When Christians say that Jesus is the atonement for sin, they usually mean that his death paid the penalty for man's transgression of God's holy standard.2 Indeed, that is the primary English definition of the word: To atone is to make amends or reparation. It is as if man pawned his life as collateral for the pleasure of sin and then discovered that he could not pay the high interest to redeem it. Jesus' death pays the inflated ticket price to get man out of 'hock.' While atonement does involve the satisfaction of a debt, there is more to the biblical definition than remuneration (expiation).
I. The meaning of atonement
The first example is when "all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron," (Num 16:41), blaming these leaders God had chosen for the deaths of the rebel faction Korah had led.
The second example is when an Israelite man took a Midianite woman, openly defying God's prohibition against the people's having close contact with their pagan neighbors.4 Phinehas, an Israelite priest, killed the couple and averted another catastrophe.
II. The means of atonement
Of the 100+ Old Testament occurrences of "atone" that pertain to offerings, more than 80 are in Exodus-Deuteronomy, and more than half of those in Leviticus.10 Pentateuchal references show that the word has broad associations and is not confined to any particular presentation.11 A survey of the word's various uses shows that...
New Testament writers note an analogous relationship (versus an actual relationship) of Jesus' sacrifice to temple sacrifices. In their analogy, when New Testament writers treat atonement, they have in mind...
Israel, the nation God chose as His own "possession",24 had great opportunity to enjoy the blessings of God as well as great responsibility to exhibit the character of God. Hosting the divine presence meant that Israel had to maintain a degree of holiness greater than the surrounding nations, a condition the offerings helped to ensure. Without the offerings God prescribed, Israel had no protection from the destructive power of divine wrath. On more than one occasion, the nation almost perished for violating God's holiness, so great is His displeasure with those who defy Him, and only the interposition of the offerings—in some cases, the very lives of the guilty—turned God's anger from His people.
While the danger to Israel was limited to this earthly plane, so was the solution. That solution was also superficial, addressing only external defilement. To address the internal damage of a blighted conscience, God provided another remedy, one that transcended the physical and temporal realm, making it possible to avert the eternal consequence of animosity with God that all people face and to receive the spiritual purification that all people need.
For the Endnotes, see the pdf here.
I. The meaning of atonement
A. in the Old TestamentThe Hebrew words that English translations render "atone(ment)" signify the satisfaction or appeasement of God's wrath when man has violated the strictures of divine holiness. Two Old Testament incidents provide examples of the danger that ignoring these strictures presents.3
The first example is when "all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron," (Num 16:41), blaming these leaders God had chosen for the deaths of the rebel faction Korah had led.
Num 16:46 Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense [on it]; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone forth from the LORD, the plague has begun!" 47 Then Aaron took [it] as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. So he put [on] the incense and made atonement for the people.Even with the intervention of Moses and Aaron, "those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who died on account of Korah" (16:49). Without their intervention, though, God's wrath would have exacted a far greater toll.
The second example is when an Israelite man took a Midianite woman, openly defying God's prohibition against the people's having close contact with their pagan neighbors.4 Phinehas, an Israelite priest, killed the couple and averted another catastrophe.
Num 25:8b So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked.... 10 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 11 "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy.... 13b because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel."Even with the intervention of Phinehas, "those who died by the plague were 24,000" (Num 25:9). Without his intervention, though, God's wrath would have exacted a far greater toll.
In the Old Testament, therefore...
1. Atonement is more than expiation (a restitution for wrongdoing), which signifies the satisfaction of a debt but implies no alteration in God's demeanor toward man.
Without some means of atonement, Israel's sin exposes the nation to divine anger at the affront to divine holiness. National survival demands an acceptable remedy.2. Atonement is also propitiation (an appeasement of divine wrath), which signifies a change in God's attitude, from decidedly negative to graciously positive.5
B. In the New TestamentThe Greek words that English translations render "atone(ment)" ("propitiation" KJV and NAS6) have a similar meaning to their Hebrew counterpart.7 That is, atonement is also propitiation. New Testament authors apply them, though, with a much narrower referent (and with far fewer occurrences).
Rom 3:25a whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.
Heb 2:17 Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
1 John 2:2 and he himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for [those of] the whole world.8
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.These writers employ the term analogously of Jesus' sacrifice, using the ceremonial affect of an animal's death to mark the soteriological affect of the savior's death. His full atonement appeases God's final wrath.9
II. The means of atonement
Of the 100+ Old Testament occurrences of "atone" that pertain to offerings, more than 80 are in Exodus-Deuteronomy, and more than half of those in Leviticus.10 Pentateuchal references show that the word has broad associations and is not confined to any particular presentation.11 A survey of the word's various uses shows that...
A. Atonement is available in blood and bloodless offerings.12
1. Blood offerings
a. The burnt (dedication) offering
Lev 1:4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. 5a He shall slay the young bull before the LORD.... 10 But if his offering is from the flock, of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer it a male without defect.... 14 But if his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering from the turtledoves or from young pigeons.
b. The sin (purification) offering
Lev 4:27a Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done... 28b then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without defect, for his sin which he has committed. 29 He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering.... 31c Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. 32 But if he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring it, a female without defect.... 35c Thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven.
c. The guilt (reparation) offering
Lev 5:15 If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD's holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock...for a guilt offering. 16 He shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. Then the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.
d. The ordination (consecration) offering13
Lev 8:22 Then he presented...the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.... 26 From the basket of unleavened bread that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake and one cake of bread [mixed with] oil and one wafer, and placed [them] on the portions of fat and on the right thigh.... 28b They were an ordination offering for a soothing aroma; it was an offering by fire to the LORD.... 34 The LORD has commanded to do as has been done this day, to make atonement on your behalf.
2. Bloodless offerings
a. The sin (purification) offering
Lev 5:11a ... if his means are insufficient for two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then for his offering for that which he has sinned, he shall bring the tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering.... 13a So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has committed from one of these, and it will he forgiven him....
b. The census offering
Exod 30:12 When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give Ian atonement] for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.... 15 The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves. 16 You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.
c. The plunder offering
Num 31:50 So we have brought as an offering to the LORD what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.
B. Atonement is applicable to animate (personal) and inanimate (impersonal) objects.
1. Animate objects
a. Individual atonement
Lev 12:8b ...the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.
Lev 14:20b ...the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be clean.
Lev 15:30 ...the priest shall make atonement for her... because of her impure discharge.
Num 6:11a The priest shall...make atonement for him... because of the [dead] person.
b. Institutional atonement
Lev 16:6 ...Aaron shall...make atonement for himself and for his household.... 33b He shall also make atonement for the priests....
Num 8:12b ...offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering...to make atonement for the Levites.... 21b Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.
c. Communal atonement
Lev 4:20b ...the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.
Lev 16:33b He shall also make atonement...for all the people of the assembly.
Num 8:19 I have given the Levites...to make atonement [for] the sons of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary.
2. Inanimate objects
a. Altar atonement
Exod 29:36a ...you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it.... 37a ...you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it....
Lev 8:15b ...he poured out [the rest of] the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it, to make atonement for it.
Lev 16:18 ...he shall go out to the altar...and make atonement for it.... 33a ...he shall make atonement...for the altar.
b. Sanctuary atonement
Lev 16:16 He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities.... 33 [He shall] make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting....
c. House atonement
Lev 14:53b ...he shall make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.
d. Land atonement
Num 35:33 So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no [atonement] can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.
C. Atonement is appropriate for iniquity and impurity offences.14
1. Iniquity offenses
a. Unspecified (requires sin offering)
Lev 4:13 Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits...any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done.... 20b ... the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.
Lev 4:22 When a leader sins and unintentionally does any one of all the things which the LORD his God has commanded not to be done.... 26b ...the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin, and he will be forgiven.
Lev 4:27 Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done.... 31b ...the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.
b. Perjury (requires guilt offering)
Lev 5:1 Now if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration [to testify] when he is a witness, whether he has seen or [otherwise] known, if he does not tell [it].... 4 Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know [it].... 6b ...the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.
c. Embezzlement (requires guilt offering)
Lev 6:2 When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD, and deceives his companion in regard to a deposit or a security entrusted [to him], or through robbery, or [if] he has extorted from his companion, 3a or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely.... 7 ...the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven....
2. Impurity offenses (not the result of sinful activity)
a. Corpse defilement (requires guilt offering)
Lev 5:2 Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or a carcass of unclean swarming things.... 6b ...the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.
b. Excrement defilement (requires guilt offering)
Lev 5:3 Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever [sort] his uncleanness [may] be with which he becomes unclean.... 6b ...the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.
c. Childbirth defilement (requires burnt and sin offerings)
Lev 12:2b When a woman gives birth and... .6a [w]hen the days of her purification are completed.... 8b ...the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.
d. Leprosy defilement (requires sin, guilt, and burnt offerings)
Lev 14:2a This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing.... 31b ...the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the one to be cleansed.
e. Discharge defilement (requires sin and burnt offerings)
Lev 15:2b When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean.... 15b the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD because of his discharge.
f. Menstruation defilement (requires sin and burnt offerings)
Lev 15:25 ...if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period.., she is unclean.... 30b ...the priest shall make atonement on her behalf before the LORD because of her impure discharge.
g. Unspecified defilement (requires sin and burnt offerings)
Num 8:6 Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and cleanse them.... 21b Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.III. The matrix of atonement
A. In the sanctuary offeringsThe biblical concept of atonement is not one-dimensional. It is not, for example, exclusively related to the treatment of sinful activity. Atonement results from different offerings for different objects for different offenses. The common denominator in all these variables is the sanctuary, because atonement (in the temporal sense) is a ceremonial requirement for God to reside with his people on earth.15 The holiness of God demands that His dwelling place be holy. Prior to the sanctuary, there was no such necessity; hence, sacrifices then were both optional and devotional?16 Only in (and around the vicinity of) the sanctuary did a detailed system of offerings obtain. It was a temporal measure to accommodate a physical manifestation of the Lord.
B. In the savior's offeringNew Testament writers do not employ the Greek counterpart of atonement with the same breadth; their use is much narrower and more specific. It is also not a direct connection, as if temple sacrifices and Jesus' sacrifice have the same function. That is, through Jesus, atonement (in the eternal sense) is a soteriological requirement for God's people to reside with Him in heaven.17
New Testament writers note an analogous relationship (versus an actual relationship) of Jesus' sacrifice to temple sacrifices. In their analogy, when New Testament writers treat atonement, they have in mind...
- A particular offering (the blood sacrifice for sin),18
- A particular object (the individual),19
- A particular offense (the defilement of iniquity),20
- A particular outcome (the eternal consequence).21
- The intermittent need for ritual purity—so that God's physical presence may dwell with His people—makes the efficacy of the sacrifices He designed to meet that need intermittent as well (and, thus, temporary).
- The constant need for moral purity—so that God's spiritual presence may dwell within His people-makes the efficacy of the sacrifice He designed to meet that need constant as well (and, thus, permanent).23
Israel, the nation God chose as His own "possession",24 had great opportunity to enjoy the blessings of God as well as great responsibility to exhibit the character of God. Hosting the divine presence meant that Israel had to maintain a degree of holiness greater than the surrounding nations, a condition the offerings helped to ensure. Without the offerings God prescribed, Israel had no protection from the destructive power of divine wrath. On more than one occasion, the nation almost perished for violating God's holiness, so great is His displeasure with those who defy Him, and only the interposition of the offerings—in some cases, the very lives of the guilty—turned God's anger from His people.
While the danger to Israel was limited to this earthly plane, so was the solution. That solution was also superficial, addressing only external defilement. To address the internal damage of a blighted conscience, God provided another remedy, one that transcended the physical and temporal realm, making it possible to avert the eternal consequence of animosity with God that all people face and to receive the spiritual purification that all people need.
1 John 2:2 ...He himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for [those of] the whole world.Jesus' death atones for people's sin by appeasing God's wrath, cleansing their conscience, and transforming them from God's enemies to His friends.25
For the Endnotes, see the pdf here.
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Jim Skaggs