Atonement

What means atonement? 

What is the reason and purpose of Christ’s atonement? 

The word ‘atonement’ was crafted by William Tyndale, around 1525, to help describe in English the reconciliation between humanity and God that occurred through Jesus Christ’s life, suffering and death. 

This word was crafted as at-one-ment, making one what was two. 

First, this atonement was realized and manifested in Jesus’ life. He was born through the coming of the Holy Spirit on Mary. For this reconciliation, for this re-unification to be true and complete, the Word of God became flesh, became man. As a man, Jesus relinquished all the advantages that he could claim as God, as the Son of God, so that he could be an example to be followed. This emptying (called ‘kenosis’ by theologians) is a key element of the atonement, beautifully described by Paul when he was himself suffering the emptying experience of imprisonment, in the text of Philippians 2:3-8,

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus’ emptying was a fundamental element of the atonement, the reconciliation between man and God, so that it could be reproduced in other humans. We can see how Jesus hints at this clearly in texts like John 14:12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

Jesus atonement meant his union with God, experienced fully already at his baptism through the descent of the Holy Spirit on him, through the approving voice of the Father who said to him: this is my beloved son, in him I am well pleased’. This unity, this reconciliation, this atonement, implied an intimate relationship and communication with the Father. This reconciled relationship, this pure communication could be well described as hearing, listening and obeying.

First, as Jesus, as a man, he was hearing, listening and obeying to the Father at every moment and in every domain of his life. He listened and obeyed to the Father’s voice first, even before listening to his human parent’s voice, when he became ‘religiously mature’ at his ‘barmitzva’, at the age of twelve, when in the temple he said to his concerned human parents “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Yet, he remained obedient to his parents, thus keeping his Father’s commandment to honor his parents (see Luke 2:41-51). He also listened first to the Father’s voice and guidance even when he was weak and fragile for forty days in the desert, his body aching for food, yet never obeying the seducing voice of the devil, but rather reminding himself of the voice of his Father who taught him through the Holy Scriptures that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, that he should not put the heavenly Father to the test and shall worship and serve God alone (read Mat 4:1-11). 

Jesus also always listened to the Father’s voice first and before any other, keeping this listening and obedient relationship with the Father vibrant and burning through the Holy Spirit in him. 

Jesus did not let the disciples derail his service by their advice, listening to the Father through dialogues in prayer and following Him to other villages when his disciples wanted to have him come back because of the people’s desire (Mark 1:35-38). Jesus accepted the Father’s plan of love, even with the knowledge of the coming cross, not listening to Peter who opposed it through his words (hear Mark 8:31-33). Even in Gethsemane, when his emotions were shouting about the coming pains that he was to suffer, he chose to obey the Father’s will over his own self-preservation and prepared in prayer for his crucifixion (listen to Mat 26:36-46). Even crucified, when people challenged him in the heart of his pain, telling him to make a miracle and go down from the cross, he did not obey this tempting voice but rather went to the end of his earthly journey in full obedience, always listening to his Father, his last word being to his Father: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Second, this atonement or reconciliation between Jesus, as man, and God the Father implied that the Father listened and obeyed to him in return (in the Old Testament, each time you read that God ‘listened’ it often involves obedience because it is the verb ‘shamah’ which can mean to hear, to listen or to obey). Jesus’ listening and obeying to the Father is the first part of the atonement or reconciliation, the second part is that God then agrees to listen and obey in return. 

This is the foundation of all the miracles that Jesus did, because the Father answered to Jesus’ prayers, because the Father then agreed to obey Jesus in return. The foundation of his miracles is not Jesus’ divine origin, since he emptied himself of his divinity when he came on earth. The foundation of his miracles is his intimate communion with the Father, first and foremost grounded in his listening and obeying to the Father’s voice, a voice that he heard in the Holy Scriptures, a voice that he heard in his continual life of prayer. 

This is the foundation of texts like: “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16) This is the foundation of Jesus’ amazing words to his disciples: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7). This is the foundation for the miracles that God did through Jesus, as he explicitly stated before resurrecting Lazarus: “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:41-42) This is the foundation of Jesus’ confident statement to his disciples: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14). As we read, Jesus is promising that this atonement, this reconciliation with God that took place in him was to take place also in all his disciples. For this to happen, another element was needed.

Third, Jesus’ atonement was not only listening to the Father or the Father listening to him, but also his sacrifice for others. This third facet of the atonement is the most highlighted, and for good reasons. It is because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us that our sins are atoned for, that we can be released from listening first to selfishness and begin again to listen to the loving voice of the Father and trust this voice again. It is because of Jesus’ pure life offered for each of us on the cross, that we can experience the reconciliation with God, that we can be reunited with the wonderful and loving heavenly Father. 

It is because of Jesus’ gift of his life for us and him sending to us the Holy Spirit that we can, like him, live a life united to God through him, first fully listening and obeying to God, then God fully listening to us, so that we also take up our cross and announce this wonderful reconciliation to others. This ministry of reconciliation involves suffering in this present world, but eternal joy in the coming one. 

All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Is 53:6). God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16). As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15). Jesus said: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:34-35)

How to experience for ourselves this wonderful atonement, this full reconciliation with God through Jesus’ sacrifice? For this to take place, it is useful to understand key points of how God works in His creation. 

It is useful to understand what God’s amazing and prevenient grace means. 

It is important to understand and practice repentance. 

It is crucial to meditate and embody God’s justification, regeneration and adoption. 

It is also fundamental to enter into God’s holiness, this entering being sometimes described in Scriptures as entire sanctification. 

These four points: a. prevenient grace, b. repentance, c. justification-regeneration-adoption, and d. holiness and entire sanctification will be explained in the coming posts on this blog.