separated from God by sin. There is a need for humanity to be reconciled to God. The process of that reconciliation is Atonement.
Looking back into the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) ‘atonement’ occurs 76 times and is an important theme. Probably the most important day in the Hebrew calendar is known as ‘The Day of Atonement’ or ‘Yom Kippur’. It occurs on the 10th day of the 7th month, called Tishri – around our September/October time. Leviticus 16.30 says of this day – ‘for on that day the LORD will make atonement for you to purify you from all your sins’. It is on this one day of the year the High Priest enters into the Holy of Holies in the Temple carrying incense, which symbolises God’s forgiveness of the sins of the whole nation.
The day is a dramatic one and the preceding 9 days are all a build up to it. There are personal and corporate confessions of the Priests and the people culminating in two goats being chosen. A lot is cast between these two goats, one of which is slain and the other sent off into the wilderness. Before this happens the High Priest places his head on the head of the goat and confesses the sins of the nation for the preceding year. This day then is a day of judgement, where God decrees guilt and forgiveness. By this process, the sins of the people are atoned for and reconciliation with God is found.
This is still practised today only a chicken is used as the slain animal and bird seed is usually scattered into a river which either carries it away, or it is eaten by fish and carried away.
The sacrifice is known as an expiatory sacrifice, which means one that pays the complete cost of the sins.
Jesus death on the cross is known as an expiatory sacrifice and brings atonement or reconciliation to God. But how does this work? What does the death of Jesus do? These are the core questions to understanding our Word for the Week – Atonement.
We shall consider four images for atonement upon which all other images and discussions are based. They are:
- The Cross as a Sacrifice
- The Cross as a Victory
- The Cross and Forgiveness
- The Cross as a demonstration of God’s Love
We shall consider each of these in turn.
1. The Cross as a Sacrifice – Jesus’ death is often shown as a sacrifice in the New Testament, probably the strongest image is in Hebrews where Jesus’ is seen as a perfect and suitable sacrifice for sin. His sacrifice was understood as a permanent one. Whether animal or person, only one without blemish could be sacrificed. Jesus was without blemish and was truly therefore a man who displayed the glory of God. Romans 3 puts it like this:
‘21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus’. (Romans 3.21-26):
So, Jesus was both:
- Sacrifice and Priest – he made the offering and became the offering;
- Human and Divine – he paid the price as a human and received the sacrifice as God. As a human he was able to bring our fallen (perishable) nature before God;
- Servant and Master. In the form of a servant he chose to be the sacrifice even though the sacrifice should have been made to him as Lord.
Furthermore, he displayed himself as Prophet, Priest and King. The Prophet shows us God, the Priest leads us to God and the King joins us to God.
- As a Prophet he declared the will of God, thereby removing our ignorance bringing us into the light of the knowledge of Himself;
- As a Priest he made a sacrifice for sin, thereby removing our guilt from sin by becoming the sacrifice for us;
- As King he rules with authority over his people, thereby removing our bondage to sin and death by setting us free.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with this sacrifice image, but it became unpopular after WWI for obvious reasons, and then as Hitler used the example of sacrifice to justify economic hardship and loss of civil liberties for ‘the greater good’.
2. The Cross as a Victory – This another very strong image used in the New Testament. The Cross and Resurrection represented an emphatic victory over sin, death, Satan and hell. It is often known as ‘Christus Victor’ – Christ the Victor. By living a perfect life, dying the death of a sinner for sinners, then being raised back to life, Jesus displayed victory over sin, then death, then hell – therefore Satan. It is a victory only Christ could win, but was emphatic and complete.
It is under this image which presents the ‘ransom’ we considered as we discussed Salvation. Jesus death was the ransom paid for our freedom. Unfortunately, this has caused much discussion and confusion in the Western Church due to something Origen wrote about. He argued that if Christ’s death paid a ransom, that ransom must have been paid to someone. He argued that God was not holding sinners to ransom; therefore it must have been Satan. That being the case, Jesus must have paid the devil for our freedom, in which case it was a trick because he rose to life again making the payment worthless. It doesn’t seem right that God should trick anyone… I don’t intend to follow that argument through in the short time I have available here. Suffice to say; sometimes you can carry an analogy too far!
The analogy of Christ as Victor is not about payment, but about victory over the power of sin and death and hell. This image allows us to realise that Jesus death and resurrection does more than impart some new knowledge to us or even simply be thankful that someone should die for us. It makes possible a whole new way of existence!
3. The Cross and Forgiveness – This is another very strong image from the New Testament. Again it is the source of much discussion, but I simply can’t even raise the discussion because it is long and convoluted and involves many writers all of whom have something worthwhile to say. However, the way in which forgiveness of sins is related to Christ’s death may be understood in 3 models:
- Representation – Christ became our representative on the cross, carrying our sins on his shoulders as it were. Anyone can benefit from this, simply through faith – believing that Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved and asking for forgiveness. Just as there was an Old Covenant with Israel through the blood of the lamb; there is now a New Covenant of grace with all humanity through the blood of the Lamb (notice the capitalisation).
- Participation – Through faith, believers participate in the risen Christ. Christ took sin upon himself on the cross, but defeated its power by rising again. Just as Christ is raised from the dead, so too the believer shares in that resurrection life, where sin is defeated. Faith unites us with Christ and we show this in baptism.
- Substitution - The idea of substitute here is that Jesus goes to the cross in our place. Sinners ought to have been crucified for their sin, but Christ is crucified in their place. Faith here is the acknowledgment that “Christ died for me”.
4. The Cross as a demonstration of God’s Love – This is an important and probably the central meaning of the cross, God’s love for humanity. Certain Bible verses put this into perspective for us:
‘For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life’ (John 3.16). This verse gives us the essence of why God chose to pay the ultimate human sacrifice to reconcile us to himself – his love.
‘Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’ (John 15.13). Jesus said these words and the believer, recognising the cost of reconciliation, is bound to be eternally grateful for Jesus vicarious act.
‘We love because he first loved us’ (1 John 4.19). Our response is to act in the same manner. Because of his love, which brings atonement and reconciliation for us, we love him and love others in a self-sacrificial way.
This image is criticised by some who ask two main questions: Firstly, why would a loving God choose such a violent method for atonement? Secondly, how could a loving Father treat his Son in this way? Doesn’t this amount to cosmic child abuse? Once again, I don’t have time to consider these accusations in great detail, but part of my answer to the first complaint would be that ultimate love is most effectively displayed in ultimate sacrifice. Going right back to Adam, death was the consequence for sin; but life is the consequence of resurrection life.
My answer to the second complaint is tied up with the answer already given. However, I would add this: I strongly object to the suggestion the death of Christ amounts to cosmic child abuse on two levels: Firstly, to use that phrase is to totally disregard the nature of child abuse and is offensive to those affected by this dreadful crime. Secondly, to suggest that Jesus was subjected to abuse by his Father is completely wrong. Jesus, as human and as God, chose his own path and this is clear in careful reading of Scripture. For example, John records:
‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep … and I lay down my life for the sheep … No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord’ (John 10.11-18).
Furthermore, to suggest that the Father subjected his Son to abuse is equally wrong. God’s ultimate goal is to prepare a bride for his Son. That bride is the Church. Just as Jesus was willing to surrender his own life for the Church (in fact for all humanity, giving equal opportunity for all), the response of human beings should be to commit their life to the Son. This is the mutually self-sacrificial type of love we read about in Ephesians where Paul speaks of marriage or, more accurately as he points out, Christ and the Church. Paul seems to understand the value of a love that displays ultimate sacrifice far better than those who glibly mistake a God of love with a God of cruelty. They should think again.