Word Studies

Atonement

I. Understanding the Word:
A. For many Christians, atonement is a confusing word and concept, conjuring up a host of related terms like propitiation, expiation, and justification.
1. In essence, atonement refers to the process by which sinners are reconciled to a relationship with God.
2. William Tyndale is often credited with coining the word by combining at+one+ment; so simplistically, atonement makes us “at one” with God.
3. On an interpersonal level, people frequently seek out atonement by struggling to right wrongs or earning back lost trust.
4. Similarly, Hosea chapters 1-3 depicts God as a husband yearning for reconciliation, for atonement with His beloved people.
5. However, as a theological term, atonement must deal with enormity of human fallenness and sin.
6. As a fundamental force, sin obscures relational unity with God and any hope of reconciliation rests on an adequate means of atonement, there must be a plan of redemption.
B. The word is important in both the Old and New Testaments.
1. In the Old Testament atonement is worked out through the sacrificial system, and the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, remains the holiest day of the Jewish calendar even today.
2. Frequently in the Old Testament, the term translated atonement is kipper, which denotes a covering over or pacification.
3. Kiper can even refer to a ransom, the price paid for a life (Psalm 49:7).
C. In the New Testament, two primary terms and their cognates convey the notion of atonement.
1. The first ilasterion, is often translated “propitiation”, an appeasing sacrifice.
2. This is the same term used in the Septuagint to describe the so-called mercy seat, the lid of the Ark of the Covenant.
3. The second word, katallagh, is typically translated “reconciliation”’ the restoration of relationship or the removal of hostility.
D. The New Testament is clear that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” on the cross and that “Christ died for our sins” (2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Corinthians 15:3)
1. But, the New Testament authors are less clear on exactly how the death of Jesus accomplishes the reconciliation of God and humankind.
2. As such, atonement theories have proliferated through Christian history.
3. These theories might be grouped into three categories: dynamic, subjective, and objective theories.
4. Dynamic theories of atonement discuss Jesus’ death as overcoming and declaring victory over the powers of sin and Satan enslaving humanity: these theories focus on God’s work to vanquish sin and death (Hebrews 2:14-15; Titus 2:14).
5. Subjective theories of atonement consider God’s great display of love in Jesus, a display that might move sinners to sorrow and repentance.
a. These theories focus on God’s selfless love and work within each individual (Ephesians 5:2).
6. Finally, the objective theories of atonement relay God’s substitutional sacrifice of Jesus and the satisfaction of His justice through the obedience of Christ.
7. These theories focus on God’s work to exercise His mercy and His justice in concert (Isaiah 53; 1 Peter 2:24).
E. Here are a few theories that help illustrate the fullness of atonement imagery in the New Testament.
1. Mark Baker notes five dominant images for the cross consistently used throughout the New Testament:
a. Justification in the court of law
b. Redemption in commercial dealings,
c. Reconciliation in personal relationships,
d. Worship through sacrifice
e. A battleground to triumph over evil.
2. The atonement of Christ is not one-dimensional, but instead God’s work on the cross is a beautiful tapestry of redemption conveyed through several images and metaphors.
3. The results is renewed relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
F. According to Stanley Grenz (a Christian Baptist theologian), “We cannot understand the full meaning of the cross of Christ”.
1. “We can only stand in silence before it, acknowledging its wonder, and submit to its power”.
2. The reality of Paul’s dictum “He made Him to be sin who know no sin” is beyond our full comprehension (2Corinthians 5:21).
3. As preachers, we faithfully proclaim this Gospel of reconciliation, never ceasing to marvel at the limitless awesome wonder of that good news.

II. Reading the Word:
A. Leviticus 16 describes the Day of Atonement ceremony.
1. In short, the high priest, wearing simple and clean clothes and having purified himself through ceremonial washing and sacrifices enters the Holy of Holies to sprinkle sacrificial blood on the mercy seat in the presence of the Lord.
2. Then a scape goat is released into the wilderness, bearing the iniquities of the people, as another goat is offered to Yahweh.
3. A Sabbath accompanies these rituals for the people, as the recipients of atonement.
4. “The one who receives expiation is not Yahweh, but Israel: Yahweh is rather the one who acts, in averting the calamitous curse which burdens the community”.
5. These rituals both cleanse the sanctuary and sanctify the people of God for service in the year ahead.
B. As we discussed before, Paul refers to Jesus as a propitiation in Romans 3, a word used in the Old Testament to refer to the mercy seat, the place of atonement and God’s presence.
1. As the mercy seat of the new covenant, Jesus becomes both the place where and the means by which atonement occurs.
2. The death of Jesus stands at the center of God’s plan for reconciliation, and His blood is the innocent sacrifice necessary for renewed relationships (Hebrews 9:26).
3. The final judgment of all humanity has been settled in Jesus Christ, and as the place of mercy, penitent sinners coming to Him walk away redeemed, transformed by mercy.
4. Jesus functions both as the blood of the mercy seat, the blood of atonement, and as the Levitical scapegoat, the innocent one in the wilderness who suffers for our sin.
C. Further, if we have been reconciled to God, we become ambassadors of His kingdom, ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).
1. Those who have struggled with addiction are often best able to walk alongside presently struggling addicts, and in the same way, we who have overcome death and power of sin in Jesus are best able to walk alongside those caught in them most human addiction: sin.
2. Our freedom in Christ enables us to proclaim victory and to extend gracious acceptance to those mired in cycles of defeat.
3. As Christians, we serve n God’s ever-expanding new creation, recognizing that through Christ and His bride, God is working to reconcile all things to Himself (Colossians 1:20).
4. The Trinitarian community was broken apart, so that broken sinners might join that communion, and a broken cosmos might be redeemed.
D. Finally, we often describe the death of Christ as “for us”, but we less often make this claim concerning His resurrection.
1. Still the resurrection and ascension, along with the incarnation and ministry of Jesus, form key parts of the grand scheme of atonement: for as the firstfruits of God’s redemption of creation, Christ’s resurrection foreshadows the resurrection of all Christians.
2. Because the grave could not hold Jesus, it will not be able to hold His disciples either.
3. As the death of Christ is the culmination of all that is fallen about creation, so the resurrection is the culmination of God’s promise to restore the goodness of His creation.
4. In the cross, Jesus suffered with us and died for us, and from the empty tomb, Jesus was raised for us, calling us to live new lives in relationship with God through Him.

III. Preaching the Word:
A. Illustration:
1. Myron Augsburger wrote, “Years ago one of my sons, about three years old, fell down some steps and cut a gash in the back of his head.”
2. “We took to the doctor for him to stitch up the wound.”
3. Rather than hand my son to the nurse, I held him in my arms, one arm around his arms and chest and the other around his legs and I brought him up against me with his head tight against mine, so he couldn’t squirm.”
4. “As the doctor cleaned the wound and stitched it up, my son struggled and cried.”
5. “But while he was suffering physical pain, his dad was hurting down inside with his own kind of pain.”
6. In fairness to God, I am saying that while Jesus was dying on Calvary, God was suffering – Father Son and Holy Spirit.
7. When Jesus cried, “My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken Me?”
8. He was letting us know that His death was affecting God in Heaven.
9. The entire Godhead went through something that broke into the community of fellowship they had shared from all eternity.
10. Here, once in the middle of history, the Godhead suffered what it meant for Jesus the Son of God to actually die.
11. God the Father had to see His son die.
12. God the Son died.
13. God the Holy Spirit experiences that suffering as He identifies with us in grace.
14. This has mystery beyond my comprehension, but before which I bow, in humble devotion.
B. Quote:
1. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Whilst thou are lying there in the dust turn thine eye to Christ and say, “Black as I am, and hell-deserving as I confess myself to be, I believe that Jesus Christ died for the penitent: and inasmuch as He died, He died that the penitent might not die.
2. I believe Thy merits to be great; I believe Thy blood to be efficacious; and more than that, I risk my eternal salvation – and yet it is no risk – I venture my eternal salvation upon thy merit of Thy blood.
3. Jesus, I cannot save myself.
4. Cast Thy skirts of Thy blood-red atonement over me.
5. Come, take me in Thine arms come, wrap me in Thy crimson vest, and tell me I am Thine.
6. I will trust in nothing else but Thee.
7. Nothing I can do or ever did shall be my dependence.
8. I rely simply and entirely upon Thy mighty cross, upon which Thou didst die for sinners.”
C. Illustration:
1. In C. S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, Aslan, a lion serving as a God-figure in the novels, is killed on an ancient stone table by an evil witch.
2. When he comes back to life, the novel’s protagonists ask him what his resurrection means.
3. “It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know.
4. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time.
5. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation.
6. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.
7. the slain lamb is really the Lion of Judah.
8. On the cross, where death appeared victorious, a deeper “magic” was at work.

IV. Amazing Atonement Colossians 1:19-20
A. It is hard to imagine all the carnage that took place as a result of the Civil War.
1. It is also hard to imagine a name more closely associated with the Confederates than Jefferson Davis, or an individual more closely linked to the Union than Ulysses S. Grant.
2. General Grant died in 1885, and Jefferson Davis passed away in 1889.
3. What happened next was surprising.
B. Varina Davis and Julia Grant, the widows of these two men, became friends.
1. They would meet in New York, eat lunch, and even go on vacations together.
2. Both women were concerned with reconciling the two parts of the country, and they knew their examples of friendship could go a long way toward accomplishing it.
3. Peace after the separation of war – it was amazing to behold.
C. In Colossians, Paul is writing to a church that is dealing with its own issues, and he begins by reminding them of whom they serve.
1. Dealing with issues in the church always begins by renewing our focus on Christ.
2. He reminds them that all the fullness of God dwells in Christ, and though the cross, Christ makes peace between a holy God and sinful human beings.
3. If Crist can make this peace possible, then He can also make peace possible between Christians.
D. By describing this peace, Paul provides a beautiful of atonement.
1. Because God was separated from His creation by sin, He sent His Son.
2. Through Jesus was a human being, all the fullness of God dwelt in Him.
3. His sacrifice on the cross was powerful enough to reconcile all things unto Him.
4. Peace after the separation of sin—that is atonement and it is amazing to behold.
5. Make it a point to read Colossians 1 to remind us of the blessings of Christ and say a prayer of thanksgiving for this incredible gift of atonement.

V. Why Would We? Isaiah 53
A. Isaiah: This man of dignity, faith, and fearlessness, a “major prophet” in every way, a spokesman of the Lord and prophet to the kings, picks up his quill and begins to write.
1. He has written of national tragedy (the death of a king who has reigned for over 50 years) and of sticky political situations (Isaiah 36:2-22; 37:8).
2. His is a strong pen (Isaiah 9:19).
3. But his prevalent theme is salvation (incidentally his name means “salvation of Yahweh”).
4. He is known as the Messianic prophet, and there is perhaps no more famous passage to that end than when he moved of the Spirit, writes Isaiah 53.
B. Isaiah is quoted over 50 times in the New Testament, more often than any other Old Testament prophet.
1. In fact, it is a roughly 700-year-old text from Isaiah that the Ethiopian eunuch is reading in Acts 8 when he is led to the Lord’s atoning grace.
2. That text today is nearly 2750 years old, and it still stirs our hearts toward the power of Jesus.
3. It begins with a disarming description of one who we would not think we could be drawn to: “…a root out of dry ground…no form or majesty that we should look at Him…no beauty that we should desire Him…despised and rejected by men…a man of sorrow…acquainted with grief…as one from whom men hide their faces…despised” (vs. 2-3).
C. Why would men and women worship one so described?
1. The reason is found in the rest of the prophecy.
2. It shares the work of Christ with remarkable beauty and clarity over 600 years before Christ comes, and it draws us to love Him more, believe in Him more deeply, and praise God’s Spirit for these faith-building words: “…He has borne our griefs…carried our sorrows…smitten by God…afflicted…pierced for our transgressions…crushed for our iniquities…upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace…with His wounds we are healed (vs. 4-5)
3. Today sing a song of praise for the Lord’s atoning mercy.

VI. Live like It 1 John 4:7-10
A. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
1. Our eyes are drawn to the word propitiation.
2. It’s not a word I have ever used or have ever heard outside of either reading it or explaining it in the Bible.
3. While it is an unusual and difficult term, the translators of even the more modern translations still use it.
4. Most try to translate it more as a phrase than a word, but the one word most often used is our word for this lesson: atonement.
5. Jesus is the sacrifice of atonement for your sins and mine.
B. The word atonement occurs nearly 100 times in the Old Testament, but it is rarely found in the New Testament.
1. Yet, its concept drenches the pages of your new Testament.
2. In 1 John, Christ’s death is clearly shown to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world (2:2; 4:10).
3. According to 1 John, the Son is the Savior of the world (4:14), and the atoning sacrifice (4:10), and on the basis of His accomplished work of atonement, He is the heavenly advocate for the Christians (2:1).
4. For His names’ sake our sins are forgiven (2:12).
C. Whether you use the term atonement, propitiation, or some other word, it means little until you come to terms with His goodness to forgive your sins.
1. It doesn’t even matter if you can pronounce the words, you can understand this simple Gospel concept.
2 You are a sinner.
3. There is only one sacrifice that can make you right with God again: Christ.
4. remember what it like to be lost and then be found.
5. Live like one who needed atonement and received it.

VII. In My Place Hebrews 2:9-18
A. In 1859, Charles Dickens began to publish weekly chapters in a fascinating tale of life in London and Paris during the French Revolution.
1. These episodes would later be combined to become one of the best-selling novels of all time: A Tale of Two Cities.
2. This classic work features two men, Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, who bear a striking resemblance to each other.
3. While Darnay is imprisoned and awaiting execution, Sidney Carton convinces a friend to sneak him into prison for a visit.
4. Carton drugs Darnay, exchanges clothes with him, and has him carried away.
5. Darnay returns to his home and Carton dies in his place.
B. The atonement found in Christ is so beautiful and multifaceted that no one image can fully capture its power.
1. Christ gave His life as a ransom for all (1Timothy 2:6), He gives us victory over death because of His victory (1 Corinthians 15:57), and He is our once for all sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10).
2. In Hebrews 2:9-18, we are reminded of another powerful aspect of the atonement: Christ suffered and died in our place.
3. He was made a human being like all men, and He suffered through the temptations all of us face.
4. Even though TV, the internet, and social media did not exist in Jesus’s day, temptations were present.
5. Think about it this way: imagine a piano.
6. The notes on the piano remain consistent over years.
7. People may use a different arrangement of notes or rhythm to produce new songs, but the notes are the same.
8. We have new ways in which temptation rears its ugly head today, but the core of our temptations remains the same.
9. Jesus faced all of life’s temptations, and He can identify with us (Hebrews 2:18).
10. Because He faced then without sin, He can sacrifice for us.
11. We didn’t deserve it, but Jesus tasted death so that we wouldn’t have to.
C. Charles Dickens’ novel is a classic, but the sacrifice of Jesus is the greatest story ever told.
1. It really happened, and it will really change our eternity.
2. When you have a moment, read Matthew 4:1-11 and reflect on the way Jesus endured them-ration and remained sinless.

VIII. Not Guilty Romans 5:1-11
A. Could you imagine the look on a suspected murderer’s face as he hears the verdict of “not guilty”?
1. His future had been in the balance, but he is now free!
2. Can you imagine a wife clutching divorce papers as her husband begs her not to proceed?
3. He pleads, “Can we reconcile?”
4. Through her tears she answers, “yes”.
B. Atonement is a Biblical word describing God’s willingness to redeem us or reconcile us.
1. We are guilty.
2. Yet God redeems us anyway.
3. In Romans 5, the first eleven verses deal with atonement, a term rendered in many translations as “reconciliation”.
4. What are the benefits of atonement?
5. To answer this, notice the “we have” statements in the first five verses.
a. “We have peace with God” (vs. 11).
b. “We have access…into this grace” (vs. 2).
c. We rejoice in our suffering” (vs. 3).
C. But it’s hasn’t always been this way for the human race.
1. Before we had these things “we were” in a horrible condition: weak (vs. 6), sinners (vs. 8), and enemies (vs. 10).
2. Do you realize we are the guilty murderer who can be pardoned?
3. We are the unfaithful husband pursing her.
4. Read again our text in Romans 5.
5. The game changer is the word but in verse 8.
6. “But God shows His love for us” bringing amazing atonement.
a. “We have now been justified” (vs. 9)
b. “We are reconciled” (vs. 10)
c. “We also rejoice” (vs. 11)
D. Imagine yourself in a courtroom, knowing that condemnation awaits, and contemplate how blessed I am to know that Jesus justified me.
1. I would appreciate my relationship with God and rejoice.
2. I would pray in gratitude for His peace, His grace, and my suffering, and I will rejoice in His atonement.\

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