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Jesus as the Atoning Sacrifice

I have been exposed to very few explosions of rage. What I have seen makes my heart go out to those who live in social environments where violent anger is frequent, perhaps even routine.

When people are deeply offended, insulted, maligned or harmed, they may exhibit a strong response. Their pain demands to be dissipated. The easiest and perhaps most satisfying way for that to happen is for the offender to suffer equally or greater. Danger lurks here because the desire for justice can easily turn into vengeance. Evening the score can become turning the tables. Redress is overwhelmed by revenge.

Most modern societies have some sense of law and order. People understand that at a certain point, they are no longer free to settle things for themselves. The duly constituted justice system steps in and relieves them from the right to pursue righting wrongs on their own terms. When emotions run high, we cannot be objective. Our judgment is distorted by our pain.

In earlier times, before societies were as highly developed as the ones in which we live now, it was understood and accepted that people could take justice into their own hands to the limit of an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hurt for hurt, blood for blood. In these situations, mitigating circumstances did little or nothing in softening the blow.

Sometimes, depending on the offence, another path could be pursued. Something of great value could be offered to appease the offended party, turning away his or her anger. This acknowledged that wrong had been done and that there was a price to be paid, but rather than a simple hurt for hurt, something was offered to deflect what would otherwise have been a harsh and unpleasant outcome. Eye for an eye justice offered the offended party nothing other than the knowledge that his or her pain was now equally felt by the person who had committed the offence.

Throughout the Bible we learn that human sin is a great offence against God’s holy person. We don’t really understand this because no one we know is truly holy. But we can get a sense of His holiness because He decreed, right from the beginning, that sin would result in the death of the perpetrator. Because we are sinful creatures, we accept a certain amount of sinful behaviour in others, without being too offended. God’s holiness is absolute. Any sinful behaviour is an offence and the one in whom that sin is found must die.

The apostle John wrote these words in the second chapter of his first letter. “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2) Here, John makes clear that Jesus has stepped into the gap for us, describing Him as the atoning sacrifice for human sin.

The Greek word which John used for “atoning sacrifice” is suggestive of reconciliation, appeasement, deflection of anger, or restoring to favour one who had fallen into disfavour. It accepts that something is wrong and then steps in to make it right. It is the sacrifice which deals with sin. Old Testament animal sacrifices covered the sin of the one making the offering. The voluntary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament pays the price completely and removes the sin of the one who accepts that Jesus died for him or her.

As the atoning sacrifice, Jesus was the one who dealt with our sin in such a way that we could be reconciled to God. The broken relationship could be restored. The estrangement could give way to intimacy. That’s the “atoning” aspect of the expression. The “sacrifice” aspect teaches us the price at which the atonement came - a life for a life. His life for mine.

Ron Hughes
© January 2008