Atonement and the Cross

of Christ

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Review• The basis of the atonement – God’s nature• Cosmic crisis• The fall into sin• The divine initiative• Atonement announced • Atonement in symbols (2 lessons)• Atonement and incarnation

Metaphores of Salvation

The Bible employs different images to help us

grasp Christ’s death

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What's a Metaphor?“My friend, the swift mule, fleet wild

ass of the mountain, panther of the wilderness, after we joined together and went up into the mountain, fought the Bull of Heaven and killed it, and overwhelmed Humbaba, who lived in the Cedar Forest, now what is this sleep that has seized you? “ –The Epic of Gilgamesh.

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What's a Metaphore?

Language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects

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Metaphores

Redemption

Reconciliation

Justification

Expiatory sacrifice

Display of God’s love

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Key Text: Romans 3:25

• “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.” (NIV)

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Key Text: Romans 3:25

• “God offered him, so that by his blood

he should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people’s sins.” (TEV)

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Key Text: Romans 3:25

God presented him

as a sacrifice of atonement,

through faith in his blood.

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Key Text: Romans 3:25

•to demonstrate his justice, •because

He did this

•he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.

in his forbearanc

e

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What People Think• T F Christ’s death was a ransom paid to

liberate us from evil powers.• T F Sublime revelation of God’s love that

transforms us.• T F An expiatory sacrifice that removed

the barrier of sin.• T F A reconciling act.• T F A declaration of acquittal.

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Summary

• “The truth is that the death of Christ is all of these.”

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Redemption

• Redemption is delivery from debt through the payment of a ransom.–To whom was the debt owed?–To whom was the ransom paid?

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Redemption

• To whom was the debt owed?• “You used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” (Rom. 6:17).

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Redemption

• To whom was the debt owed?–The debt is owed to the law of God. That is what was “broken.”

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Redemption

• To whom was the ransom paid?–The ransom was paid to the law

of God.–“The law was the gatekeeper.”

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Redemption• “[Redemption] simply provided the

legal basis for the death of the culprit.”• “[God] satisfied His own moral

demands.”• “He bought back the right of existence

for the human race.”

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Redemption

So God paid a ransom to Himself.• He did it through the sacrifice of Jesus,

a member of the Trinity who owed nothing to the law. • Because He owed nothing, but paid the

ransom anyway, He can credit the redemption to us.

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Reconciliation

• “Reconciliation is the restoration of peaceful relationships between individuals or groups once at enmity.”

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Reconciliation

1. God took the initiative.2. God used a Mediator.3. The object is “us” and the

“world.”

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Reconciliation

A process of two factors:• The cross “removing the

“barrier.”• 2 Cor. 5: 19 “that God was

reconciling the world to himself in Christ,”

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Reconciliation

Sin

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Reconciliation4. A process of two factors:• The “ministry” of reconciliation• 2 Cor. 5:20 – “We are

therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

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Reconciliation

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Justification

• A legal term that refers to the acquittal of someone accused of a crime but who is found innocent in court.

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Justification

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Justification• Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to

those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

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Justification

• “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”• “The whole world held

accountable to God.”• “Therefore no one will be

declared righteous.”

“Through the law we become

conscious of sin.”

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Justification

• “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known.” • “This righteousness from God

comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”

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Justification• “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law,

has been made known.”

• “Hence, the solution to the human predicament is the justification that comes by faith to all who believe.”

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Expiatory Sacrifice

• “Expiatory” “Having power to atone for or offered by way of expiation or propitiation; "expiatory (or propitiatory) sacrifice"

: “The act of making atonement : the means by which atonement is made.”

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Expiatory Sacrifice

• “Expiatory”

“Sacrifice”

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Expiatory Sacrifice

1. The sacrifice was provided by God.2. It was an act of substitution.3. It liberated us from the wrath of

God.4. It provides the legal foundation for

God to save us.

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Expiatory Sacrifice

• “Propitiation [substitution] does not mean that Christ persuaded the Father to love us; it means that Christ’s sacrifice made it possible for God’s love to reach us.”

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Expiatory Sacrifice

•Why is there such a thing as “God’s wrath?”

A debt is owed to the law of God. That is what was

“broken.”

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Expiatory Sacrifice

•Why is there such a thing as “God’s wrath?”

The whole point is that we didn’t fix it – God did!

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Reconciliation

Sin

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Display of God's Love

• “The engine that configured the plan of salvation and put it into effect was divine love, the very essence of God.” • “The cross dispelled, forever, all

doubts concerning the character of God.”

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Metaphores

Redemption

Reconciliation

Justification

Expiatory sacrifice

Display of God’s love