Jesus The Perfect Atonement

[RJ]

I am sure that I can't do this thread total justice for some but but here goes:
Hebrews 4:14-16
Hebrews 7:20-28
In theology, atonement is a doctrine that describes how human beings can be reconciled to God. In Christian theology the atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which made possible the reconciliation between God and Man.
Not only that, atonement requires the shedding of blood.
Matthew 26:28
Hebrews 9:22

Jesus shed his blood and died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. He subsequently was raised from the dead and his spirit in us provides salvation and eternal life. Jesus did this once and for all: Romans 6:10
When on the cross, Jesus looked up and said"it is over", meaning, he had accomplished what God had sent him to do, which essentially means he was the final and last atonement for sins that God would require. John 19:28-30

Without, the shedding of blood , there is no atonement for sins. In the time leading up to Jesus final atonement, Caiaphas remained the Head Priest. Little did he know that God was about to replace him very soon.
Caiaphas, like all the head Priests before him had to work day after day, year around, which ended in the Day of Atonement. The day of Atonement was a gracious day each year when all the Israelites could experience a new beginning by being cleansed from their sins and restored to fellowship with God. There is a whole lengthy telling that can happen about this day but, it is sufficient within this discussion, that all this came about by the shedding of animal blood and this process had to be repeated every year.

Essentially, the sacrificial shedding of blood in the Old Testament was translated into one's sins being covered. It had to be done every year, year end-year out. And, like Caiaphas, his job was never finished, he was continually performing atonement rituals or preparing for the Day of Atonement. I read some where that , in the temple of old, there were no chairs, or seats for the High Priest, symbolizing he could never sit down in the temple because his job was never finished.

With Jesus atonement, he took away sins forever, not just covered over them and he sat down at the right hand of God, signifying his job was finished and his atonement remains active today: 1 John 3:5 ; Hebrews 10:12
That's one of the reasons why I feel that, with Jesus in you, your atonement is complete and you are "sign-sealed- and delivered" to God.

 

[james1523]

Great post, thankyou.

 

[Hekuran]

In theology, atonement is a doctrine that describes how human beings can be reconciled to God. In Christian theology the atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which made possible the reconciliation between God and Man.

There's also the 'Christus Victor' way of understanding the atonement - this emphasises Jesus' victory over the powers of death and evil, and leads us from captivity to freedom.

See Colossians 2

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

The final image - the public spectacle - is that of a victorious army general parading the officials of a defeated enemy. A huge part of understanding atonement is making an account of Jesus victory over death.

I don't think that means that we should throw out substitutionary atonement, but that substitutionary atonement alone is not able to account for all the dimensions of atonement.

 

[RJ]

There's also the 'Christus Victor' way of understanding the atonement - this emphasises Jesus' victory over the powers of death and evil, and leads us from captivity to freedom.

See Colossians 2


The final image - the public spectacle - is that of a victorious army general parading the officials of a defeated enemy. A huge part of understanding atonement is making an account of Jesus victory over death.

I don't think that means that we should throw out substitutionary atonement, but that substitutionary atonement alone is not able to account for all the dimensions of atonement.

You've got a lot of atonements there.
I think it is safe to say that we are forgiven and that is final because Christ is the final and everlasting atonement. Everything should all be summed up as "Christ's Atonement".

 

[james1523]

To say that Jesus is the Perfect Atonement is not only to mean that Christ was perfect in regards to sinlessness, but that Christ completed (or perfected) everything that was required to reconcile God and mankind.

Atonement is not only to have the problem of the forgiveness of sin dealt with (by shedding of blood). There is actually a number of atonements accomplished by Christ. Hekuran mentioned one of them - Christ the victor, relating to the problem of our weakness and being in bondage to sin and death.
There is also the problem of ignorance, bondage to sin, and self-righteousness and blaming/accusing others.
Ignorance was atoned for by Jesus becoming our teacher.
Bondage to sin was atoned for by Jesus's death (freeing us from the "old man" ) - this is Christ the victor over the power of sin and death.
Self-righteousness (and blaming others) was atoned for by the Father sending His Son as a scape-goat, and blaming His Son for our sin.

If God only atoned for our sin by Christ's blood, and not our ignorance, the power of sin and death, and our self-righteousness..then we could only be forgiven for our sins, but never be truly free from it. God accomplished so much more in Jesus Christ, that involves not just His death on the cross and shedding of blood, but His whole life, including His human living and His resurrection and ascension.

Matt 1:21 says "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." The name Jesus means "God saves". I feel that most Christians think this means Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. But Jesus had the name "God saves" from birth, and His whole life and everything He did was towards our salvation, not only so we could be forgiven, but also so we could be free from everything that stood between us and God.