The Atonement of
Jesus Christ
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Introduction |
| The most important and significant event in history was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Most people know that Jesus was crucified almost 2,000 years ago in Palestine. Many people even have a vague idea regarding the meaning of Christ’s death. They know it has something to do with salvation. But, when people are questioned regarding the biblical, theological significance of Jesus’ person and work most display a woeful ignorance of God’s Word. The purpose of this booklet is to provide people with a small primer on the atonement. |
| The word atonement is a theological term that is used to describe the substitutionary work of Christ. The word occurs in the KJV in Romans 5:11 and has the basic meaning of reconciliation. The word often is used in the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew words kipper and kippurim, which mean “propitiation” or “expiation”. The word atonement encompasses Christ’s work of redemption on behalf of His people. The center of Christ’s work, the main event to which the whole Old Testament pointed and to which the whole New Testament expounded was Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. Christ’s death is the very heart of the Christian faith. It is the central theme of Scripture. “[T]he New Testament writers ascribe the saving efficacy of Christ’s work specifically to His death, or His blood, or His cross (Rom. iii. 25; v. 9; I Cor. x. 16; Eph. i.7; ii.13; Col. i. 20; Heb. ix.12, 14; I Pet. i. 2, 19; I John i. 7; v. 6-8; Rev. i. 5).”1 |
| Many people today regard the idea of the atonement as barbaric and outmoded. They often say: “Why would God require or even allow His Son to be tortured and killed in such a bloody humiliating manner? Isn’t God a God of love? Could He not just forgive people’s sins without the awful shedding of blood?” A Protestant liberal theologian has even argued that the classic Christian concept of the atonement is nothing short of child abuse. Such comments reveal an ignorance and/or rejection of divine revelation. They also show us that in order to understand the meaning of Christ’s death we also must learn some things regarding God’s nature, sin, man’s estate and so forth. Thus, while on the one hand the subject of the atonement is simple, it also is very rich and multifaceted. |
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The Necessity of the Atonement |
| When discussing the necessity of the atonement some
different aspects of the atonement need to be considered for the sake
of clarification. First, a distinction needs to be made between
necessity as it relates to God’s motive or moving cause
to save sinners and necessity as it relates to God’s method or means
used to achieve salvation. These topics need to be treated separately
because they deal with different questions, each of which the Bible
answers differently. |
| Did God because of something
within His own nature or something intrinsic to man have to save
sinners? Did God’s attributes of love, mercy and compassion force Him
to act? Could God have left the whole human race to perish in their
sins if He so desired? The biblical answer is that God’s decision to
save a people for Himself was a free choice that was not determined by
any internal or external necessity. Paul says that God’s predestination
of the elect to salvation in Christ was “according to the good
pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:5). To the Galatians Paul wrote,
“Jesus Christ…gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from
this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father”
(1:4). In Colossians, we read that “it pleased the Father…to reconcile
all things to Himself by Him” (1:19). All these passages clearly
indicate that God’s decision to save sinners was a free sovereign
choice. |
| Note also that the Bible
repeatedly speaks of salvation as a “free gift” given by God.
This does not mean that achieving redemption was without cost for the
Bible says that Christians were “bought at a price” (1 Cor. 6:20;
7:23); that Christ redeemed the church with His own precious blood (1
Pet. 1:19). The free gift passages refer to the fact that God bestows
salvation upon the elect freely or voluntarily. God was not obligated
to save anyone but out of His own good pleasure He gave “freely”. Paul
says that believers are “justified freely by His grace” (Rom. 3:24);
that God will “freely give us all things” (Rom. 8:32); that the Holy
Spirit enables us to “know the things that have been freely given to us
by God” (1 Cor. 2:12). God’s freeness in giving salvation to the elect
is intimately connected with the biblical concept of grace. Grace means
that God gives His favor and salvation to those who deserve wrath and
hell-fire to those who hate God and are His enemies. Salvation is never
presented in the Scriptures as bestowed because of obligation or debt.
Neither a foreseen faith, nor good works, or bloodline, or nationality
has anything to do with God’s free choice. “Therefore He has mercy on
whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Rom. 9:18; cf. 4:1-5). |
| Although the Bible teaches
that the moving cause of the atonement was God’s sovereign good
pleasure, this fact does not mean that God’s decision was purely
arbitrary. Yes, it was a free act but it was an act rooted in God’s
nature. The Bible speaks of the atonement as the provision of God’s
love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”
(Jn. 3:16). “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God
has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live
through Him. 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. Beloved, if
God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 Jn. 4:9-11). The
love of God is the spring from which the atonement flows. Jesus’ death
was the supreme demonstration of God’s love. “But God demonstrated His
own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us” (Rom. 5:8). Paul informs us in Romans 8:29 that God’s love
preceded election. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of His Son”. (The word foreknew in this passage
is used in the Hebraistic sense of “to love beforehand”). The fact that
God the Father sent His only begotten Son to die for sinners because He
loved them beforehand should spur every Christian not only to wonder
and amazement but also to profound adoration, love and praise toward
God. The Father didn’t have to send the Son and the Son didn’t have to
humble Himself, but because of their love and mercy toward the elect
Jesus came and died. “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into
His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the
LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth
endures to all generations” (Ps. 100:4-5). |
| A second distinction that
needs to be made is between a hypothetical necessity and an absolute
necessity. Some of the early reformers (e.g. Calvin, Luther and
Zwingli) held that the atonement was necessary only in the sense that
God sovereignly decreed to save sinners by Christ’s death. In other
words, the sacrifice of Christ had to take place because God
predestined it, not because it was the only method that did not
contradict God’s moral perfection. If God had wanted to, He could have
decreed other methods of securing the salvation of the elect. It is
important to understand the difference between a hypothetical and
absolute necessity because many passages which point to an absolute
necessity could also be used to support a hypothetical or relative
necessity viewpoint. For example: “O My Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You
will” (Mt. 26:39). “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must
suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise
again” (Mk. 8:31; cf. Lk. 9:22; 24:7). “But first, He must suffer
many things and be rejected by this generation” (Lk. 17:25). “And as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up” (Jn. 3:14; cf. Jn. 12:34; 20:9).
“...[D]emonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise
from the dead” (Ac. 17:3). If God has decreed that something take place
in history, then it must take place. |
| Having considered the moving
cause of the atonement and the hypothetical necessity viewpoint, let us
turn our attention to the biblical evidence for the absolute necessity
understanding of the atonement. Once God decided out of His own
sovereign good pleasure to save a people for Himself, could He have
saved them in an infinite variety of ways or was He limited by an
absolute necessity to only one way: the sinless life and sacrificial
death of the God-Man, Jesus Christ? The biblical evidence clearly
supports the contention that Christ’s work of redemption was the only
possible way that God could save sinners. |
| For those who think a
discussion of the absolute necessity of the atonement is the esoteric
speculation of theologians and thus not worthy of study; a brief
preview of its vital importance is in order. This doctrine is vital for
a number of reasons. First, it refutes the popular modern day notion
that there are many different paths that lead to God and eternal life.
This doctrine proves that only the sinless blood of Christ can remove
the guilt of sin and consequently God’s wrath against the sinner.
Second, it tells us a lot about the God who is–the God with whom we all
have to deal. The God of the Bible is not promiscuous or sloppy
regarding ethics. Jehovah is infinitely holy and righteous and thus
cannot dwell or have fellowship with any person who has the guilt of
sin. Third, it teaches us that sin is exceedingly wicked and evil. Sin
(the transgression of God’s holy law) is not a light thing. It is a
deadly, soul-damning, God-hating, death-loving act. The thought of
committing sin against a God of infinite holiness should make us
tremble with fear. Sin is the reason that the spotless, harmless,
undefiled Son of God had to die to accomplish redemption. Because of
sin, the only sinless, good man who ever lived was humiliated,
abandoned, tortured and publicly executed as a criminal. Fourth, as
noted above, it teaches us that God’s love of the elect is totally
amazing. Although God was not obligated to save anyone, He out of His
love, mercy and kindness decided to save a people from every nation
even though this redemption could only be achieved at the ultimate
cost–the suffering, sacrifice and blood of the Lord of Glory. “Blessing
and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to
the Lamb, forever and ever” (Rev. 6:13)! |
| There are five major biblical reasons why the atonement was necessary, most of which are intimately connected with God’s nature or character. |
| Although the God of the Bible is totally sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing and infinite in perfections, there are certain things that God cannot do. For example, God cannot lie (Tit. 1:2; Heb. 6:18) or tempt man to sin (Jas. 1:13). Jehovah can do anything except violate His own nature. In other words “He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). Therefore, when God determined to save a people from the guilt of sin, He could only choose a course of action consistent with His own character (in particular His moral character). The apostle Paul put it this way, God’s method of salvation had to demonstrate “His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). The attributes of God that directly lead to the necessity of the atonement are God’s righteousness, justness and holiness. |
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| Many people who object to the biblical doctrine of the
atonement do so because they do not understand who God is. They reason
within themselves: “Why doesn’t God simply forgive and forget? Wouldn’t
God forgive people as long as they say they are sorry and endeavor to
be a better person? Isn’t the idea that only the death and
shed blood of Christ can remove sin extreme and fanatical?” The reason
God cannot simply let sin slide or sweep it under the rug and pretend
it doesn’t exist is because He is righteous and just. “The LORD
is righteous, He is in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness” (Zeph.
3:5). “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne”
(Ps. 89:14). “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are
justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is
He” (Dt. 32:4). When the Bible speaks of God’s ethical perfection and
justice, it does not refer to a standard or realm of ideals
outside of God but to God’s very being itself. “God is light and in Him
is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). Therefore, Abraham, who knew God’s
character, could ask Jehovah: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?” (Gen. 18:25). Likewise, the apostle Paul could say, “Is there
unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!” (Rom. 9:14). God can only do
what is right. Because of His nature, He can only do what is just. |
| God’s nature demands that sin
be punished. If God refused to give sin its full measure of punishment
then He could not claim to be perfectly just. God’s infinite holiness,
justice and righteousness of necessity demand the infliction of
punishment on the sinner himself or on an appropriate substitute. The
Bible contains many passages that declare that God has to punish sin.
Jehovah said, “I will not justify [i.e. declare righteous] the
wicked” (Ex. 23:7). “We are told repeatedly that He will by no means
clear the guilty, Ex. 34:7; Num. 14:18; Nah. 1:3. He hates sin with a
divine hatred; His whole being reacts against it, Ps. 5:4-6; Nah. 1:2;
Rom. 1:18. Paul argues in Romans 3:25-26, that it was necessary that
Christ should be offered as an atoning sacrifice for sin, in order that
God might be just while justifying the sinner. The important thing was
that the justice of God should be maintained.”2 |
| A common objection against the biblical teaching that God must punish sin is that it makes God less charitable than many people who are willing to forgive offenses without any sort of satisfaction. While it is true that many people can and do forgive personal offenses against them, the comparison between God and a private individual is totally illegitimate. God is the Creator, Sovereign Lord over all, Supreme Lawgiver and Judge of all men; therefore, He must maintain His veracity, law and justice. A private individual does not have to contradict his own nature, law and justice to forgive an offense. The Bible repeatedly affirms that as the Supreme Judge over the whole earth, God will only render just judgment. “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:5-6; cf. Rev. 20:12). |
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| Another aspect of God’s character that necessitates the
atonement is His holiness. “The nature of God is perfect and complete
holiness. This is not an optional or arbitrary matter; it is the way
God is by nature. He has always been absolutely holy. Nothing more need
or can be said. It is useless to ask, Why is God this way? He simply
is. Being contrary to God’s nature, sin is repulsive to Him. He is
allergic to sin, so to speak. He cannot look upon it. He is compelled
to turn away from it.”3
God’s infinite holiness causes Him to hate sin with a perfect hatred.
God is so holy that before sinful men can come into His presence and
have fellowship with Him the guilt of their sin must be removed and
they must be clothed with perfect righteousness. |
| The attribute of God that is
emphasized by Scripture above all other attributes (including love) is
His holiness. God’s holiness refers to His absolute distinctness from
all His creatures and to His glorious exalted existence above His
creation in infinite majesty as well as His infinite moral purity. The
God of the Bible is not like the pagan deities who fornicate, get drunk
and commit lewd acts because He really exists (they do not) and He
is holy. “Who is like You, O LORD among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness” (Ex. 15:11). Jehovah is so holy
that the mighty seraphim continually cry out before Him, “Holy, holy,
holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of
His glory” (Isa. 6:3; cf. Rev. 4:8). |
| God demands a perfect holiness
in people not arbitrarily but because His own perfect holiness requires
it. To the Israelite He said: “you shall be holy; for I am holy” (Lev.
11:44). Because God is holy, He hates sin and cannot dwell with
sinners. “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on
wickedness” (Hab. 1:13). “You are not a God who takes pleasure in
wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand
in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity” (Ps. 5:4-5). |
| When God created Adam and Eve,
He made them in His own image (Gen. 1:27). Before they ate the
forbidden fruit and fell into sin, they were holy and righteous. They
were without any ethical spot or blemish. What happened to Adam and Eve
when they disobeyed God’s command and sinned against Him? They were
cast out of God’s presence. Why? Because a thrice holy God cannot have
fellowship with people who are not holy. God is so infinitely holy that
every sin that an individual commits merits death: physical, spiritual
and eternal. God had warned Adam that the day that he disobeyed Him, he
would certainly die (Gen. 2:17). God’s holiness of intrinsic necessity
set up a separation between Jehovah and all sinners. “Behold, the LORD’s
hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it
cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and
your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear”
(Isa. 59:1-2). |
| Once we understand the holiness of God then we can understand the severe penalty that sin deserves. When God demands that “the soul who sins must die” (Ezek. 18:4), He is not setting forth an arbitrary penalty but is penalizing sinners exactly as His holy and righteous nature requires. Thus Paul writes: “knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death” (Rom. 1:32). Sin is wicked. It is a moral evil that is the very opposite of holiness. God hates all workers of iniquity (Ps. 5:5) and is angry with the wicked every day (Ps. 7:11). Sin in thought, word or deed is an abomination to the Lord. God is determined because of the immutable holiness of His nature to punish all sin with death. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). “Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (Jas. 1:15). “The soul who sins must die” (Ezek. 18:4). John Murray writes: “Sin is the contradiction of God and He must react against it with holy wrath. Wherever sin is, the wrath of God rests upon it (cf. Rom. 1:18). Otherwise, God would be denying Himself, particularly His holiness, justice, and truth. But wrath must be removed if we are to enjoy the favor of God which salvation implies. And the only provision for the removal of wrath is propitiation. This is surely the import of Romans 3:25, 26, that God set forth Christ a propitiation to declare His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the ungodly.”4 Because of who God is (He is holy, righteous and just), and because of what sinners are (they are unholy, unrighteous and guilty), people have only two choices. They can remain in their sin and unholiness and thus be forever cast away from God’s presence into hell or they can trust in Christ who as a substitute paid the penalty in full by His death and provided a perfect holiness or righteousness by His life. |
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| God has given unto mankind a moral law, which is
summarized in the Ten Commandments. God’s moral law helps us understand
God’s righteousness and holiness for His moral law reflects His
character. For example, Jehovah commands us to be holy (Lev. 11:44).
Why? Because He is holy (1 Pet. 1:16). God also commands us not to lie
(Dt. 5:20). Why? Because Jehovah is truth itself (Jn. 14:6) and cannot
lie (Heb. 6:18). Ethical absolutes are not philosophical abstractions
existing in some supposed realm of ideals. They are rooted in God’s
very being and thus they are as immutable and eternal as God Himself.
The only reason that people have a sense of what is right and wrong is
because man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) and thus has
the work of the law written upon the heart (Rom. 2:15). |
| Why does the law of God
necessitate the work of Christ? Because the law carries with it penal
sanctions that also reflect God’s nature and character. Thus, these
sanctions also are immutable and eternal. Remember, it is God’s
holiness that causes Him to hate sin with a perfect hatred and God’s
justice requires that sin receive its full penalty. And what is the
penalty that God’s law threatens? It is death (Gen. 2:17; Dt. 27:36;
Ezek. 18:20; Rom. 1:18,32; 6:23; Jas. 1:15; Rev. 20:14-15). “Since God
is true and cannot lie, these threatenings must necessarily be executed
either upon the sinner himself or upon a surety.”5 |
| The moment that you sinned
against God you incurred real guilt before Him.6
Perhaps you think
that you are a good person. That God will accept you on the basis of
your good works. The Bible, however, says that: “There is none
righteous, no, not one...for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God” (Rom. 3:9, 23). “For there is not a just man on earth who
does good and does not sin” (Eccl. 7:20). “Sin is a real criminal
offense against God. We should not confuse guilt feelings with real
guilt. All men are guilty before God (Rom. 3:19). Yet, most men do not
know it or feel it. Modern psychology and psychiatry attempt to remove
guilt feelings. But no one can remove our real guilt but God Himself.”7 Since
you have broken many of God’s laws, you are guilty and now have God’s
curse (the eternal death penalty) upon you. “For it is written, ‘Cursed
is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in
the book of the law, to do them’” (Gal. 3:10). “The wages of sin is
death” (Rom. 6:23). “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life
was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15). If you have not
believed in Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Scriptures, than you
are an enemy of God and His wrath abides upon you this very moment. “He
who believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not
believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him”
(Jn. 3:36). Your only hope is the substitute (the Lord Jesus Christ)
that God has provided. |
| Because God’s law and its
cause are a reflection of His perfect character, He could not set aside
the law and its penalty without denying Himself. Thus, to redeem the
elect a substitute had to endure the curse or penalty of the law in
full. The law pronounces a curse upon the sinner and only Christ can
eliminate that curse. How? Not by setting aside the curse but by
enduring the curse in the believer’s place. “Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is
written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” (Gal. 3:13). “For
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). “He has appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26). “Christ was offered
to bear the sin of many” (Heb. 9:28). Hodge writes: “If the penalty is
an essential part of the law; if the whole law is immutable; if Christ
actually came to fulfill the law and not to relax its demands; then it
follows, without doubt, that he suffered the penalty of the law as our
Substitute.”8 |
| Since, unbelievers in their
natural depravity as well as non-Christian theists (e.g. followers of
Islam and Judaism) reject the biblical doctrine of the necessity of a
substitutionary sacrifice (in order to eliminate the guilt of sin,
remit the penalty and thus eliminate God’s wrath against the sinner) a
common heretical objection against the atonement should be considered.
It is often said that all that is needed to get right with God is
repentance. That is, one must tell God that he is sorry and one must
stop the evil behavior that offends God and turn over a new leaf, so to
speak. Then God will forgive all of that person’s sins. People who
believe this will often appeal to passages which speak of God relenting
on a promised punishment on the basis of repentance (e.g. Ahab, 1
Kings. 21:27-29; Nineveh, Jonah 3:10; Hezekiah, Isa. 38:1-5; etc.). the
problem with this view is that it confounds God’s temporal punishments
and blessings with His eternal sanctions. Obedience to God’s
law can and does bring temporal blessings (Dt. 28:1-14) while
disobedience brings severe curses in this life (Dt. 28:15-68).
However, the Bible never, ever teaches that people can be
saved or have their sins removed on the basis of obedience to God’s
law. The central focus of the Old Testament ceremonial law was upon the
shed blood of animals to cover over or expiate sin.
The New Testament teaching on the matter could not be more explicit:
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by
faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we
might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law;
for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Gal. 2:16). |
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| Thus far we have seen that because God is holy,
righteous and just, His nature requires that sin be punished with death
(spiritual, physical and eternal). Therefore, to be saved we need a
substitute who can pay the penalty in our place. (In a moment we will
see that only the sinless God-Man Jesus Christ could fulfill the
necessary requirements to be that perfect substitute). However, the
Bible also teaches that having the guilt of our sins removed is not
enough to gain eternal life with God. Jehovah also requires a positive
righteousness. God requires a life lived in perpetual righteousness; a
life lived in perfect obedience to His law before eternal life is
bestowed. Morey writes: “In order to gain the blessing of God your
obedience must be: (1) personal : ‘If you listen to
the commandment’ (Dt. 11:26); (2) perfect : ‘what does the LORD
your God require from you but to fear the LORD your God,
to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD
your God with all your heart and with all your soul’
(Dt. 10:12); (3) perpetual: ‘Oh, that they had such a heart in
them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always’
(Dt. 5:29). The only obedience acceptable before God is one in which
100% of you keeps 100% of the Law 100% of the time. ‘For whoever keeps
the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of
all’ (Jas. 2:10)”9 |
| The biblical teaching that God
requires a perfect, personal and perpetual obedience to His law before
eternal life is attained is also taught by the covenant of works made
with Adam. After God created Adam, He told him not to eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). If Adam obeyed, he would
live. That is, he would gain access to the tree of life. In Revelation
22:14, the right to the tree of life and entrance into the heavenly
city are linked. If Adam had met God’s condition of a perfect
obedience, his reward would have been life everlasting in God’s
presence. Adam, however, failed. His one act of disobedience caused him
to be ejected from the garden of Eden. Then the tree of life was
guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword to prevent Adam’s access to the
tree. “One may therefore conclude that the covenant of works contained
both a penalty and a reward…. Had there been no sin, access to the tree
would not have been cut off. One single act brought the penalty.”10 |
| Our problem is not just that
we have the guilt of sin but also that we lack a perfect righteousness.
Paul said, “the doers of the law will be justified” (Rom. 2:13).
Therefore, we need the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ if we are
to obtain eternal life, for we continually fall short of God’s standard
(Rom. 3:23). The Bible teaches that Christ lived a perfect sinless
life. Jesus challenged His opponents saying, “Which of you convicts Me
of sin?” (Jn. 8:46). The author of Hebrews says that Jesus was “holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26); that He “was
in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Paul
says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor.
5:21). The apostle John writes: “in Him there is no sin” (1 Jn 3:5).
Peter says that Jesus “committed no sin” (1 Pet. 2:22); that Christ was
“as a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19). There are
only 331/2 years of behavior that God will accept—the sinless,
obedient, perfect life of Christ. It was absolutely necessary for Jesus
to come and “fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15) so His people could
have eternal life. Christ not only eliminated the penalty for sin by
His sacrificial death but He also earned the heavenly reward. Murray
writes: “Salvation requires not only the forgiveness of sin but also
justification. And justification, adequate to the situation in which
lost mankind is, demands a righteousness such as belongs to no other
than the incarnate Son of God, a righteousness with divine property and
quality (cf. Rom. 1:17; 3:21, 22; 10:3; II Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). It is
the righteousness of the obedience of Christ (Rom. 5:19). But only the
Son of God incarnate, fulfilling to the full extent the commitments of
the Father’s will, could have provided such a righteousness.”11 |
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| When the New Testament epistles explain the death of Christ, they do so in terms of necessity. For example, the author of Hebrews says that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). If the method of salvation depended solely upon God’s arbitrary decision then the shedding of blood would not be necessary. The author of Hebrews speaking under divine inspiration not only says that blood is necessary but only one type of blood will do—the blood of Christ. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God... For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Heb. 10:11-12, 14). If God could simply by divine fiat pardon sin then the central message of Hebrews 9 and 10 would be totally untrue. Furthermore, the Bible says that Christ appeased the wrath of God (Rom. 3:25). If God could have appeased His own wrath by a mere act of volition (without first demanding any satisfaction) then all the passages which speak of Christ propitiating God’s wrath would be not only unnecessary but would be purely for dramatic effect as in a stage play and nothing more. The very idea that God would send His only begotten Son to the cross for any other reason than necessity not only is a denial of God’s wisdom but also borders on blasphemy. Paul did not for a moment entertain such thinking. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin” (Eph. 1:7). Christ has “made peace through the blood of the cross” (Col. 1:20). |
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| When we examine the biblical teaching regarding God’s
moral attributes, His law with its eternal penal sanctions, the nature
of sin and man’s predicament as guilty before God, the need of a
perfect righteousness for eternal life and so on, everything points to
only one conclusion: Christ’s sinless life and sacrificial death was
the only way that sinners could be saved. Jesus said, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
(Jn. 14:6). “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved”
(Jn. 10:9). Peter “filled with the Holy Spirit” said regarding “Jesus
Christ of Nazareth”: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is
no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”
(Ac. 4:12). |
| The issue of the necessity of the atonement is a life and death, heaven or hell issue. Now that you have an understanding of who God really is, why He hates sin, why sin must be punished, how God’s love and mercy sent His only begotten Son to the cross, and, why there is no other way to be saved other than Christ’s life and blood, are you going to trust in Christ alone for your salvation? Or, will you continue on the path of iniquity and destruction? Woe unto you if you turn away from such a glorious salvation. “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power” (2 Th. 1:8-9). |
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The Nature of the Atonement |
| The section on the necessity of the atonement dealt primarily with the question: Why did Jesus have to suffer and die a bloody death to redeem the elect? The answer (as noted above) arose out of God’s nature and man’s predicament. When we examine the nature of the atonement we answer the question: How did Jesus bring or cause a total reconciliation between a holy, righteous, and just God and an unholy, unrighteous, and sinful people? To answer this question, we must briefly consider Christ’s redemptive work as a whole. The multifaceted picture of the atonement presented by Scripture arises out of the fact that Christ’s salvation of His people is comprehensive. Jesus dealt with every aspect and consequence of sin that resulted from the fall. Christ dealt with: the guilt of sin by expiation; the wrath of God by propitiation; the alienation of God by reconciliation; and the bondage of sin by redemption. |
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| The central aspect of Christ’s sacrifice is expiation.
Jesus offered Himself on the cross as a sacrifice to expiate or remove
the guilt of our sins. When John the baptist saw Jesus approaching, he
proclaimed: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world” (Jn. 1:29). Paul told the Ephesian church that Christ gave
“Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling aroma” (Eph. 5:2). We begin with expiation because all the
other elements (propitiation, reconciliation and redemption) of our
comprehensive salvation logically proceed from Christ’s expiatory
sacrifice. “It is by expiation that propitiation, reconciliation and
ransom take place. Once our sin and guilt is removed, God’s wrath and
alienation, and our bondage to the law, sin and Satan are also removed.”12
“The idea of expiation is the removal of liability accruing from sin.
Sacrifice is the provision whereby this liability is removed–it is the
substitutive endurance of penalty and transference of liability from
the offerer to the sacrifice.”13 |
| In order to understand the expiatory aspect of Christ’s sacrifice, we must have some understanding of the Old Testament sacrificial system. We need this understanding for a number of reasons. First, the Old Testament sacrificial system typified the redemptive work of Christ (Col. 2:17; Heb. 9:23-24; 10:1). The New Testament authors writing under divine inspiration applied terms of the Old Testament sacrificial system to Jesus Christ. Second, the detailed descriptions of the Levitical offerings can shed light upon New Testament terminology. The New Testament authors often did not go into great detail regarding the terms of sacrifice that apply to Christ because they assumed the foundation of Old Testament revelation. Therefore, as we examine the sacrifice of Christ, we will need to use both the Old and New Testaments. Scripture is its own best interpreter. There are different aspects of Christ’s sacrifice that will be considered under expiation. |
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| The Bible teaches that Christ’s suffering and death
were vicarious. This means that in order to remove the guilt
and penalty for sin, Jesus took upon Himself all the guilt for our sins
and the full penalty that we deserved. In other words, Jesus died in
our place, as our substitute. There are many passages in
Scripture that teach that Christ bore the sins of His people. “Surely
He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we
esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and
by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has
laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:4-6).
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). “Christ
also suffered for us...who Himself bore our sins in His own
body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for
righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Pet. 2:21,24).
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a
curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). “Christ was offered to bear the sins
of many” (Heb. 9:28). “Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). The “Lord Jesus Christ...gave Himself for
our sins” (Gal. 1:3-4). |
| The Greek prepositions that
are used in connection with Christ’s death clearly teach a vicarious
atonement. Jesus said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but
to serve, and give His life a ransom for [anti] many”
(Mt. 20:28; cf. Mk. 10:45). The preposition anti means
literally “in the place of” or “in exchange for”. Christ came “to give
His life in the place of many”. The same Greek preposition is
used in Matthew 5:38 where it says, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for
a tooth” which means “an eye in exchange for an eye and a tooth
in exchange for a tooth”. It is also used in
Matthew 2:22 where it says “that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead
of his father Herod”. |
| Most passages which speak of
Christ’s death employ the more ambiguous preposition huper.
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for [huper]
you” (Lk. 22:19,20). “Christ also suffered...the just for the
unjust” (1 Pet. 3:18; cf. Jn. 6:51; 15:13; Rom. 5:6-8; 8:32; 2 Cor.
5:14-15, 21; Gal. 3:13; Eph 5:2,25; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Heb. 2:9). The
preposition huper is very similar to our English preposition,
for. It has a wide meaning and thus does not always denote
substitution. Sometimes it has the sense of, “for the benefit of” and
at other times, it can mean “in the place of”. Shedd argues that the
New Testament authors often employed the preposition huper
because they wanted to emphasize both points: “that Christ died in the
sinner’s place, and for the sinner’s benefit.”14
One’s
interpretation, of course, must be determined by the context.
Theological liberals who reject the substitutionary atonement (because
it does not fit in with their Satanic and humanistic presuppositions
regarding God, sin, and salvation) used to argue that huper could
not possibly mean “instead of”. Archeological discoveries, however,
have once again proved the liberals wrong. Several inscriptions have
been found that have huper with the meaning “as representative
of”.15
Clark notes recent discoveries that use huper of professional
“scribes who wrote for and instead of his employer”.16
The biblical
doctrine of a vicarious atonement or a substitutionary sacrifice cannot
be denied. |
| Christ’s suffering and death
were done in the place of His people. Jesus stood in the place of the
sinner, bore his sin and was punished in the sinner’s stead. But, how
was the sinner’s sin placed upon Christ on the cross? The Bible teaches
that whoever believes in Jesus has his sins imputed to Him on
the cross. Paul says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for
us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor.
5:21). This does not mean that Christ became a sinner or a
wicked person for such a teaching would contradict the many passages
which teach that Christ was sinless and ethically perfect (e.g. Jn.
8:46; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Jn. 3:5; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22). What it means is
that “the guilt of sin as liability to punishment was imputed
to Christ [or reckoned to His account]; and this could be transferred,
because it did not inhere in the person of the sinner, but was
something objective”.17
Thus Peter could say, He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1
Pet. 2:24). |
| The doctrine of vicarious sacrifice and the imputation of the guilt of sin is clearly taught in the Old Testament sacrificial ritual that involved the sinner laying (or literally in Hebrew, “pressing”) his hand upon the head of the sacrificial animal immediately prior to its sacrifice. “If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him” (Lev. 1:3-4; cf. 3:2, 8, 13; 4:4, 15, 24; 16:21). Theological liberals (who always seem to be running from the truth of God’s infallible Word) argue that this ritual merely symbolizes a declaration or setting apart of the offerer’s property to God. Their theory, however, is disproved both from the analogy of Scripture and from the fact that the laying on and pressing of the hand does not occur in the bloodless cake or cereal offerings. The symbolism of the pressing of the hand on the sacrificial victim indicates both substitution (the clean animal will suffer and die in the sinner’s place) and the transfer or imputation of guilt (or liability) to the animal. This interpretation is decisively confirmed by Leviticus 16:21: “and Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.” Moorehead writes: “Most specific and definite is the language touching this remarkable scene. The high priest laid both his hands on the goat’s head. In the other sacrifices where a single individual performed this act it was his hand, one hand, that made the transfer; but here both hands were employed: the hands that had been filled with incense, that carried the blood into the Divine Presence, are now filled with the sins, iniquities and transgressions of the congregation, and these hands put them all on the head of the victim! Substitution and imputation cannot be more vividly expressed.”18 |
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| We have noted that because of God’s nature (He is holy,
just and righteous) and man’s predicament (man is guilty of sin, liable
to the punishment of eternal death and in bondage to sin and Satan),
the only possible way to save man is for a substitute to
eliminate man’s guilt, pay the penalty and secure his release from
bondage. The question that we also need to consider is: “Why did it
have to be Jesus Christ? Why the sinless Son of God?” There are many
reasons why only the God-Man, Jesus Christ, could be the
substitute for His people. |
| First, Jesus had to be a
sinless man. He had to be a man in order that sin would be punished in
the same nature which incurred the guilt of sin. “Inasmuch then as the
children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared
in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power
of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does
not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.
Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He
might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to
God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:14-17).
Berkhof writes: “Since man sinned, it was necessary that the penalty
should be borne by man. Moreover, the paying of the penalty involved
suffering of body and soul, such as only man is capable of bearing,
John 12:27; Acts 3:18; Heb. 2:14; 9:22. It was necessary that Christ
should assume human nature, not only with all its essential properties,
but also with all the infirmities to which it is liable after the fall,
and should thus descend to the depths of degradation to which man had
fallen, Heb 2:17,18).”19
Jesus assumed a human nature in order to suffer and die on the cross
and in order to rise bodily from the tomb victorious over sin, Satan
and death on the third day. |
| Christ had to be sinless and
perfectly holy because if He Himself had the guilt and pollution of
sin, He could only suffer and die for His own sins and not for the
elect’s. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who
come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for
them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the
heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up
sacrifices, first for his owns sins and then for the people’s, for this
He did once for all when He offered up Himself” (Heb. 7:25-27). |
| God in the Old Testament
emphasized repeatedly that only ceremonially clean animals were
acceptable for sacrifice. The animals had to be “without spot” (Num.
19:2; 28:3,9,11; 29:17,26; etc.) and “without blemish” (Ex. 12:5; 29:1;
Lev. 1:3, 10; 3:1, 6; 4:3, 23, 28, 32; 5:15, 18; 6:6; 9:2, 3; 14:10;
22:19, 21; 23:12, 18; etc.). The animals offered had to be perfect
physical specimens (Dt. 15:21). Any defect no matter how small
disqualified that animal.20
“You shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the
cattle, sheep, or from the goats, But whatever has a defect, you shall
not offer, for it shall not be accepted on your behalf. And whoever
offers a peace offering to the LORD, to fulfill his vow,
or a freewill offering from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect
to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it” (Lev. 22:19-21). The
requirement for “clean” animals preceded the giving of the law for
after the flood Noah offered to God burnt offerings “of every clean
animal and ever clean bird” (Gen. 8:20). All these requirements
typified the moral perfection of Jesus Christ. Christians are redeemed
“with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19). “Christ...offered Himself without spot to
God” (Heb. 9:14). |
| To meet all the exigencies
arising out of God’s nature and man’s predicament, Jesus also had to be
God. Christ had to be God in order to offer a sacrifice of infinite
value to the Father. If the Messiah was a mere man or a mighty angel
(as some cults allege), then He would not have been able to
atone for millions of people from every tribe, nation and tongue (Rev.
5:9). Because Jesus was God, He had power over life and death. “No one
takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it
down and I have power to take it again” (Jn. 10:18). With both a human
and divine nature, our Lord not only resisted all the assaults of Satan
and temptations of life but conquered death itself. He was Jesus of
Nazareth “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Ac. 2:24). Christ,
who is both God and man, is not only the only one who meets
every biblical condition of a substitute but He also is the only one
who could properly intercede or mediate between God and man. Who but
the Lord of glory could intercede simultaneously for millions
of people twenty four hours a day? |
| Another reason that Jesus had to be God is that a regular person like you and I cannot atone or pay the penalty for the sins of another. “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Ps. 49:7). “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son” (Ezek. 18:20). “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression?” (Mic. 6:7) “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mt. 17:26) We can only pay the penalty for our own sins by dying and experiencing the pains of hell. Creatures cannot die in the place of another for only God, the offended party, has the right and ability to render satisfaction. God the divine Judge, is angry with guilty sinners; and yet, it is God who provides a method to remove the guilt of sin and propitiate this anger. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor 5:19). “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20). Shedd writes: “It is Divine justice that demands satisfaction, and it is the Divine compassion that makes the satisfaction. God is the one who holds man in a righteous captivity, and He is the one who pays the ransom that frees him from it. God is the holy Judge of man who requires satisfaction for sin; and God is the merciful Father of man who provides it for him. This fact relieves the doctrine of vicarious atonement of all appearance of severity, and evidences it to be the height of mercy and compassion.”21 |
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| Before a person can have the forgiveness of sins, the
wrath of God removed, a full reconciliation with Jehovah, and peace and
fellowship with Him, what is first absolutely necessary? The first
thing necessary and the starting point of all the saving graces is expiation
or the removal of sin. This Christ achieved by His suffering and bloody
death. Why is expiation so important? Expiation is important because
Christ’s sacrificial death is the cause of the removal of God’s
wrath against us and, consequently, the re-establishment of our
fellowship with Him. “After the foundation has been laid for the
release of penalty, it is easy to release it. When a sufficient reason
has been established why sin should be pardoned, it is easy to pardon.
It is the first step that costs. This is taught by St. Paul in Rom.
5:10. ‘If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by
His life.’ The greater includes the less. If God’s mercy is great
enough to move him to make a vicarious atonement for man’s sin, it is
certainly great enough to move him to secure the consequences of such
an act.”22
Now, we understand why the central focus of the whole Bible is on the
death of Jesus Christ. Paul says, “For I determined not to know
anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). |
| Before examining how Christ’s
suffering and death is related to the forgiveness of sins one must
first consider the word kippur, translated as atonement (KJV,
RSV, NIV, ASV, NASB) and expiation (Jewish Publication Society
translation, 1962). Most commentators and theologians believe the word
means “to cover over”. Thus the sense is that the blood of the
sacrifice covers the guilt of the sinner. This view is derived from the
Arabic root, the meaning of which is “cover” or “conceal” and possibly
from kpar in Genesis 6:14 which means to cover over with pitch.
Shedd writes: “The suffering of the substituted bullock or ram has the
effect to cover over the guilt of the real criminal, and make
it invisible to the eye of God the holy.”23
Many modern Hebrew scholars
reject the meaning of covering. They believe that it probably is
derived from the Akkadian verb kippuru which means to “cleanse”
or “wipe”. This view fits well with the fact that sacrificial blood is
often associated in Scripture with cleansing and purification. Others
argue that the root kpar is derived from koper which
means “a ransom price”. Wenham writes: “Kipper, ‘to make
atonement’, could then be literally translated, ‘to pay a ransom (for
one’s life).’ In certain passages where various monetary payments are
said to make atonement, to pay a ransom would seem to be a much more
appropriate rendering than ‘to cleanse’ (e.g. Ex. 30:15; Num. 31:50).
Such an understanding is compatible with most of the passages which
speak of ‘making atonement’ for someone. Through the animal’s death and
the subsequent rituals men are ransomed from death that their sin and
uncleanness merit.”24 |
| Whether one argues that kippur
refers to covering over the guilt of sin (though obviously not in the
modern pejorative sense); or, the washing or cleansing of sin; or a
ransom which pays for sin; or, even all the above depending on the
context, the central idea of expiation is the same: the guilt of sin is
removed.25
There are many passages that discuss the removal of sin. Psalm 51 says,
“Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin…. Purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow…. Hide
your face from my sins, and blot out any iniquities” (vs. 2, 3, 7, 9).
“When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the
Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:13). “He has appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26). “The blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7). “To Him who
loved us and washed [the Majority Text says freed] us from our
sins in His own blood” (Rev. 1:5). “These are the ones who come out of
the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). “The Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). |
| What did Christ do that
removes the guilt of the sin? Jesus secured the removal of the elect’s
sin by His suffering and death. Because of the guilt of Adam’s sin (the
federal head of the human race) and all actual sins that people commit,
everyone stands under the condemnation and curse of the law. As already
noted, sin merits the eternal death penalty and the sufferings of hell.
Christ, by His suffering and bloody death, fulfilled the penal
obligation of the law. Jesus, as the substitute, endured intense and
agonizing suffering unto death on behalf of His people. Because He paid
the price in full by His blood, the sins that were placed upon Him are
abolished; the forgiveness of sins has been procured. |
| When the Bible describes Christ’s work of removing sin, it uses a variety of terms; such as, cross, blood, suffering and death, which all encompass His vicarious suffering and sacrificial death. Scripture says that Jesus “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2); that “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8); that our Lord “made peace through the blood of the cross” (Col. 1:20); that Christ “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:14). Although every bit of suffering that Christ endured in His life was part of His atonement for the elect, the Bible gives a special emphasis to His death on the cross. “Although in the gospels the life of Jesus is comparatively briefly depicted, His last passion and dying is comprehensively told. Just so the apostolic preaching rather rarely goes back to the conception and birth of Jesus, but puts all the emphasis upon the cross, the death, and the blood of Christ.”26 |
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| The cross indicates a number of things regarding Christ’s suffering and death. First, Jesus suffered a judicial death. Christ was not just a martyr or an example but was a sacrificial victim. “[T]he language of the cross is legal, and it has to do with God’s law.”27 Second, the cross indicates that our Lord was accursed by God. Despicable criminals under the Old Covenant were executed and then were suspended from trees both to intensify their punishment and to turn God’s “fierce anger” from Israel (Num. 25:4; cf. Josh. 10:26; 1 Sam. 31:10). The law says, “he who is hanged is accursed of God” (Dt. 21:23). Jesus was suspended between heaven and earth and was rejected by God and man. He was subject to public humiliation and shame. Our Lord endured the curse of law–the full penalty for the sins of His people. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). Third, the cross indicates intense vicarious suffering by our Lord. The suffering of the cross was excruciating. Jesus was in supreme agony. Fourth, the death of the cross was bloody. Christ’s blood was poured out upon the earth for the elect. |
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Blood |
| Another manner in which the Bible teaches Christ’s
expiatory suffering and death is to focus upon His shed blood. We are
told that the blood of Christ “cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7);
that our sins are washed and we are freed by His blood (Rev. 1:5;
7:14). Paul says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7). Jesus has “made peace through the
blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20). Peter speaks of Christians having
their sins cleansed and forgiven by saying that the blood of Christ was
sprinkled upon them (1 Pet. 1:2); that they were redeemed “with the
precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:19). Romans 3:25 says that Christ’s
blood propitiates (i.e. appeases, eliminates) God’s wrath. The author
of Hebrews says that “without the shedding of blood there is no
remission” (Heb. 9:22). |
| The Bible places great
importance upon the blood of Christ for a number of reasons. First, the
Scriptures equate blood and life. “And whatever man of the house of
Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who eats any blood,
I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him
off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood,
and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your
souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Lev.
17:10-11). Jehovah gives two reasons why blood is not to be consumed by
man. First, blood is the essence of life. Thus, to avoid eating flesh
with blood shows a respect for God-created life. Second, blood is used
to atone for the guilt of sin. “The nature of Old Testament sacrifices
was such that whenever cleansing from sin was required there had to be
a blood ritual, since the relationship with God could not be renewed
without it.”28
Thus, the Bible emphasizes Christ’s shed blood for it represents His
giving of His own life in the place of the believing sinner. Believers
receive expiation only in the shed blood of Christ. Christians are
“justified by His blood” (Rom. 5:9). |
| Second, the blood of Christ points to the sacrificial character of His death. Jesus did not die in an accident, nor did He die as an example or martyr. He suffered unto death as a blood sacrifice. Christ’s life blood is poured out unto death in order to expiate sin and give life to His people. The importance of Christ’s sacrificial death is set forth repeatedly throughout history in the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Exhibiting the cup of red wine to the apostles, Jesus said: “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”(Mt. 26:28). The Lord’s Supper has the bread which represents our Lord’s body and the wine which represents His shed blood. The body and the blood are separate for the blood has been separated from the body by sacrifice. “That is what the wine in the cup means: it means the death of Jesus in our stead. It means the blood poured out from the heart of the incarnate God, that we might have fellowship with God, the sin which divided us being expiated by his death.”29 |
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| The Bible also discusses the importance of Christ’s death. Jesus “became obedient to the point of death” (Phil. 2:8). Paul says that “we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:10). Through Christ’s death “we have become dead to the law” (Rom. 7:4). Jesus delivered us from “the entrance of death” (2 Cor. 1:9). Our Lord came for “the suffering of death” (Heb. 2:9); to “taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). “He is the mediator of the new covenant, by means of death” (Heb. 9:15). Because the penalty for sin against God is death, Christ had to endure the death penalty. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Jesus by His suffering and sacrificial death satisfied the requirements of God’s justice. Jesus by His own death conquered death itself. The biblical use of cross, blood and death all speak of Christ’s vicarious suffering and death. |
|
Suffering |
| The essence of Christ’s atoning work is in His
suffering. God’s law and justice requires that sinners suffer and die.
All the suffering and misery in this world and hell itself is the
reward for sin. The sting of death is in the torments of hell. The
second death is the intensification of the suffering that sin merits.
Christ satisfied the penal obligation of the law by His sufferings.
Jesus’ sufferings delivered His people from guilt. His sufferings
procured the non-infliction of suffering upon the elect. |
| All the suffering that our
Lord experienced from His birth until death were vicarious. Jesus was
born without sin and never committed sin. Therefore, every bit of
suffering that He endured was undeserved; therefore, His suffering was
in our behalf, and in our place. Every moment of pain, every bit of
anguish, every second of agony, every tear of grief and every drop of
blood was endured for us. Christ the innocent suffered for the guilty
(the elect). “During the whole period of his mortal life the victim was
a-slaying. At the moment of his birth, the sword of justice was
unsheathed against the man who is Jehovah’s fellow, and returned not to
its scabbard till it had been bathed in the blood of Calvary.”30 The
road of Jesus’ life ended at Golgotha. Don’t forget, however, that the
road itself was one of humiliation, of sorrow, of rejection and pain.
The Bible does, however, emphasize the climax of Jesus’ sufferings on
the cross. Our Lord was obedient unto death (Phil. 2:8). When the Bible
says that He suffered unto death it describes the suffering that He
experienced throughout the whole course of His life. |
| Although all of Christ’s
suffering was vicarious the Scriptures place a special emphasis on the
end of Jesus’ life. The Heidelberg Catechism says, “That he, all the
time that he lived on the earth, but especially at the end of his life,
sustained in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sins of all
mankind” (Lord’s Day XV). All of our Lord’s life was part of His
humiliation. Jesus took upon Himself a corruptible human nature in
order to suffer throughout His entire life. However, after the
Lord’s supper when Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray, Christ was aware
that He was entering a new phase of His suffering. At the last supper
Jesus said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer” (Lu. 22:15). Christ was aware that He was
about to drink the full concentration of God’s holy wrath against sin. |
| From Gethsemane onward our
Lord’s sufferings became especially intense and agonizing. At
Gethsemane “He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed” (Mt.
26:37). There was the inward flood of heart agony at Gethsemane where
“his soul was seized with the most appalling terror and sadness, and he
was agitated with such anguish and fear that he had need of a
comforting angel to appear to him. Sweat flowed from his body like
great drops of blood. He offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him who was able to save him from death
(Heb. 5:7).”31 |
| Hendriksen writes “To be sure,
he had been a curse-bearer throughout the days of his humiliation, but
now he was becoming overwhelmed with the curse; and this consciousness
would not again leave him until he was able to say ‘It is finished’
(Gal. 3:13). He knew that he was giving his life as a ransom for many
(Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45); that he, the sinless One, was being made
‘sin’, that is, the object of God’s wrath (II Cor. 5:21). Is it any
wonder then that he said to his three closes disciples, ‘Stay here and
keep awake with me?’ The sorrows of death—not just physical death but
eternal death in the place of his people—were coming upon him, now more
than ever before. That is why he speaks of ‘sorrow to the point of
death.’”32
At Gethsemane Jesus is confronted with the cup of God’s wrath. Jesus
prayed, “Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from Me;
nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Lu. 22:42). Christ
suffered because of what men (both Jews and Romans) did to Him.
However, it was the Father who placed the cup in our Lord’s hand and
told Him to drink. |
| Friday, the day of Jesus’
crucifixion and death was a whole day of intense suffering in both soul
and body. Jesus was betrayed by one of His own disciples into the hands
of wicked men. Also, He was cowardly abandoned by all His disciples and
friends. Christ, who was the friend of sinners, who fed the multitude,
who healed thousands of their diseases, who preached the gospel of
salvation throughout the whole nation of nation of Israel suffered
alone. He faced the cross without any words of comfort, pity or support
from His friends. “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of
heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and
for comforters, but I found none” (Ps. 69:20). As a part of His deep
humiliation the sinless Son of God was tried by wicked, despicable men.
He was arrested as a result of a bribe and at His trial there was a
parade of false witnesses. At His trial He was mocked, spat upon, and
beaten. |
| After being turned over to the
Roman authorities, Jesus was rejected by the Jewish people in favor of
Barabbas a notorious criminal. Then He was scourged by Roman soldiers.
This involved being flogged by a leather whip studded with pieces of
metal and/or bone. This torture was so excruciating and painful that it
became known as intermediate death among the Romans. After this hideous
torture the soldiers mocked Jesus by placing a purple robe on Him;
spitting upon Him; hitting our Lord and shoving a crown of thorns upon
His head. Christ’s face and hair were covered in blood and the blood
from His back covered His legs. When He carried the crossbar on which
He was to be executed to Golgotha He left a trail of blood. He was so
weak from the beating that He received, that He needed assistance to
carry the wooden beam. When Jesus and the soldiers reached the site of
execution they offered Him sour wine mixed with gall (a potion to
deaden the pain). Our Lord refused to drink it for He would do nothing
to blunt the force of the curse upon Him. He then was nailed through
the wrists to the crossbar and fastened to an upright post. John Dick
writes: “Of the various modes of taking away life by violence,
crucifixion is probably the most tormenting. It is one of the many
contrivances of barbarity, the object of which is to make the unhappy
sufferer feel himself dying. He was fixed to the cross with nails
driven through his hands and his feet. Besides the exquisite pain
caused by the perforation of so many parts full of nerves, which are
the instruments of sensation, great torment must have arisen from the
distension of his body, the forcible stretching of its joints and
sinews by its own weight. To this circumstance he alludes in the
twenty-second Psalm: ‘I may tell all my bones’ [v. 17]. ‘All my bones
are out of joint’ [v. 14].”33 |
| As Christ hung on the cross
the leaders of Israel and the people continued to rail and blaspheme
against Him. From noon to three in the afternoon God covered the whole
land in a thick darkness. Darkness is used throughout Scripture to
symbolize God’s judgment against sin (e.g., Is. 5:30; 60:2; Joel 12:30,
31; Amos 5:18, 20; Zeph 1:14-18; Mt. 24:29-30; Ac. 2:20; 2 Pet. 2:17;
Rev. 6:12-17). Is not hell a place of dreadful darkness (Mt. 22:13;
25:30; Job 24:17; Jude 13)? Jesus, the author of life who is light and
has no darkness (Jn. 1:5) experienced the outer darkness in our place.
“The darkness meant judgment, the judgment of God upon our sins, his
wrath as it were burning itself out in the very heart of Jesus, so that
he as our Substitute, suffered most intense agony, indescribable woe,
terrible isolation or forsakenness. Hell came to Calvary that day, and
the Savior descended into it and bore its horrors in our stead.”34 |
| Of all the sufferings that
Christ endured in our behalf the suffering of His soul receives special
attention by the Spirit inspired writers. Jesus said “My soul is
exceedingly sorrowful even to death” (Mt. 26:38). Our Lord’s soul
descended into the very depths of agony and misery. “What our divine
surety suffered in his soul must ever surpass all our powers of
description or conception...we have the best reason to suppose that
every variety of inward agony which a sinless spirit can possibly feel
was experienced by him.”35
Jesus remained the silent lamb as He was mocked, tortured and nailed to
the cross. Yet when the Father withdrew His love, support and intimate
communion from Him and replaced it with unmitigated wrath and
separation our Lord cried out in the severest agony of soul: “My God,
My God, why have you forsaken Me” (Mt. 27:46)? Spurgeon writes: “In
order that the sacrifice of Christ might be complete, it pleased the
Father to forsake his well-beloved Son. Sin was laid on Christ, so God
must turn his face from the Sin-Bearer. To be deserted of his God was
the climax of Christ’s grief, the quintessence of his sorrow. See here
the distinction between the martyrs and their Lord; in their dying
agonies they have been divinely sustained; but Jesus, suffered as the
Substitute for sinners, was forsaken of God.”36 |
| Only a day before when Jesus
had predicted that the disciples would be scattered He took comfort
with the words: “You will be scattered each to his own, and will leave
Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (Jn.
16:32). Because Jesus took our sins upon Him, He was forsaken and
accursed by God. But in that final hour He had no one (not even the
Father) to comfort and console Him. There was a “total eclipse of the
hallowed light which had formerly cheered him amid the deepest gloom.”37
After this Jesus “cried out with a loud voice” and “yielded up His
spirit” (Mt. 27:50). The loud voice indicates that He did not die of
“exhaustion but voluntarily. He gave his life, poured it out,
laid it down (Isa. 53:12; John 10:11, 15), or as here, yielded
it.”38
Christ as a priest offered His own life as a substitutionary sacrifice.
Symington says of Christ’s sufferings on the cross: “This was the
period when emphatically the Son of God made atonement for sin; when
the tide of suffering rose to its height; when the dregs of the bitter
cup of anguish were wrung out; when the sentence of woe reached its
climax. A period, into which whatever is painful in torture,
ignominious in shame, distressing in privation, terrific in satanic
assault, and overwhelming in experienced wrath, was, as it were,
compressed!—a period, whether to the sufferer himself or to the guilty
world whose cause he undertook, the most awfully momentous that had
ever occurred since the commencement of time.”39
John Dick
writes: “He died by the sentence of his Father acting as a righteous
judge, and subjecting him to punishment of sin. Great, therefore, as
were his bodily torments, there were unseen sorrows which were far more
severe; sorrows of the same kind with those which caused his agony in
the garden, and the extremity of which drew from him that mournful
complaint, ‘My God, My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?’ How great was
his humiliation! The Lord of life and glory appeared like a common
mortal and was distinguished only by the intensity of his sufferings,
and the state of complete dereliction in which he expired. The
multitude looked on with unpitying eyes: heaven frowned in
preternatural darkness, and all consolation was withheld from him.”40 |
| Jesus bowed His head and gave
up His spirit. A sacrificial victim must die and Christ gave Himself
over to death. He did not fall into a trance or swoon or fainting spell
as some heretics suppose. The Bible records the spear thrust into His
side and heart as proof that His spirit had departed. When a person
dies the red blood cells stop circulating and fall under the force of
gravity. Thus out of our Lord’s precious heart came “water and blood”
(Jn. 19:34). Our Lord was then laid in a tomb. This is the final stage
of Christ’s humiliation. He was in a state of death for three days. Why
three days? If our Lord had risen within a few hours some (as many
modern heretics assert) would have claimed that Jesus did not really
die but merely fainted or swooned. If He had remained in the grave
longer than three days the natural process of decay would have begun.
But God promised beforehand: “You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor
will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption” (Ps. 16:10; cf. Ac.
2:25-32). Early Sunday morning Jesus rose from the dead. His sacrifice
accomplished and accepted. His humiliation and suffering were over. He
was at that point the glorified, victorious, triumphant King. |
| When we contemplate the price that our Lord paid to eliminate our sins we can only bow our heads in wonder. Although we serve and worship Jesus Christ because He is God (infinite in perfections, etc.), we also serve and worship Him with a special fervency for while we were sinners; while we wallowed in our lusts and filth; while we were rank self-idolaters; while we were haters of God—“Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Once a person by God’s grace understands what Jesus went through to accomplish redemption he or she will gladly become a slave of Christ and will count it an honor to serve and suffer for Him. |
|
|
| As Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross He not
only removed the guilt of sin but also the judgment and wrath that sin
merited. The wrath, anger, judgment and damnation that we full deserved
for our sins was placed upon Christ at Calvary. Our Lord’s sacrifice propitiated
God. By removing the guilt of sin and sin’s penalty Jesus satisfied
God’s perfect justice. “Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation
by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because
in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously
committed” (Rom. 3:25). “Therefore, in all things He had to be made
like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest
in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins
of the people” (Heb. 2:17). “And He Himself is the propitiation
for our sins, and not for ours only but also the whole world” (1 Jn.
2:2). Propitiation means that Christ totally eliminated God’s wrath
against sin. Once Jesus eliminated sin’s guilt and penalty by His
vicarious endurance of wrath, God no longer has any reason (legal or
otherwise) to be angry with the believing sinner. |
| The common hostility and
rejection of the propitiatory element of Christ’s sacrifice that one
encounters today is a result of not understanding God’s character.
Jehovah’s infinite holiness and righteousness of necessity causes Him
to react against all sin with wrath. Thus, Scripture warns us not to
sin with the phrase, “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire” (Dt.
4:24). The Bible teaches that “God is a just judge, and God is angry
with the wicked everyday” (Ps. 7:11). Contrary to modern Evangelicalism
the Bible not only teaches that God hates sin; it also explicitly
teaches that He hates all unbelieving sinners. “For You are not a God
who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The
boastful shall not stand in Your sight; you hate all workers of
iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the LORD
abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man” (Ps.
5:4-6). “The LORD tests the righteous, but the wicked
and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked
He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the
portion of their cup” (Ps 11:5-6). |
| John the Baptist proclaimed:
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not
believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him”
(Jn. 3:36). Paul said, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Rom. 1:18). He
warned unbelievers saying, “you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who
‘will render to each one according to his deeds’...to those who are
self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—
indignation and wrath” (Rom. 2:5-6, 8). “In Romans 5:10 and 11:28
sinners are called ‘enemies of God’ (echthroi) in a passive
sense, indicating, not that they are hostile to God, but that they are
the objects of God’s holy displeasure.”41
Paul describes the terror and
judgment that awaits unbelievers at the second coming: “when the Lord
Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire
taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the
glory of His power” (2 Th. 1:7-9). |
| The purpose of Christ’s
sacrifice was not to have some psychological effect upon man but rather
to appease, placate or turn aside God’s wrath. Jehovah is the One whose
holiness and justice has been violated. He is the One who has been
sinned against. Jesus by His suffering and death brings peace
between an angry and offended God and the believing sinner. “Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). He has “made peace by the blood of His cross”
(Col. 1:20). Shedd writes: “Not until the Holy One has been
‘propitiated’ by an atonement, can the penalty be ‘released.’ Neither
of these effects can exist without the antecedent cause. The Bible
knows nothing of the remission of punishment arbitrarily: that is
without a ground or reason. Penal suffering in Scripture is released,
or not inflicted upon the guilty, because it has been endured by a
substitute. If penalty was remitted by sovereignty merely, without any
judicial ground or reason whatever; if it were inflicted neither upon
the sinner nor his substitute; this would be the abolition of
penalty, not the remission of it.”42 |
| Only biblical Christianity
deals properly and logically with the problem of man’s guilt and
punishment. Other forms of theism such as Judaism, Islam, and the
monotheistic cults (e.g., Jehovah’s Witnesses) have God abolishing the
guilt and penalty of sin on the basis of human merit: repentance,
prayer, good works and so on. All such systems which base salvation on
human merit contradict the biblical teaching regarding God’s
character. Sin is an offense against God’s majestic holiness and
justice. Jehovah cannot merely abolish the penalty because a person
says he is sorry and turns over a new leaf. The penalty must be paid in
full by an appropriate substitute before remission
of sins can take place. What this means is that your only hope of
having God’s wrath against you removed, and of having peace with God is
to place your trust in Jesus Christ. You must believe that He lived a
sinless life and that He died a sacrificial death in your place. |
| A common modernistic misconception of the doctrine of propitiation is that it portrays God the Father as mean, vengeful, unmerciful and unloving and thus, the Father needs to be pacified by the kind, merciful and loving Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible rejects all such caricatures of this glorious doctrine. The work of redemption is the work of the Triune God. There is no disharmony, opposition or contradiction of purpose between the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. It was the Father’s love of the world that caused Him to send His only begotten Son (Jn. 3:16; 1 Jn. 4:1, 9, 10; Rom. 8:32; Eph. 2:4-6). Jesus came to do His Father’s will (Jn. 4:34; 5:30, 36; 6:39-40; etc.). “Behold, I have come...to do your will, O God” (Heb. 10:7). It was the Father’s will that Jesus suffer and die as a sacrifice for the elect. “The doctrine of the propitiation is precisely this that God loved the objects of His wrath so much that He gave His own Son to the end that He by His blood should make provision for the removal of this wrath. It was Christ’s to deal with the wrath so that those loved would no longer be the objects of wrath, and love would achieve its aim of making the children of wrath the children of God’s good pleasure.”43 “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” (1 Jn. 4:1). |
|
|
| While expiation deals with guilt and propitiation with
wrath, reconciliation deals with the alienation from God that arose
because of sin. Sin brings real guilt; it merits the judgment and wrath
of God and it destroys the relationship that man was created to have
with God. Before the fall Adam had a wonderful loving relationship with
Jehovah. God communed with Adam and walked with him in paradise. God
and man were close personal friends. There was no disharmony in their
relationship. But when Adam sinned against Jehovah, that relationship
was severed. |
| What Jesus Christ accomplished
by His vicarious suffering and death has reconciled God (the offended
party) to sinful man. Reconciliation logically follows the removal of
sin’s guilt and God’s wrath by Christ. Once Jesus eliminates a person’s
sins and removes God’s wrath against that person, there is no longer
any impediment to restoring that person to God’s full favor and
fellowship. |
| The doctrine of reconciliation
is often misunderstood. Many Evangelicals are taught that
reconciliation refers to the sinner being reconciled to God instead of
God being reconciled to the believing sinner. This common error in
interpretation is somewhat understandable if one casually reads a few
verses dealing with reconciliation without carefully analyzing all the
relevant passages. Doesn’t Paul say that “we were reconciled to God”
(Rom. 5:10); that “God...reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ”
(2 Cor. 5:18); that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19); “that He might reconcile them both to God in
one body through the cross” (Eph. 2:16). Although Paul does not say
that God is reconciled to the sinner, an examination of other passages
dealing with reconciliation prove that this is precisely what Paul
means when he says we are reconciled to God. |
| In First Samuel we read that
King Saul was very angry with David and wanted to kill him. Yet
throughout all of the accounts of Saul and his men seeking to kill
David, David never showed any enmity, anger or hostility toward Saul.
In fact not only did David refuse to kill or hurt Saul every time he
was given the opportunity (e.g., 1 Sam. 26:8-9), he also deeply mourned
when Saul was killed in battle (cf., 2 Sam. 1:11ff). Note, how the
Philistines describe the possibility that Saul’s hostility toward David
might cease: “For with what could he [David] reconcile himself to his
master” (1 Sam. 29:4)? |
| In Matthew 5:23-24 Jesus
discusses a situation in which a person is about to offer a gift to God
before the altar but realizes that a brother has something against him.
Note, the brother is the offended party. He is the one who is
alienated. Christ says, “First be reconciled to your brother, and then
come and offer your gift” (Mt. 5:24). The statement “be reconciled to
your brother” is equivalent to saying “do what it takes to remove your
brother’s alienation toward you.” Therefore, the scriptural statement,
“we are reconciled to God” refers not to our alienation from
God but to God’s alienation from us. This means that the reconciliation
that Christ achieved is objective. While it is certainly true that
Christ’s death affects the believing sinner’s attitude toward God, the
doctrine of reconciliation is concerned with a change in God not man.
The change of attitude that occurs in man is a result of regeneration. |
| The objective nature of
reconciliation is also confirmed by the passages which teach that
reconciliation occurred by the atoning sacrifice of Christ. “But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we
were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,
much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And
not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom
5:8-11). The Bible teaches that reconciliation occurred “while we were
still sinners” (v. 8); “when were reconciled through the death of His
Son” (v. 10). Reconciliation is set in parallel to justification in
verses 9 and 10. Justification means that the sinner is declared
righteous on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice. Likewise, Christ’s
sacrifice removed God’s anger and alienation toward the believer. Paul
in verse 11 says that Christians have “received the reconciliation.”
This indicates that reconciliation is an accomplished fact that is
given to believers as a gift. |
| Paul said to the Corinthians:
“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through
Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation” (1 Cor. 5:18-19). Like the passage in Romans this
passage teaches the objective nature of reconciliation. Reconciliation
is a result of Christ’s death. “The proof that God was reconciling the
world to himself (i.e., in his death) is that he does not impute to men
their trespasses.”44
Reconciliation is the direct result of the forgiveness of sins.
Furthermore, the apostles are “ambassadors for Christ” who preach “the
word of reconciliation” (v. 19). The preaching of reconciliation is
equivalent to the preaching of the cross. The idea that the apostles
were going about preaching a subjective psychological change is absurd.
The apostles preached that Christ suffered and died to expiate sin, to
remove God’s wrath and thus “God is reconciled and ready to forgive, so
that whosoever will may turn unto him and live.”45
Unbelievers
need to “be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). They need to embrace the
offer of reconciliation. “The reconciliation is effected by the death
of Christ. God is now propitious. He can now be just, and yet justify
the ungodly.”46 |
| God’s grace is truly amazing. It would be understandable if a person gave up everything and died for a close friend or relative. But Christ suffered and died for God’s enemies. He loved the unlovely. He experienced the tortures of hell for the ungodly. Jesus has restored us to the favor and fellowship of God. Now we are the friends of God. |
|
|
| When the Bible speaks of the redemption wrought by
Christ it speaks of His securing release from the penalty and bondage
of sin by the payment of a price. That price was nothing less than the
shedding of blood by the Lord—His suffering and death. Peter says that
believers were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ.” Paul
exhorted the Ephesian elders “to shepherd the church of God which He
purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). The apostle calls the
church to sanctified living with the phrase: “For you were bought at a
price” (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23). |
| Scripture teaches that Christ
came to earth to give His life as a ransom price for the elect. “The
Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His
life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45). Jesus was “born under the law, to
redeem those who were under the law” (Gal. 4:4-5). Our Lord “gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and
purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works”
(Tit. 2:14). “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the richness of His grace” (Eph. 1:7;
cf., Col. 1:14). Thus, the saints in heaven sing: “You were slain, and
have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and
people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). Murray writes: “There can be no question
then but the death of Christ in all its implications as the consequence
of His vicarious identification with our sins is that which redeems and
redeems in the way that is required by and appropriate to the
redemptive concept, namely, the ransom price.”47 |
| The biblical concept of ransom
is easy to understand if we look at the use of the term in the Old
Testament law. Under the law if a man owned an ox that he knew had a
history of attempting to gore people, yet did not properly fence in
that ox so that a person was gored to death, that owner was to be
executed. In such a case, however, the law did provide a way for the
guilty party to avoid the death penalty. The victim’s family could
accept a payment or ransom price in lieu of the guilty party’s
execution (cf., Ex. 21:28-32). The guilty party was delivered from the
death penalty by paying a price, a ransom. Rushdoony writes: “Ransom,
in Hebrew kofer, comes from a word meaning to wipe off, or to
expiate. It has reference to a redemption fee paid to rescue a man from
the law, or from his captor. The Greek word is lytron.”48 |
| When the Bible speaks of our
redemption in Christ it focuses on the three areas which are all
related to our bondage to sin. First, there is bondage to the
guilt and penalty of sin. Everyone apart from Christ has a mountain of
debt for their sins upon them. The sword of God’s justice hangs over
their heads ready to strike. If the guilt of all our sins is not
removed we must pay the price by suffering the torment of hell forever.
Jesus secured our release from this mountain of debt by ransom, by
vicariously enduring the penalty for sin. Paul said that Christ “gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and
purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works”
(Tit. 2:14). “Being justified by His grace through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). “In Him we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7). “Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13).
This aspect of our redemption is objective and legal. The ransom price
that Jesus paid is directed toward God. It is God’s justice that must
be satisfied. Christ secures our legal acquittal and penal release from
our transgressions of Jehovah’s law. Christ’s death means we are freed
from the law as a means of justification. Rushdoony writes: “to be
ransomed means to be freed. We are freed, not from the law as the
righteousness or justice of God, but from the death-penalty of the law,
from sin and death, into righteousness and life. The ‘handwriting of
ordinances that was against us,’ i.e., the indictment of
death, was taken away and nailed to the cross by Jesus Christ (Col.
2:14).”49 |
| Second, Christ’s
redemption secures the elect’s release from the power of sin. That is,
believers by virtue of their being united to Jesus in His death and
resurrection are no longer slaves of sin but are now slaves of Christ.
Our Lord’s substitutionary death and resurrection not only achieved the
removal of the guilt and penalty of sin but also secured definitive
sanctification. All the saving graces flow from the atonement. Christ
liberates us from the pollution, defilement or filth of sin. He sets us
free to follow His holy law. Paul specifically applies Christ’s death
to both justification and sanctification. Jesus “gave Himself for us,
that He might redeem us from every lawless deed [justification] and
purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works
[sanctification]” (Tit. 2:14). Thomas Taylor writes: “Redemption and
sanctification are inseparable companions; none is redeemed who is not
purged. The blood of Christ has this double effect in whomever it is
effectual to salvation; for he is made to us righteousness and
sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30). In the law we read of lavers as well as
altars; in the gospel we read that water, a well as blood, streamed out
of the side of Christ,... The blood signifies the perfect expiation of
the sins of his church, and the water shows its daily washing and
purging from the remainders of its corruption. Likewise the apostle
joins these two together: ‘Christ loved the church, and gave himself
for it,’ that is, his life and blood, ‘that he might sanctify it and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word’ (Eph. 5:25, 26); and,
it is clear that the apostle John expresses both of these benefits,
satisfaction for sin and sanctification from sin, when he says that
Christ came both by water and by blood (1 John 5:6); and here it is
said that Christ gave himself to redeem and purge, and elsewhere (Eph.
5:27) in express terms to sanctify, his church.”50 |
| While we must always be on
guard not to confound justification with sanctification as
Romanist theologians do, we also must avoid the antinomian distortion
of the gospel which divorces sanctification from the cross.
“[S]anctification no less than justification springs from the efficacy
of Christ’s death and the virtue of his resurrection.”51
Paul writes:
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in
it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His
death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of
sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
For he who has died has been freed from sin” (Rom. 6:1-7). Believers
have been united with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
They have died to the reign of sin and have risen to a new life of
obedience. Real Christians will not continue in sin because union with
Christ has broken the power of sin. “For the love of Christ compels us,
because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He
died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves,
but for Him who died for them and rose again...therefore, if anyone is
in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:14-15, 17). Hodge writes: “This
union is transforming. It imparts a new life. It effects a new
creation. This expression indicates not only the greatness and radical
nature of the change effected, but also its divine origin…. If we are
united to him so as to be interested in the merits of his death, we
must also be partakers of his life.”52 |
| One of the greatest errors of
modern Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism is the idea that Christ’s
suffering, death and resurrection has merely made salvation possible if
people do their part and allow God to save them by “accepting
Christ as their personal Savior.” When we examine just how
comprehensive Christ’s accomplished redemption is, we must reject the
Arminian or semi-Pelagian interpretation of the gospel that is so
popular today. Union with Christ in His suffering, death and
resurrection guarantees not only expiation (the removal of guilt),
propitiation (the removal of wrath) and reconciliation (the removal of
alienation) but also the application of Christ’s saving merits to the
sinner: regeneration, sanctification and glorification. That is why
when the apostles exhort believers to be sanctified they continually
point to the cross and the resurrection. Our redemption in Christ
(comprehensively considered) does not end until all the saints are
glorified and in the very presence of the resurrected Lord of glory.
(This certainly excludes any idea of a mere hypothetical salvation).
Thus, Paul refers to the second coming of Christ as “the day of
redemption” (Eph. 4:30). Believers eagerly await “for the adoption, the
redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23). Christians have been redeemed by
Christ (justification), and, are being redeemed (sanctification), and
will be redeemed (glorification). Jesus’ life and blood cannot fail. |
| The Bible also teaches that
Christ redeemed us from bondage to Satan. Jesus told the unbelieving
Jewish scribes and Pharisees that their father was the devil (cf., Jn.
8:44). Spiritually, morally and covenantally they were children of
Satan. Paul said that unbelievers walk “according to the prince of the
power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). He told the Corinthians that “the god of
this age has blinded” the minds of those who are perishing (2 Cor.
4:3). Paul told Timothy that the devil has taken men captive to do his
will (2 Tim. 2:26). Pink writes: “The human race is now reaping what
was sown at the beginning. Our first parents rejected God’s truth and
believed the Devil’s lie, and ever since then man has been completely
under the power of falsehood and error.”53
Unsaved man loves darkness rather
than light (Jn. 3:19-20). Therefore, his heart is enslaved to the
prince of darkness. |
| Christ by His sacrificial
death has crushed the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Satan has been
bound so that he can no longer deceive the nations (Rev. 20:1-3). Jesus
has “disarmed principalities and powers” (Col. 2:15) and now sits
exalted at the right hand of God ruling over them (Eph. 1:20-22).
Therefore, “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against” the church
(Mt. 16:18). Thus, our Lord said to Paul, “I will deliver you from the
Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to
open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts
26:17-18). |
| Old Testament Israel’s
enslavement to Pharaoh and his armies served as a type of our
pre-Christian enslavement to Satan and his minions. The deliverance of
Israel from Egypt, the drowning of Pharaoh and his armies in the Red
Sea and the judgment against Egypt’s false gods (cf., Ex. 12:12) all
typified Christ’s victory over the devil and all demonic forces. “In as
much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself
likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him
who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb.
2:14-15). Murray writes: “Although redemptive terms are not expressly
used in connection with the destruction executed upon Satan, yet since
they are used for deliverance from the bondage of alien powers and
since Satan is the epitome of alien power, we are required to apply to
the language of release (Heb. 2:15) redemptive import.”54 |
| A number of early medieval
theologians taught that Jesus’ death was a ransom paid to the devil.
They came to this erroneous conclusion based on the passages which
teach unsaved man’s bondage to Satan. There are a number of biblical
reasons to reject such a view. First, all sin is an offense
against God not Satan. David confessed: “Against You, You only, have I
sinned, and done this evil in Your sight” (Ps. 51:4). Second,
sin is a violation of God’s holy law not the devil’s law. Third,
man was created by God not by the devil. Only God has total
jurisdiction over man. Fourth, the Bible teaches that God will
judge the human race and that He is the One who casts unsaved sinners
into hell. Christ said, “fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell” (Mt. 10:28). Fifth, the sacrifices were done at
the Temple near God’s special presence. Atonement is made “before the LORD”
(Lev. 6:7). On the day of atonement the blood of the sacrificial animal
was sprinkled on and before the mercy seat where the Shekinah presence
dwelt. The author of Hebrews says that Christ as a high priest entered
the heavenly sanctuary: “with His own blood He entered the Most Holy
Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12).
The blood is sprinkled before the Father because it is His justice,
anger and alienation that expiation resolves. Sixth, Satan is a
finite creature who is in rebellion against God. He functions under
God’s sovereign control. Men are only under Satan’s power because of
their rebellion against God. Jesus offered Himself without spot to God
to eliminate the elect’s guilt and to break their slavery to sin. A
believer’s freedom from bondage to Satan is a by-product of his
justification, sanctification and adoption. The idea that Christ paid a
ransom to the devil is unbiblical and ludicrous. |
| All men come into the world as captives of sin (as to both its guilt and pollution), death and Satan. If you do not believe in Christ then you live with the law’s curse upon you. You are a slave to sin, a child of wrath and in bondage to Satan. You live to serve your sinful lusts and no matter how much you suppress the truth you know that your damnation is just. Your only hope is to trust in Jesus Christ. He procured redemption with His own precious blood. He paid the price in order to set sinners free. He satisfied God’s perfect justice by His life and blood. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’” (Rom. 10:9-11). |
|
|
| The biblical doctrine of the atonement exalts the work
of Christ and the grace of God. It exposes all systems of salvation
based on human merit as damnable lies of the devil. What Christ
accomplished is perfect. Nothing needs to be or can be added to
what Christ has accomplished. Our Lord’s suffering and death eliminated
the guilt of every sin (past, present or future), the wrath of God, the
alienation of God and man’s bondage to sin and Satan. This doctrine at
once overthrows Romanism with its purgatory, repeated sacrifice of the
mass, and meritorious human deeds. It also refutes Arminianism’s notion
that Christ’s death only opens the possibility of salvation, that
salvation is contingent upon man’s free will. |
| If Christ has eliminated the
guilt of every sin, God’s wrath against the sinner and has reconciled
God to the sinner what need is there for a purgatory to purge away sin?
Purgatory implicitly teaches that Christ’s suffering and death were
insufficient to eliminate our guilt and God’s wrath. Purgatory is an
invention of wicked prelates who want to bind men’s souls with guilt in
order to pick their pockets and empty their bank accounts. |
| The Roman Catholic doctrine of
the mass in which Christ is supposedly re-sacrificed (sacerdotalism)
also is a denial of the sufficiency and perfection of Christ’s
sacrifice. If Christ’s suffering and death achieved the forgiveness of
sins and a full reconciliation with God, why would it need to be
repeated? The Romish doctrine of the mass treats Christ’s death like
the Old Testament animal sacrifices that could never really remove our
sins (cf., Heb. 10:4). The Bible explicitly teaches that Christ’s work
was perfect and does not need to be repeated. Jesus’ suffering and
sacrificial death was a final, once for all event. Peter said that
“Christ also suffered once for sins” (1 Pet. 3:18). Paul said,
“He died to sin once for all” (Rom. 6:10). The author of
Hebrews emphasized the perfection and finality of Christ’s sacrifice:
“this He did once for all when He offered up Himself” (Heb.
7:27). “Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many” (Heb.
9:28). “We have been sacrificed through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all time” (Heb. 10:10). When Christ was
about to yield up His spirit He said: “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30). His
sacrifice was completed and never to be repeated. If we are to
trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation then we must turn away
from all idolatrous popish and high church rituals that implicitly
teach that Christ did not really get the job done. |
| Every religion, philosophy or
cult that teaches that man must do something meritorious such as
meditate, give to charity, obey the law, etc., to be saved denies the
sufficiency of Christ’s work of redemption. Paul said, “Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the
law” (Rom. 3:28). “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, less
anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). “But that no one is justified by the
law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith”
(Gal. 3:11). Like Paul, we must count all things as dung that we may
own Christ (cf., Phil. 3:8 KJV). Jesus Himself has told us what ought
to be our proper attitude toward works. “So likewise you, when you have
done all those things which are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable
servants. We have done what was our duty to do’” (Lk. 17:10). Good
works are the fruit, not the cause of justification. |
| A much more subtle denial of
the perfection and sufficiency of the atonement is found in many
“Fundamentalist” and “Evangelical” churches. While most Evangelical
pastors would emphatically affirm that we are saved solely by Christ,
they explicitly contradict this affirmation in their theology. Most
Evangelicals hold to an Arminian or semi-Pelagian understanding of
Christ’s death. They teach that Christ’s death did not actually
guarantee the salvation of even one person but that it opened the
possibility of salvation to all. Jesus does His part and then man
completes the process by an act of the will. They teach that what ultimately
separates people in heaven from people in hell is a person’s “decision
for Christ.” Furthermore, they believe that election is based on God’s
foreknowledge of a person’s decision and that regeneration is God’s
response to man’s faith. This scheme of salvation is synergistic to the
core. Christ’s atonement is merely a link in a chain that if completed
by man will bridge the gulf to heaven. |
| In reality, the Bible teaches
a monergistic view of salvation. “Salvation is of the LORD”
(Jo. 2:9). The atonement of Christ is perfect and sufficient and does
not need to be supplemented by man. “You shall call His name Jesus, for
He will save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). There are two
reasons that the Evangelical Arminian understanding of the atonement
must be rejected. First, the atonement as biblically defined
means that salvation has been accomplished. The idea that it only makes
salvation possible if men contribute an act of the will is not derived
from Scripture. All the theological terms that we have examined within
the theological orbit of the atonement teach a salvation secured.
Expiation means that all the guilt of sin is removed; propitiation
means that God’s wrath against the sinner is removed. Reconciliation
means that God is now a friend of the justified sinner. Redemption
means that Christ has paid the full ransom price to God. If Christ
removed the guilt and the penalty of a person’s sins and has reconciled
God to the sinner, then that person cannot go to hell. It would be
irrational and unjust for God to send Christ to the cross to suffer for
a person’s sins and then send that person to hell to suffer for the
same sins. |
| Second, Arminians
reject the biblical teaching that union with Christ in His death and
resurrection is the basis and guarantee of the application of
Christ’s saving merits to the sinner. Classical Arminianism does teach
that a general benefit proceeds from Jesus’ death to all men (without
exception) called sufficient grace. But this so-called sufficient grace
does not resurrect the human soul. It is not efficacious unto
salvation. It is supposed to counteract man’s depravity enough to
enable him to exercise his “free will”. The bottom line is that
Arminians teach that the choice of the will is what makes Christ’s
death saving. |
| The Bible teaches that
unregenerate man is not in a state in which he can cooperate
with the Holy Spirit. Man is dead spiritually (Eph. 2:1-5). He hates
the truth and Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:19-21), dwells in darkness (Jn.
1:4-5), has an uncircumcised heart of stone (Ezek. 11:19), is helpless
(Ezek. 16:4-6), cannot repent (2 Pet. 2:13-14, 22; Rom. 8:6-8; Jer.
13:23), cannot seek God (Rom. 3:11; Ps. 14:2-3), is a slave to Satan
(Ac. 26:17-18), and cannot see or comprehend divine truth (1 Cor.
2:14). The only way that grace can be sufficient for a spiritual corpse
is for it to be efficacious. Therefore, (as noted above in the section
on redemption) the Bible teaches that Christ’s atonement is the
foundation of all the saving graces (including regeneration,
sanctification and glorification). Everyone united to Christ in His
death and resurrection will be regenerated and given the gifts of faith
and repentance. God’s grace is efficacious unto salvation. Paul never
attributes regeneration to an act of the will or to a cooperative
process between the Holy Spirit and man. He bases it solely upon union
with Christ: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love
with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised
us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). |
| Paul says that faith is a gift
of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should
boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). “For to you it has been granted on behalf of
Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake”
(Phil. 1:29). “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do
for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). “Now a certain woman named Lydia
heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who
worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by
Paul” (Acts 16:14). “He [Apollos] greatly helped those who had believed
through grace” (Acts 18:27). |
| Repentance is a gift of God.
“Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). “When they
heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying,
‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life’” (Acts
11:18). “In humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God
perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth” (2
Tim 2:25). |
| The biblical doctrine of the
atonement teaches that man adds nothing to the saving process. God
works directly upon the souls of the elect. God “in his saving
operations, deals not generally with mankind at large, but particularly
with the individuals who are actually saved.”55
God receives
all the glory. “Any position which ignores or rejects the completeness
of the atonement rejects the perfection of the atonement. In so doing,
it accuses our Saviour of failing to accomplish a full salvation.”56 |
| The common Evangelical
understanding of the atonement is a subtle denial of salvation by grace
alone. Luther writes: “Granted that your friends assign to ‘free will
as little as possible,’ nevertheless they teach us that by that little
we can attain righteousness and grace: and they solve the problem as to
why God justifies one and abandons another simply by presupposing
‘free-will,’ and saying: ‘the one endeavored and the other did not; and
God regards the one for his endeavor and despises the other; and He
would be unjust were He to do anything else!’...They [the guardians of
‘free-will’] do not believe that He intercedes before God and obtains
grace for them by His blood, and ‘grace’ (as is here said) ‘for grace.’
And as they believe, so it is unto them. Christ is in truth an
inexorable judge to them, deservedly so; for they abandon Him in His
office as a Mediator and Kindest Savior, and account His blood and
grace as of less worth than the efforts and endeavors of ‘free-will’!”57
Romanism and modern Evangelicalism are first cousins. |
| Let us continually worship the Lord Jesus Christ. His work of redemption is perfect. He eliminates our guilt and sets us free from the power of sin. He sends His Spirit to regenerate our hearts so that we can see the truth and believe in Him. He takes us from our wallowing in the mire of sin to paradise with God. “He shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied” (Isa. 53:11). “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12). |
|
|
|
An Examination of How Judaism Denies the Vicarious Atonement of Jesus Christ |
| In order to help Christians understand Judaism and
therefore witness to Jews more effectively, an examination of their
doctrine of atonement is necessary. Before we examine how religious
Jews deal with sin and guilt a few things must be said about Judaism in
general. |
| The Jewish religion has very
little to do with the Old Testament Scriptures. Modern Judaism is the
spiritual step-child of the Pharisees (i.e., the separated ones). The
sect of the Pharisees was the most popular religion among the Jews in
Jesus’ day. Note: Jesus Christ and the apostles rejected the religion
of the Pharisees and the Pharisees emphatically rejected Jesus and His
teachings. Why? The Pharisees posited two streams of divine revelation.
There was God’s written revelation (i.e., the Old Testament Scriptures)
and God’s oral revelation. The oral revelation was supposedly spoken to
Moses on the mount and is preserved in the traditions of the rabbis.
The reason that Jesus strongly opposed the Pharisees is that their
traditions contradicted the Old Testament and had been used by the
rabbis to replace the teachings of Moses and the Prophets. Christ said,
“Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your
tradition?… Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by
your tradition” (Mt. 15:3, 6). “Do not think that I shall accuse you to
the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For
if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But
if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
(Jn. 5:45-47). |
| Modern religious Judaism is
not a religion of the Old Testament Scriptures but is the religion of
the Talmud. “The Talmud is a compilation of the oral teachings of the
rabbis from perhaps 200 years before Christ until the end of the second
century, A.D. (Mishnah), plus an additional three hundred years of
commentary (Gemara). The total covers almost seven (possibly eight)
centuries. Those who adhere to the Talmud claim that this oral
tradition extends back to Moses.”58
Orthodox Jews believe that the
Talmud is inspired and authoritative. The English translation of the
Babylonian Talmud is 34 volumes (Soncino edition). The Talmud not only
repeatedly contradicts the Old Testament but it also contains massive
internal contradictions. Gary North has documented some of the many
blasphemous and totally perverse teachings found within it.59 |
| Although Judaism is not
a religion of the Old Testament and instead is based on the
contradictory and often unethical (cf., footnote 59
below) speculations of various rabbis, apologists for Judaism use
arguments based on various Scripture passages to refute Christian
doctrine because they know that Evangelical Christians only accept the
authority of Scripture for doctrine. The rise of “Messianic Judaism”
and the conversion of a number of Jews to Christianity has caused some
Jewish teachers to attempt to inoculate Jews against the gospel of
Christ. What follows is a brief overview and refutation of Jewish
arguments against the saving blood of Christ. |
| What do Evangelical Christians
usually say when they witness to Jews (according to the flesh). First,
they point out that all men both Jews and Gentiles, have sinned and are
guilty before God. “For there is not a just man on earth who does good
and does not sin” (Eccl. 7:20). “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There
is no God.’ They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is
none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children
of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have
all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who
does good, no, not one” (Ps. 14:1-3). Second, they point to the need of
a vicarious atonement to eliminate the guilt of sin. Leviticus 17:11:
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you
upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood
that makes atonement for the soul.” Third, they point to Isaiah 53 and
explain how the Old Testament sacrificial system foreshadowed the
sacrificial death of the spotless lamb of God—Jesus the Christ. Hebrews
9:22 says that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
The author of Hebrews says that the blood of bulls and goats could not
really take away sins (10:3-4) but the once-and-for-all sacrifice of
Christ does eliminate the guilt of sins (Heb. 10:10-14). Fourth, they
point out that the only way to have one’s sins eliminated is by
Christ’s sacrifice. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6; cf., Acts
4:12; Jn. 3:36; Mk. 16:16, etc.). Fifth, they point out that the Temple
was destroyed in A.D. 70 and that even according to their own religion
they have no system to eliminate sin. “How do you (Jews according to
the flesh) deal with the guilt of sin?” |
| How do Jewish apologists deal
with the arguments given above? The trained orthodox Jew would (in
dealing with Evangelicals and Messianic Jews) purposely ignore the
Talmud and attempt to prove from the Old Testament that blood is not
the only method given by God to expiate sin. Why do Jewish apologists
ignore the Talmud when dealing with Christians? They ignore the Talmud
for two main reasons. First, Christians do not accept the authority of
the Talmud. (They rightly recognize that it is only a collection of
human traditions.) Second, the system of salvation taught in the Talmud
is a bizarre maze of merit mongering assertions. It is as bad or even
worse than Roman Catholicism. Jewish apologists know that if (for
example) a Messianic Jew was presented the teachings of the Talmud on
salvation he would immediately recognize the absurdity, irrationality
and unbiblical nature of Judaism. In order to understand how bad the
Talmud and Judaism is (on the doctrine of salvation) a lengthy quote
from Alfred Edersheim is in order: |
|
| The purpose of this lengthy quote is to forewarn believers that: |
| 1. Judaism is unbiblical and absurd. |
| 2. Jewish apologists present a highly modified, simplified version of their doctrine of salvation to Christians. |
| 3. The refutation of the
Christian doctrine of atonement that this author has read and observed
(by Orthodox Jews) also contradicts the Talmud which Orthodox Jews
believe is inspired and fully authoritative. |
| For example, Jewish apologists
often will quote Ezekiel 18:20 (which says “The soul who sins shall
die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father
bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be
on himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself”)
and say that Jesus could not have suffered for the sins of others. But
as noted above the Talmud explicitly teaches that righteous Jews can
suffer and atone for other Jews. (For a refutation of the Jewish
apologists use of Ezekiel 18:20 see the section above entitled Only
Christ Meets the Biblical Conditions of a Substitute.) |
| Jewish apologists argue that there are three main methods of expiating one’s sin. First, there is the sacrificing of animals. Second, there is doing good deeds or giving to charity. Third, there is repentance. If one tells God that he is sorry with a sincere heart, then God will forgive that person. The Jews teach that repentance is the best and most important method of dealing with guilt and that blood atonement is the least important. A brief examination of the Jewish alternatives to blood atonement will show that the rabbis have totally abandoned the Scriptures and invented a religion of self-righteousness. |
|
|
| Let us first examine the scriptural evidence the Jewish
apologists offer to prove that good deeds expiate sin. “Treasures of
wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death”
(Prov. 10:2). “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but
righteousness delivers from death” (Prov. 11:4). Do these passages
teach that doing good deeds or giving to charity expiates the guilt of
sin? No, they do not. The context clearly indicates that gaining
eternal life is not the subject of these passages but wickedness and
righteousness as they relate to temporal blessings and cursing. For
example Proverbs 11:3, “The integrity of the upright will guide them,
but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.” Proverbs
11:5-6, “The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright,
but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of
the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful will be taken by
their own lust.” Matthew Henry writes: “Righteousness delivers from
death, that is, wealth gained, and kept, and used, in a right
manner (righteousness signifies both honesty and charity); it answers
the end of wealth, which is to keep us alive and be a defense to us.”61 |
| Another passage used to teach
expiation by good deeds is Proverbs 16:6, “In mercy and truth atonement
is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the LORD
one departs from evil.” Jewish apologists interpret the first as
meaning: by doing deeds of mercy (or loving-kindness) and truth
one’s sins will be expiated. Their interpretation assumes that
6a refers to man and not God. However, if one lets Scripture interpret
Scripture then one must apply 6a to God. Arnot writes: “The
subject is the expiation on sin [6a]. The term is the one which is
employed in connection with the bloody sacrifices. It intimates that
sin is purged by the sacrifice of a substitute. The two clauses of the
verse, balanced against each other in the usual form, seem to point to
the great facts which constitute redemption,—pardon and obedience. The
first clause tells how the guilt of sin is forgiven; the second, how
the power of sin is subdued. The first speaks of the pardon which comes
down from God to man; the second, of the obedience which then and
therefore rises up from man to God. Solomon unites the two constituent
elements of a sinner’s deliverance in the same order that his father
experienced them: ‘I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy
commandments’ (Ps. cxix. 166). It is when iniquity is purged by free
grace that men practically depart from evil.”62
The idea that
God will overlook a whole life of sin and pardon a mountain of debt
solely on the basis of a few acts of charity to the poor is a denial of
God’s holiness, justice and the immutability of His moral law. “Indeed
God shows the deepest hatred of sin in the very act of the atonement He
made for it through the death of His Son.”63
The sinners only hope is Jesus
Christ “the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn.
1:14). |
| Another passage used by Jewish
apologists is Hosea 6:6, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Jewish apologists
interpret this passage as meaning that showing mercy or loving-kindness
and charity to others is a far better method of atonement than
sacrifice. This interpretation also ignores the context and the analogy
of Scripture. Jehovah is rebuking Israel and Judah because they were
living wicked unrepentant lives and yet they were still engaging in the
external ceremonies because they mistakenly believed these ceremonies
could remove sin without true faith in Jehovah and repentance. In
chapter five of Hosea we are told: that Israel is guilty of harlotry
and is defiled (v. 3), that “they do not know the LORD”
(v. 4), that Israel and Judah stumble in their iniquity (v. 5), that
Jehovah “has withdrawn Himself from them” (v. 6), etc. God is saying
that He desires true faith in Himself, a faith that leads to godly
living, far above unbelief, wickedness and empty ritualism. God through
the prophet Isaiah condemns unbelieving ritualism with even stronger
language. He calls the sacrifices of the wicked “futile sacrifices”
(1:13). Their incense is an abomination (1:13). He hates their feast
days (1:14). He says, “I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting”
(1:13). In Hosea, God is not condemning the sacrificial system itself
but the abuse of the sacrificial system. If the external ordinances of
religion are practiced without true faith and repentance then they are
worthless. Indeed, they are an abomination (cf., Isa. 1:10-17). We must
first have genuine faith in God before we engage in church
ordinances. |
| One of the passages most often
used by Jewish apologists for atonement through good works is Daniel
4:27. Because the Jewish interpretation of this passage is based on an incorrect
translation from the Hebrew into English, we will quote from the Jewish
Publication Society translation (1982) and the New King James version.
“Therefore, O king, may my advice be acceptable to you: Redeem
your sins by beneficence and your iniquities by generosity to the poor;
then your serenity may be extended” (Dan. 4:24, JPS: Jewish versions of
the Old Testament have a slightly different numbering of verses in
Daniel than Christian versions). “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be
acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and
your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a
lengthening of your prosperity” (Dan. 4:27, KJV). For some reason
Jewish translators have ignored the Masoretic text (break off) and have
instead follow the LXX (redeem). Hebrew scholar E. J. Young writes: “it
is a gross perversion of the text to force it to teach salvation by the
merit of good works. Jerome gave a classic expression to this false
view,…(—and redeem thy sins by almsgiving, and thine iniquities by
showing mercy to the poor, perhaps God will ignore thy sins). This
translation, however, is inaccurate. The verb does not mean to redeem.
The translation to redeem occurs in LXX, and is adopted by
many, e.g., Syriac, de Wette, Hitzig, Zoeckler, but the meaning to
redeem is not original, but is one which came later to be attached
to the verb. The correct meaning is to break off, cast away….
If the king is to have lengthening of prosperity, he must give up his
injustice and cruelty to the poor and must practice righteousness and
mercy.”64
Daniel 4:27 does not deal with the expiation of sins. It speaks of the
relationship between personal obedience and temporal blessings. |
| A passage closely related to
Hosea 6:6 is Proverbs 21:3, “To do righteousness and justice is more
acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.” Note what this
passage does not say. It does not say that doing
righteousness or justice renders a person acceptable to God. It does not
say that good works expiate sin or atone for sin. Why then does it say
that doing righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord
than sacrifice? The simple reason is that any hypocrite or wicked
person can offer up a sacrifice. Note the example of king Saul, Saul
was a wicked man who openly and obstinately disobeyed God’s word yet
who loved to offer sacrifice. Thus, the prophet Samuel said to Saul:
“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold,
to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. For
rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity
and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:22-23). The ceremonial sacrifices were of
divine institution and were typical of Christ. However, they were not
acceptable to God apart from faith in Him. And as both testaments
clearly teach, true faith issues forth in real repentance, in acts of
piety and love toward one’s neighbor. The backsliding, unregenerate
Jews offered sacrifices without faith and repentance. They trusted in
the ceremony but not in Jehovah who instituted the ceremony. |
| The last verse that will be considered under the topic of doing good deeds to expiate sin is Jeremiah 7:20-23, “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’” Like the other verses considered above this passage does not teach that sins are expiated by doing good deeds or keeping the law. It teaches that the covenant stipulations (or the moral law) have priority over the performance of rituals (the ceremonial law). God’s covenant blessings or curses in this life are directly connected to one’s performance of God’s moral stipulations. Jeremiah points out that when Israel was delivered from Egypt to the wilderness they accepted God’s covenant obligations by saying: “All that the LORD has spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:8). Only a few days after the people’s acceptance of the covenant, God spoke directly to the covenant people the Decalogue—the ten commandments (cf., Ex. 20:1-17). It is only after the covenant is ratified by oath and blood in chapter 24 that the ceremonial laws are given. Thus, if the covenant people ignore the demands of the covenant (the ten commandments) yet seek Jehovah through ritual sacrifice the sacrifice is useless and sinful. The Old and New Testaments are in complete harmony by teaching that faith and obedience must precede external church ordinances. |
|
|
| Closely related to the Jewish concept of expiation by
doing good deeds (e.g., charity) is their doctrine of expiation by
repentance. An orthodox Jew would argue that repentance is the most
important method for obtaining expiation of sin. How would religious
Jews define repentance? If a person turns to Jehovah with a pure,
sincere heart and says, “God I am sorry,” then that person will receive
complete forgiveness from God. Some of the typical passages used to
justify the doctrine of expiation through repentance are: 2 Samuel
12:13; Psalm 51:16-19; (in Jewish versions cf., 51:18-21); Hosea
14:2-3; Micah 6:6-8; 1 Kings 8:46-50; Ezekiel 18:1-4, 19-23; 33:10-11. |
| Since these passages are
usually variations of a common theme we will examine only a few of the
most prominent verses. Psalm 51:14-17 says: “Deliver me from the guilt
of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing
aloud of Your righteousness. O LORD, open my lips, and
my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice,
or else I would give it; you do not delight in burnt offering. The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart—these, O God, You will not despise.” Jewish apologists argue that
this Psalm teaches that all that is needed to receive forgiveness is a
prayer of sincere contrition. No blood is necessary for atonement.
Their interpretation, however, ignores not only the analogy of
Scripture but also the immediate context of this passage. Kidner
writes: “God is not rejecting His own appointed offerings, still less
saying that we can be self-atoning. What He is emphasizing is that the
best of gifts is hateful to Him without a contrite heart. And the
reference is not simply to atonement (for which only the blood of
another can suffice: Lv. 17:11; Heb. 9:22) but to the whole range of
worship...”65
This interpretation is proved by the end of the Psalm which says: “Then
You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt
offering and whole burnt offering; then they shall offer bulls on Your
altar.” David did not look to his repentance as the foundation of
atonement but to God who justifies through the blood of a substitute.
This point is evident from David’s plea in verse 7, “Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow.” Referring to this verse Spurgeon wrote: “Sprinkle the atoning
blood upon me with the appointed means. Give me the reality which legal
ceremonies symbolize. Nothing but blood can take away my blood-stains,
nothing but the strongest purification can avail to cleanse me. Let the
sin-offering purge my sin. Let him who was appointed to atone, execute
his sacred office on me; for none can need it more than I.”66 |
| When one examines the many
passages which appear to disavow the sacrifices and other rituals (e.
g., 1 Sam. 15:14-22; Jer. 7:21-23; Hos. 6:6; Mic. 6:6-8; Zech. 7:4-7)
keep in mind that all these rituals were instituted by God and
therefore cannot be intrinsically immoral or objectionable before Him.
The common theme that runs through all such passages is on the
necessity of a proper heart attitude when approaching Jehovah. God
requires a broken spirit. A person who is regenerated by the Holy
Spirit understands that he has nothing meritorious or good to offer
God. He recognizes his sinful depravity. He understands the wickedness
of his sins. He knows that he stands guilty and condemned before God’s
law. He forsakes his sinful behavior and prays for mercy. True faith
looks only to Christ for mercy. Real faith cannot be separated from
humility or repentance. To argue as the rabbis do that God saves on the
basis of piety, prayer or repentance completely
misses the point of these passages. The rabbis take acts of humility
and turn them into meritorious deeds which are the opposite of
humility. God’s hand is forced by the supposed good deeds of man. Human
merit and grace and mercy do not mix. They are incompatible. |
| The reason that the rabbis have so thoroughly perverted the biblical doctrine of salvation is that they do not make or understand the distinction between what is the foundation of salvation and things that necessarily accompany salvation yet do not contribute to it. There are many passages that discuss the necessity of good works, repentance, confession and prayer in both the Old and New Testaments. (For example: “He who cover his sins will not prosper, but whosoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” [Prov. 28:13]. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” [1 Jn. 1:9]. Jesus said: “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish” [Lu. 13:3, 5]. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” [Mt. 7:21]. “Those who practice such things [idolatry, adultery, fornication, murder, drunkenness, etc.] will not inherit the kingdom of God” [Gal. 5:21].) However all these things are the fruit of salvation, not the cause of it. Only heretics believe that a person can make a “decision for Christ” and then refuse to repent and still be saved. As noted above Christ saves from the guilt of sin (justification) and the power of sin (sanctification). People who claim to be Christians yet lead lives characterized by sinful behavior are not really saved. They have a counterfeit faith. Christians must lead godly lives, pray, help others, love the brethren and so on but these activities must never be considered meritorious or atoning. Salvation is solely of the work of Jesus the savior of the whole world. |
|
|
| The Jewish idea that atonement by sacrifice is the
worst method of atonement and is really unnecessary is absurd. If blood
atonement was unnecessary and inferior to charity or repentance then
why did God even bother to institute the sacrificial system of the
Tabernacle and Temple? Why did God set aside a special priesthood? Why
did God say that blood was given to make atonement for sin (Lev.
17:11)? The truth is that blood atonement is the scarlet thread that
runs through the whole Old Testament. The shedding of blood by
sacrifice was crucial because it typified the perfect sacrifice of
Jesus Christ at Calvary. After Adam and Eve sinned, and became
conscious that because of their guilt their nakedness was now
unacceptable, God promised a coming redeemer (Gen. 3:15), and then slew
animals to provide a covering for them (Gen. 3:21). Why didn’t God just
tell Adam and Eve to be sorry? If repentance was all that was needed
why was a redeemer necessary? The promise in Genesis 3:15 is called the
proto-evangel because it contains the first general promise of the
Messiah’s victory in our stead. “Thus we see a Person in the
Seed of the women; suffering, in the prediction that His heel
would be bruised; and victory, in that He would bruise the
serpent’s head. These merely general outlines are wonderfully filled up
in the Book of Psalms. The ‘Person’ is now ‘the Son of David;’ while
alike the sufferings and the victory are sketched in vivid detail in
such Psalms as 22, 35, 69 and 102; else in Psalms 2, 72, 89, 110, and
118—not to speak of other almost enumerable allusions.”67 |
| If the shedding of blood was unnecessary then why did God accept Abel’s burnt offering yet reject Cain’s non-bloody offering of the fruit of the ground (Gen. 4:3-5)? Even Noah whom the Bible calls a just man offered burnt offerings of clean animals after his deliverance in the ark (Gen. 8:20-21). After the flood Noah and his family were permitted by God to eat animals; yet they were forbidden to eat the blood (Gen. 9:4). Our spiritual father Abraham who had faith in God and was a righteous man offered sacrifices to Jehovah (Gen. 12:7; 13:7, 18). Indeed, God’s covenant with Abraham was established by sacrifice (Gen. 15:8-10). When Abraham by God’s command was about to sacrifice his only son Isaac on a mountain in Moriah (In 2 Chr. 3:1 Moriah is associated with Jerusalem and the temple mount.) Jehovah provided a substitutionary sacrifice (Gen. 22:8, 11-14). “And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide” (Gen. 22:14). Jacob approached God in worship by sacrifices at Bethel and named that place the house of God (Gen. 35:7-14). After Israel’s 400 years of slavery in Egypt God demanded that Israel be permitted to go three days journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifice (Ex. 3:18; 5:3). Israel was redeemed from Egypt by blood sacrifice. The sacrificial blood of a clean animal was placed on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where the Jews ate the sacrifice. Jehovah would see the blood and pass over that house. The clean animal was a substitute for the first born of each Israelite household (Ex. 12:4-13, 23). One could multiply references that support the necessity and significance of blood when approaching a thrice holy God. The point however has been clearly established, “that without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). |
|
|
| A passage of Scripture which completely overturns the
Jewish notion of salvation through human merit is Isaiah 53. “Surely He
has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for
our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and
the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is
silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from
judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from
the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was
stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at
His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His
mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put
Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see
His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD
shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be
satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a
portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the
transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for
the transgressors” (vs. 4-12). Jewish apologists reject the clear and
obvious meaning of this chapter because they reject their own
Messiah—Jesus of Nazareth. Although early Jewish works such as the Targum
Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum adopt a messianic
interpretation of this prophecy, the rejection of Jesus necessitated a
new interpretation.68
Thus the rabbis began to apply Isaiah 53 to the Jewish nation. Jewish
apologists point out that many times in Scripture the Jews are referred
to as “My servant” or “His servant” (e.g., Isa. 41:8-9, 44:1-2, 21;
45:4; 48:20; 49:3; Ps. 136:22; Jer. 30:10). |
| Is the Jewish interpretation
of Isaiah 53 plausible? No. It clearly is not. The idea that the word
“servant” in Isaiah 53 is a figure of speech representing the whole
Jewish nation is wrong and impossible for a number of reasons. First,
the chapter speaks of vicarious suffering (vs. 4, 5, 6, 8 10, 11, 12).
If one interprets the chapter as teaching that Israel suffers to atone
for its own sins then the chapter does not speak of a vicarious
atonement but of personal atonement. If one teaches that Israel
suffered vicariously for the Gentile nations then one has a number of
insurmountable exegetical difficulties. |
| 1. One must argue that the
word “we” throughout chapter 53 refers to the Gentiles. The problem
with such an interpretation is that throughout the whole book whenever
the word “we” is introduced abruptly in the midst of a prophecy it always
refers to Israel and not the Gentiles (e.g., 42:24; 64:5; 36:6; 24:16,
etc.) Are we supposed to believe that the phrase “for the transgression
of My people” in verse 8 refers to the Gentiles in exclusion of the
Jews? |
| 2. In verse 6 we have the
declaration of the universality of sin. The fact that all men including
the Jews are sinners in need of divine mercy is expressly taught in
both testaments (cf., Ps. 14:1-3; Gen. 6:5; Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 8:9-19).
How are the Jews who are themselves under the guilt of sin; who are a
wicked, stiff-necked and rebellious people (Ex. 32:9; 33:3; Dt. 9:6);
who themselves need atonement supposed to atone for others? They cannot
atone for the Gentiles. God requires a sinless substitute and not a
defiled, deformed, diseased animal. |
| Second, the specific
attributes and actions of the suffering servant cannot be applied to
the covenant nation Israel. Can one truthfully say that no violence has
occurred in the Jewish nation or that the Jews have never spoken deceit
(v. 9)? Is it accurate to say that the wicked rebellious Jewish nation
is “My righteous servant” (v. 11)? While chapter 53 cannot be applied
to a nation of sinners who themselves need atonement, it does perfectly
apply to Jesus Christ the sinless lamb of God without spot or blemish
(Jn. 8:46; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Jn. 3:5; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22).
Furthermore, the passages which speak of the suffering servant dying
and being put in a grave can only be attributed to the nation Israel by
applying a Scripture twisting fanciful allegorical method of
interpretation. Verse 8 says “He was cut off from the land of the
living.” In verse 9 one reads of His death and grave. Verse 12 says “He
poured out His soul unto death.” It is popular for certain rabbis and
historians to speak of the destruction of Israel as a covenant nation
by the Romans in A.D. 70 as a death and the forming of the new nation
in 1948 as a resurrection. However, the destruction of the Jewish
nation in A.D. 70 was not an innocent righteous nation suffering for
the Gentiles. It was a wicked debauched nation suffering judgment for
its own iniquities. The leaders were corrupt. The land was full of
violence, theft and sexual perversion. (The Jewish historian Josephus
[A.D. 37-100] documents the wickedness of the nation in his histories
of the Jewish people). The idea that the Jewish nation has suffered as
an atonement for the world may appeal to Jewish pride and nationalism
but it cannot be supported by Scripture. It is an exegetical and
theological impossibility. |
| Third, the passages
which shed light on Isaiah 53 all point to Jesus Christ. Psalm 22
describes Jesus’ crucifixion, “Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong
bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths,
like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all My
bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My
jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have
surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They
pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and
stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing
they cast lots” (vs. 12-18). This portion of Scripture is a clear
description of Christ’s atoning death. He was surrounded by His enemies
who stared at Him and mocked Him. Crucifixion pulls the bones out of
joint and leads to severe dehydration. Our Lord’s hands and feet were
pierced by spikes when He was nailed to the cross. Roman soldiers
gambled for Jesus’ garments. This passage cannot refer to David or to
the nation of Israel. It can only refer to Jesus Christ. He is the
suffering servant of Isaiah 53. When Psalm 16:10 says that “You will
not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see
corruption” it clearly speaks of Jesus Christ. David died and his body
decayed in the tomb. All the Jews throughout history have also suffered
decay. But Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day. Our Lord
did not suffer decay but rather ascended to sit at the right hand of
God. “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand,
till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” (Ps. 110:1). |
| All the Jewish attempts at refuting the vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ have totally failed. The arguments of Jewish apologists reveal a very perverted understanding of the central teachings of Scripture. They reveal minds deluded by human tradition. Like the apostle Paul we earnestly pray and desire that the Jews will return to the true faith of their fathers (e.g., Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and trust in the Jewish Messiah—Jesus of Nazareth. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:1-4). |
Endnotes:1 B. B. Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980 [1950] ), p. 352. |
2 L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1939, 41), p. 370. |
3 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1983), p. 802. |
4 John Murray, The Atonement (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, n.d.), p. 11. |
5 Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1994), 2: 423. |
6 There also is the imputed guilt of Adam’s sin, the federal head of mankind (cf. Rom. 5:12-19). |
7 Robert A. Morey, Studies in the Atonement (Southbridge, MA: Crown, 1989), p. 21. |
8 A. A. Hodge, The Atonement (Grand Rapids, MI: Guardian Press, n. d. [1867]), p. 67. |
9 Robert A. Morey, Studies in the Atonement, p. 18. |
10 Gordon H. Clark, The Atonement (Hubbs, NM: The Trinity Foundation, 1987, 96), p. 56. |
11 John Murray, The Atonement, pp. 10-11. |
12 Robert A. Morey, Studies In The Atonement, pp. 44-45. |
13 John Murray, The Atonement, p. 13. |
14 William G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology (New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1889), 2:382. |
15 Deissman, Light From The Ancient East as quoted by L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 377. |
16 Gordon H. Clark, The Atonement, p. 65. |
17 L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 377. God has a perfect and complete record of every sin that you have ever committed. “And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Rev. 20:12). Thus, the guilt and liability for sin is objective. When theologians discuss the sinful nature inherent in the children of Adam, they talk about the pollution of sin. The progressive subduing of the pollution of sin in believers is called sanctification. |
18 W. G. Moorehead, The Tabernacle: The Priesthood, Sacrifices and Feasts of Ancient Israel (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1957 [1895]), pp. 188-189. |
19 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 319. |
20 “In totally optional sacrifices such as free will offerings, minor blemishes did not matter (v.23)” (G. J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979], p.295). |
21 William G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 2:392-393. |
22 Ibid., 2:392-393. |
23 Ibid., 2:391. |
24 G. J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, p. 28. |
25 In Genesis 20:16 Abimelech pays a ransom price that covers: “And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and in respect of all thou art righted” (ASV). The payment serves to make one blind to the offense. Passages such as Leviticus 16:30 point to cleansing: “For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.” |
26 Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1956), p. 331. |
27 R. J. Rushdoony, Systematic Theology (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1994), 1:588. |
28 R. K. Harrison, Leviticus (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), p. 181. |
29 C. H. Spurgeon, The Life and Work of Our Lord (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1996 [1904] ), 3:35. |
30 William Symington, On the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ (New York, NY: Rortbert Carter, 1839), pp. 147-148. |
31 Francis Turrentin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, 2:434. |
32 William Hendriksen, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1973), p. 917. |
33 John Dick, Lectures on Theology (New York, NY: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1864), 2:97. |
34 William Hendriksen, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 970. |
35 Symington, On the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ, p. 149. |
36 C. H. Spurgeon, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1987), p. 406. |
37 Symington, On the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ, p. 150. |
38 William Hendriksen, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 973. |
39 Symington, On the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ, p. 150. |
40 John Dick, Lectures on Theology, 2:98. |
41 L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 374. |
42 William G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 2:392. |
43 John Murray, The Atonement, p. 15. |
44 Charles Hodge, I & II Corinthians (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974 [1857, 58]), p. 521. |
45 Ibid. |
46 Ibid., p. 523. |
47 John Murray, The Atonement, p. 22. |
48 R. J. Rushdoony, Systematic Theology, 1:596. |
49 Ibid., 1:598. |
50 Thomas Taylor, Exposition of Titus (Minneapolis, MN: Klock & Klock 1980 [1619]), pp. 375-376. |
51 John Murray, The Epistle To The Romans (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1968), 1:212. |
52 Charles Hodge, I & II Corinthians, pp. 516-517. |
53 A. W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1975 [1945]), 2:51. |
54 John Murray, The Atonement, p. 24. |
55 B. B. Warfield, The Plan of Salvation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970), p. 87. |
56 Robert A. Morey, Studies in the Atonement, p.54 |
57 Martin Luther, The Bondage Of The Will, Translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnson (Cambridge, Eng.: James Clark, 1957). pp. 292, 305. |
58 Gary North, Tools Of Dominion: The Case Laws of Exodus (Tyler, TX: Institute For Christian Economics, 1990), pp. 1007-1008. |
59 A few examples of the ethical teaching of the Babylonian Talmud ought to be enough to prove to anyone that it overthrows biblical ethics: A woman who commits bestiality is considered a virgin, eligible to marry a priest (cf., Yabamoth 59b). The Babylonian Talmud teaches that the phrase in Genesis 2:23 (“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”) means Adam had sexual intercourse with all the animals of the field but found no satisfaction until he slept with Eve (cf., Yabamoth 63a). The Talmud refers to Jesus as Balaam and says that Christians spend eternity with Jesus in boiling excrement (cf., Gittim 56b-57a). The Talmud explicitly says that pederasty and sodomy with a child under nine incurs no guilt (cf. Sanhedrin 54b). The Talmud teaches that Molech worship is not idolatry and that offering “all thy seed” (i.e., children) to Molech is not worthy of punishment (cf., Baba Mezia 33a, Sanhedrin 64a, 64b). The Talmud teaches that using a poisonous snake to murder one’s enemy does not incur guilt (Sanhedrin 78a). Also, a person who ties up his neighbor and allows him to starve to death is not liable (Sanhedrin 77a). For an excellent analysis of the Babylonian Talmud from a Christian perspective read “Maimonides’ Code: Is It Biblical?” in Gary North, Tools of Dominion, pp. 998-1062. |
60 Alfred Edersheim, History Of The Jewish Nation After The Destruction Of Jerusalem Under Titus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker 1979 [1856]), pp. 436-438. Alfred Edersheim (a Jewish Christian) was the foremost expert on the Talmud and Judaism among Christian scholars in the nineteenth century. He was a member of the Scottish Free Church (Presbyterian). |
61 Matthew Henry, Commentary On The Whole Bible (McLean, VA: MacDonald, n. d.), 3:843. |
62 William Arnot, Studies In Proverbs (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1978 [1884]), pp. 346-347. |
63 Charles Bridges, revised by George F. Santa, A Modern Study In The Book of Proverbs (Milford, MI: Mott Media, 1978), p. 275. |
64 Edward J. Young, A Commentary On Daniel (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1972 [1949]), pp. 108-109. |
65 Derek Kidner, Psalm 1-72 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), pp. 193-194. |
66 C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury Of David: An Expository And Devotional Commentary On The Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1983 [1882-1887]), 2:452. |
67 Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry And Services As They Were At The Time Of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1950), p. 124. |
68 Ibid., p. 125. |
* Article (c) Copyright Brian Schwertley, Lansing, MI, 1999. Additional works by Rev. Schwertley can be found at www.reformedonline.com |