Foundations of Faith
ATONEMENT (III)
In the last issue we considered two aspects of atonement, namely, propitiation and substitution. Summarizing what we learned, propitiation has to do with the effects of Christ’s suffering and death upon God; substitution has to do with the effects of His sufferings and death upon us who believe. In this issue we shall discuss a few questions relating to atonement.
God is all-powerful and all-wise. So why couldn’t He have found some way to deal with man’s sin other than having His own Son suffer and die on the cross? We have five questions to ask in this regard.
1. Why couldn’t God have created man without the ability to sin? As discussed in a previous issue (Apr96), God wanted more than puppets to obey, serve, and worship Him.
2. Why couldn’t God have provided salvation by just forgiving all the sinners? The answer to this question is that while God is loving and forgiving, at the same time He is holy and righteous (Nov93). God has to deal with our sin in agreement with His holiness. If He forgave without demanding a proper penalty or payment for our sins, He would be forgiving unjustly. (What would you think if someone murdered the fellow or girl you were planning to marry and the judge decided to pardon the murderer rather than make him pay a penalty for his crime?)
God’s holiness demands atonement for sin, and His love provides it. God’s only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has made full payment for our sin and guilt. God does not merely forgive sinners, but forgives in a way that shows how great is His holy hatred of our sins.
3. Why couldn’t God have punished someone else instead of His own Son? First of all, the one being punished would have to be sinless. All the Old Testament sacrifices, which look forward to the sacrifice of Christ, required that the victim be “without blemish and without spot” (Exod. 12:5:Num. 19:2; 1 Pet. 1:19; etc.).
Perhaps God could have created a special sinless being just for the purpose of making atonement for the sin of mankind. But this surely would not have been fair to that individual. Besides, how could a single, finite being suffer all of the punishment necessary to be “the propitiation for … the whole world” (1 John 2:1)?
The only other possibility was for God to make atonement by Himself. God exists as three co-equal Persons-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mar94). God the Son agreed voluntarily to be sent by God the Father into the world to make atonement for sinful man. Since the One who made atonement was the Creator Himself, and not a created being, no one can charge God with injustice. (See Assignment 3)
Furthermore, Christ, being infinite, was capable of making full atonement for “the whole world.” He is fully God and fully Man. His life was of infinite value, as were His sufferings and death on the cross. The total value of all of those for whom He died does not come close to the infinite value of the life that He laid down for our sakes.
4. Why did Christ have to suffer as well as die? Because He had to bear the actual penalty that our sins deserve. And what is that penalty? Eternity in the “lake of fire,” “outer darkness,” “torment,” intense thirst, separation from God (Matt. 8:12; Luke 16:19-31; Rev. 20:15). On the cross, before He died, Christ experienced the agony and suffering that we deserve for eternity.
5. If atonement was made by Christ’s sufferings on the cross, why did He have to die as well? “The wages of sin is death” and “after this the judgment” (Rom. 6:23; Heb. 9:27). “Through death” Christ destroyed “him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). Therefore both suffering and death were necessary for Christ to make atonement for our sins.
Sometimes we hear or read the phrase, “vicarious atonement.” A vicar is a substitute or representative of another. So “vicarious” is just another word for “substitutionary” or “taking the place of another.”
Running the Race
HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE (in View of the Atonement?) (II)
Here are a few more verses that appeal to the way we should live on the basis of Christ’s sufferings for us.
“Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not Himself, but, as it is written, The reproaches of those who reproached Thee fell on Me” (Rom. 15:2,3).
“Consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be weary and faint in your minds” (Heb. 12:3). In other words, do not shrink from the opposition of others because of your faith, remembering what Christ endured on the cross.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich. And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun … now therefore perform the doing of it” (2 Cor. 8:9,10). In other words, the Apostle Paul is appealing to the Corinthians to give sacrificially to aid the poor and persecuted Christians in Jerusalem, just as Christ sacrificially gave Himself that we might be spiritually rich.
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 6:25). Say, fellows, you may not be married yet, but how do you treat your girl friends? Are you mainly interested in the happiness, good times, and companionship that you get out of the relationship? Or are you interested in what you can give to her to increase her happiness and spiritual well-being. For those of you who may be preparing for marriage, are you preparing yourself for a lifetime of self-sacrifice (giving of your time, your habits, your ambitions, and your favorite activities, if necessary) for the benefit of your life partner? Christ, who gave Himself for the Church, is both your Example and motivation for such self-sacrifice.
Assignment 3: Write out some verses in Philippians 2 that show that the Son of God voluntarily came down from heaven to die on the cross.