Theme · theological
Atonement
The logic of atonement is established at Sinai: the life is in the blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. The Day of Atonement ritual — two goats, one slain and one sent away bearing sin — dramatizes both the cost of sin and its removal. The prophets increasingly point toward a final sacrifice that will deal with sin once for all. The New Testament identifies Jesus as that sacrifice: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Hebrews argues that the entire Levitical system was a shadow; the reality is Christ's self-offering.
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Cor 1:23 — But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
- 1John 2:2 — And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
- 1John 3:5 — And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
- 1John 3:16 — Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
- 1John 4:10 — Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- 1John 5:6 — This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
- 1Pet 2:24 — Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
- 1Pet 3:18 — For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
- 1Tim 1:15 — This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
- 1Tim 2:6 — Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
- 2Chr 29:24 — And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering shou
- 2Cor 5:14 — For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
- 2Cor 5:15 — And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
- 2Cor 5:19 — To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
- 2Cor 5:21 — For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
- 2Cor 13:4 — For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
- Acts 2:23 — Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
- Acts 3:26 — Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
- Acts 13:38 — Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
- Acts 13:39 — And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
- Col 1:22 — In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
- Col 2:14 — Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
- Dan 9:24 — Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting right
- Dan 9:27 — And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make i
- Eph 5:2 — And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
The Church Fathers on Atonement
Hence it was that the ark of God removed from the inn at Bethlehem, for there He paid to the law that debt of the forty days, due not to justice but to grace, and rested upon the mountains of Sion, and receiving into His pure bosom as upon a lofty throne, and one transcending the nature of man, the Monarch of all,…
In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal…
For love "doth nothing unseemly," but as it were with certain golden wings covereth up all the offences of the beloved. Jonathan loved David; and hearing his father say, "Thou son of damsels that have run away from their homes, thou womanly bred," he was not ashamed, though the words be full of great reproach. For…
Then he shall get up, come to his father, and confess to him, "I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me like one of your hired servants."When he confesses like that, he will be considered worthy of more than that for which he prayed. His father neither takes…
For this reason did the Father send down the Holy Spirit from heaven upon the One who was baptized.… For what reason? That the faithfulness of the Father's voice might be made known.… Listen to the Father's voice: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This is he who is named the son of Joseph, who…
Wherefore we have need of the dew of God, that we be not consumed by fire, nor be rendered unfruitful, and that where we have an accuser there we may have also an Advocate, the Lord commending to the Holy Spirit His own man, who had fallen among thieves, whom He Himself compassionated, and bound up his wounds,…