The Sacrifice of Atonement

Description of the Apparent Conflict Between God’s Love and His Justice

The things which conflict in God’s Being as He relates to man are indeed mysterious. The gospel however, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, helps us with this lofty subject.

Justice demands punishment for lawlessness. Love is exhibited in grace and forgiveness.  The tension is how these two realities, existing in God, are reconciled through Christ, as God seeks relationship with sinful men.

To be clear, the actual conflict is not between the love of God and the justice of God; as if God were divided and conflicting with Himself. Conflict does not arise until God seeks relationship with sinful men. The conflict is this: How can this God, who is just, relate in a loving way to sinful men? The solution is: only through mediation.

Proverbs says, “He who justifies the wicked and condemns the righteous is an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15). Paul says, “There is none righteous, not even one… there is not even one” (Romans 3:10, 11). This is a very real conflict which must be resolved. God’s justice is must be upheld, and yet His goodness compels Him to express His unrelenting love in the very same breath. The gospel reveals the only solution to this conflict is the sacrifice of atonement provided in Jesus Christ.

To have a right paradigm of how God’s love and justice relate to sinful men, we have to step back and broaden our perspective. First, we must understand that love and justice are not isolated as the only attributes which are in tensions with each other. Within God, there exists a myriad of opposing realities, in such stark opposition, that it would be infinitely impossible for these to find reconciliation, except it be found in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Jonathon Edwards referred to these apparent conflictions as the “diverse excellencies” of Christ (Edwards, 2003, 145). Edwards says:

There do meet in the person of Christ such really diverse excellencies, which otherwise would have been thought utterly incompatible in the same subject; such as are conjoined in no other person whatever, either divine, human, or angelical; and such as neither men nor angels would ever have imagined could have met together in the same person, had it not been seen in the person of Christ (Edwards, 2003, 148).

 Regarding the sinner, justice and loving mercy are as incongruent as God and man, lion and lamb, or carpenter and king. Yet in the Person and work of Christ, what is unfathomable to the human mind blends with flawless harmony to form the consummation of divine perfection; even though this is entirely mysterious to us. Not only did God’s mercy and justice fuse in the death of Christ, they yoked in such a way that the demonstration of His justice came through the display of His love.

An Explanation of Justification: “justified freely by His grace”

Romans 3:21-31 gives us a holistic description of the doctrine of justification by faith in a simple and yet profound way. It shows how the end result (a believer’s justification) is brought about by its various subcomponents (grace, redemption, propitiation and faith), as opposed to works of the Law or all that which is wrought by man.

Verse twenty-four is possibly the greatest verse in all of Scripture concerning justification. “[They] are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:24, NIV).

On this, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “It is a statement that can be compared with John 3:16. It is a perfect synopsis of the Christian faith, and it is important, therefore, that we should understand it clearly” (Lloyd-Jones, 1970, 54). Here, we will divide the verse into two portions, examining each individually; first, considering “freely” and “grace”; secondly, examining “justification”.

To start with, ‘Freely’ (dorean) also occurs in John 15:25. There, Jesus says that they hated Him ‘without a cause’ (Chaffer, 1948). Dorean describes the nature of our justification; it is “without a cause”. We have done nothing to deserve this. In reality, the opposite is true; through sin, we forfeit all rights to salvation. Thus, “Grace” can be defined as “unmerited favor”.

Because the wording here is obvious, our attention should be given to that which Paul emphasized. By using both these words Paul is making his point clear. This justification which is “freely by His grace” is the benchmark of salvation. There is no other way to be saved, and no other grounds by which we may approach God.

Secondly, concerning this word “justified”, without delay we should notice the past-tense usage of the word. In this usage, Paul shows this activity having already occurred in the lives of believers. It is not durative, but accomplished; not open-ended, but realized. This is the principle grounds of the believer’s assurance of salvation. Significantly, this point also distinguishes our doctrine from Roman Catholic doctrine. Much blood has been shed over this glorious truth which we are able to celebrate freely.

The Redemption which is in Christ Jesus

First off, since we want to have an accurate definition of this word “redemption”, we should take up a preliminary consideration: the use of the word. There are three words in the Greek Testament which translate redemption or redeem: ’agor’axw – which means to purchase in the market, `exagoraVw - which means to purchase out of the market, and lutrow - which indicates liberty (Chaffer, 1948).

Many modern theologians use the word ‘redemption’ too liberally. They use it to denote all that Christ produced through His death and sufferings (Chaffer 1948). However, taking into consideration the restricted meaning of the word(s), we should use a far more concise definition. Chaffer says that, “redemption implies the payment of a ransom price” (129). Here, I’ll use the simple dictionary definition of, “buying back” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, 1996, 234).

‘Redeem’ and ‘ransom’ convey the same idea in the Bible. They communicate releasing from slavery. We see this exemplified in Exodus, Ruth, the Prophets, Jesus, Paul, et al.

Moving on to the price of redemption, we should emphatically state that this price is none other than the precious blood of Jesus. It is by His shed blood that our ransom is paid in full. The blood of Christ was spilt on our behalf, that we who believe, might also be emancipated from this present order of death and corruption and be thus released into the new order of life and glory. Hallelujah!

Concerning the result of redemption we should not be too technical, but note the obvious: God’s intention in redeeming people, whether from Egypt or sin, is always that they might possess freedom. In faceted detail the results can be various (e.g. freedom from sin, the Law, or death), but their commonality will always be simple freedom.

 A Sacrifice of Atonement, by His Blood (Romans 3:25)

Romans 3:25 is famous for much scrutinizing debate. There is considerable contention over the exact meaning of hilasterion (sacrifice of atonement or propitiation/expiation) among many. The contention is over the potential implications of the outworking of this doctrine. The main question being: What does this word mean exactly? If it means to expiate can we conclude God then does not need to be propitiated?

F. F. Bruce, puts a silence to the quarreling by stating the obvious; “The hilasterion which God has provided in Christ not only removes ungodliness and wickedness, but at the same time averts the retribution which is the inevitable sequel to such attitudes and actions in a moral universe” (Bruce, 1985, 111).

About this issue Paul Jewett says:

“If one reduces the language of Scripture from “propitiation” to “expiation” in all instances, he still must answer the question, “Why should sins be expiated? What would happen if no expiation were provided? Can one deny that, according to the teaching of Scripture, men will die in their sins?” The logical implication of the denial of propitiation as unworthy of God is the teaching that God will ultimately manifest His forgiving love to everyone, regardless of how one is related to Christ – a point of view that is increasingly the vogue, but one that is contrary to Scripture” (Jewett, 1975, 904-905).

Overall, the idea being communicated here is a sacrifice which makes atonement for the sins of men. That sacrifice is the “sin offering” of Christ which is typified in Leviticus 16 on the Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement was the annual event when, “the high priest entered the inner sanctuary of the temple to make reconciling sacrifices for the sins of the entire nation” (Church, 2003, 396). The day shone prophetically in that, “Christ’s death was set forth typically and in magnificent detail by the events and specific requirements” (Chaffer 1948, 122).

The typical interest is found by observing the two goats and the high priest (Chaffer 1948). These three are typological of Christ. Christ was our ‘burned offering’ in that He was sacrificed on our behalf. He was our ‘scapegoat’ in that He expiated our sin, and He is our “great High Priest” who forever lives to make intercession (see Heb. 7-9).

The mercy seat was a pure 45 x 27 inch slab of gold that covered the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:17-19, 21). This slab was symbolic of the throne which God ruled over Israel from (Leviticus 16:2; Num. 7:89). The word for “mercy seat” in Hebrew means “to cover”. This gives us our modern translation of “atonement cover”. This, as well, is a shadow of the heavenly things; typifying Christ. Jesus is, “sitting at the right hand of the throne in the heavens” (Heb. 8:1). Through faith in His atonement we are shown mercy and reconciliation.

The Absolute Necessity of Faith

Justification before God occurs through declarative and actual righteousness being imputed to a forgiven sinner. This happens on the basis of his identification-union with Jesus Christ in His penal substitutionary death. This union with Christ, is only accessed through faith; rendering faith of absolute necessity.

It is by the means of faith that, “the believer and Christ are in the closest possible connection. If it is true that their death is made His death, it is also true that His death is made their death” (Morris, 1965, 224). Faith unites us with Christ, in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:4). It is faith that reckons us “alive to God and dead to sin” (Romans 6:11).

Finally faith makes our salvation to be “free”, “as a gift”, and “by grace”, as opposed to by works or merit. This faith is credited to the sinner as righteousness as it enables him access to the promises of God (Romans 3:24, 4:5). The writer of Hebrews says, “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

 

 

Reference List

Butler, Trent C., Church, Chris, 2003, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Holman Bible Publishers

Bruce, F.F., 1985, Romans: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries

Chaffer, Lewis, 1948, Systematic Theology: Volume III: Soteriology, Vail-Ballou Press

Edwards, Jonathon, 2003, Jonathon Edwards: His Greatest Sermons, Bridge-Logos Publishers

Holy Bible, 1960, Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, The Zondervan Corporation

Holy Bible, 1973, Holy Bible: New International Version, International Bible Society

Holy Bible, 1994, Holy Bible: New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers

Jewett, Paul K., 1975, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, The Zondervan Publishing House

Lloyd-Jones, Dr. Martyn, 1970, Romans: Atonement and Justification, The Zondervan Corporation

McKim, Donald K., 1996, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Westminster John Knox Press

Morris, Leon, 1965, The Cross in the New Testament, The Paternoster Press