Atonement – The doctrine of Atonement is rooted in the Old Testament and is the foundation in Christian teaching for reconciliation between God and Man.

Atonement, as found in the Old Testament Scriptures, is derived from the Hebrew word kaphar, (kaw-far') (OT:3722 Strong’s number definition) primarily meaning to “cover”.

The doctrine of Atonement can only be understood in context of other doctrinal teachings of the Scripture and are listed as follows: The doctrine of God, Man, Sin and Salvation.

1. God – The Scriptures teach that God is holy and therefore can only dwell in a perfect environment. The Scriptures demonstrate that God is Omnipresent, but at the same time the Scriptures speak of God having dwelling places throughout history and in eternity. See: Revelation 4:8, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, Psalms 139:7-10, Jeremiah 23:23-24, 1 Corinthians 3:16, Psalms. 123:1, Numbers 5:3, Exodus 25:1-9, Acts17:24, and Ephesians 3:17.  Because of this paradox the doctrine of man and of sin must be understood to comprehend the need for the doctrine of Atonement.

2. Man – The Scriptures teach that man was created, by God, perfect and without fault, and God dwelt and walked with man having a close fellowship. See: Genesis 2:4-9

3. Sin – The Scriptures also teach that man through his own will sinned against God and became less then perfect; therefore, creating a break and rift in the relationship between God and man. Because of God’s Holy nature, sin forced God to break the fellowship and closeness with man, while at the same time putting man under the penalty of eternal death. See: Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3.

Atonement is required because of these three doctrines. If man is to be reconciled back to fellowship with God and is to be saved from spiritual death and God's judgment, then atonement for sin is required. This leads us to the fourth doctrine listed, the doctrine of salvation.

4. Salvation – The salvation process, as related to the doctrine of Atonement, begins with God’s plan and was implemented through the Abrahamic covenant revealed to man personally by God through His chosen leaders and prophets, then recorded in His Holy Scriptures (The Bible). Today we read of God’s plan starting in Leviticus chapter 16, giving man a temporary atonement for his sins. God’s plan was the action of covering man’s sin with the blood of animal scarifies and was foreshadowing God’s permanent plan through the life, death, burial and resurrection of His son: Jesus Christ. This action sealed the New Covenant. (See: Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 4:20)

In Jeremiah 31:30-34 God reveals a new convent by which man can receive permanent atonement for sin through Jesus Christ the son of God. As foreshadowed, Jesus acting as high priest, perfect and holy, sacrificed Himself through the shedding of His blood and becomes man’s permanent atonement for man’s sin. Thus, through the actions of Christ, our sin is covered by his blood, providing reconciliation to God through Himself. (See Romans 3:25; Acts 10:43; Hebrews 9:22 and Hebrews10:18).

Election – In the New Testament the doctrine of election is formulated from the word “elect” (Eklektos NT: 1588) meaning, “God’s chosen.” And in the Old Testament the word (Bachiyr OT: 977) meaning, “select” in which the English King James translation translates it, “elect.” Compare KJV and NAS concordances for usage. Also see Strong’s number definition. Examples of usage can be found in: Matthew 24:22, Matthew 24:31, Mark 13:22, Romans 8:33, Is. 45: 4, Is. 65:9.

The doctrine of election is built on two other doctrines:

 1.) The sovereignty of God. Illustrated in (1 Timothy 6:13-16): “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time-- He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” (NAS)

2.) The depravity of man as illustrated in (Romans 3:9-18): “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving, The poison of asps is under their lips; "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”(NAS)

Based on these two principles comes two views in church teaching:

 1.) God saves man from his sin by Grace alone and is based on God’s sovereignty – holding the position that man has no capacity to save himself, to include not having the ability to have faith of his own. (See: Romans Chapter 9.)

 2.) God through Grace alone provides the way for salvation, but man must make a choice of faith to complete the process. (See: 2 Peter 3:9, John 1:12, John 3:16.)

Because of these positions, theology books and word study tools tend to slant themselves toward one view or the other. Examples: read Christian Theology by Emery H. Bancroft and The Great Doctrine of the Bible by William Evans. Throughout this debate it is important to remember 2 Timothy 2:14-15: “Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless, and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.” (NAS)

Justification – The doctrine of Justification is based on two other biblical doctrines:

1.) The holiness of God. Found in the New Testament as (Hosios, NT: 3741) meaning, “separated”, as illustrated in John 17:11: “And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.” (NAS) And (Hagios, NT: 40) meaning “religiously right”, as illustrated in Revelation 15:4: “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy; For all the nations will come and worship before Thee, For Thy righteous acts have been revealed.” (NAS) Also see Strong’s number definitions. What does God separate himself from? Sin and imperfections.

2.) The fall of man. Illistraghted in Genesis Chapter 3, then ampliphied in Romans 5:18

18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. (NAS)

When putting both doctrinal principles together we have sinful man separated from a Holy God, which then requires justification or the process of reconciliation. Romans 5:10-11 states: “For if while 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 this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (NAS)

What are the elements of justification or reconciliation?

A.) We are separated from God under the penalty of death as the Scriptures states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NAS) The fall recorded in Genesis Chapter 3 resulted in the penalty of death. (See Gen. 2:16-17, Rom. 3:9, Rom. 5:12, James 1:15).

B.) The payment for this penalty is a blood sacrifice from a perfect being. (See, 1 Peter 5:10, Hebrews 7:26, Hebrews 10:4) The Scriptures state in Heb 9:11-14: “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (NAS)

C.) Man must exercise repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus the Christ. Jesus said in Luke 5:32: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (NAS) Dr. Luke writes in Acts 20:21: “…solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NAS) Also consider Eph 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” (NAS)

In summery – Justification is the result of Christ sacrificing Himself on the Cross for man. Man is separated from a Holy God and is under the penalty of death, thus, a payment is required for reconciliation. Upon this payment and the exercise of repentance and faith on man’s part, we are then considered, by God, to be justified or forgiven of our debt for sin and reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures sums it up this way: Romans 8:32-36. “Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (NAS) As the Scriptures state, God is the one who justifies through Christ and the result is non separation from our creator.

Regeneration – Regeneration means, “born again” and comes from the Greek word paliggenesia (pal-ing-ghen-es-ee'-ah; NT:3825)(See Strong’s number definition), and is used twice in the New Testament. Titus 3:5 states: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” (NAS) Matthew 19:28 states: “And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (NAS)

To be “born again” as spoken of in John 3:3 and explained in the following passages is a product of the work of the Holy Spirit, and carries the concept of receiving a new spiritual nature. It is clear from Jesus words that with out this event of being “born again” in one’s life or following him after regeneration, we cannot have any part of His Kingdom or of Him.

To have a new spiritual nature is to have the ability to formulate a proper attitude toward God and produce what the Scriptures call the fruit of the Spirit. Gal 5:21-24 states: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (NAS) The Scripture imply that only those that have been regenerated have the capacity to demonstrate such capacity with consistency. This is demonstrated through the Scriptures contrasting the difference between our new and old nature as seen in Romans 3:10-18: “as it is written, There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving, The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (NAS) and Ephesians 5:8-12: “(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.” (NAS) Also see: Galatians 5:22-24, Matthew 3:8-12, Matthew 7:17-18.

Regeneration takes place when we confess our sinfulness to God and place our trust and faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, as the savior of our soul and the provider of the payment to God for our sin. As our physical birth is a one-time event in history so is our regeneration a one-time event in history.