Atonement: What Does It Mean?

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (18.) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19.) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." The English word “atonement” is mentioned in the New Testament only one time however the Greek word katallagē is mentioned four time; twice in Romans and twice in 2 Corinthians 5. katallagē means – to exchange that is, restoration to (the divine) favor. – The definition “restoration to (the divine) favor” means we are restored to the way God created man before the fall. It was after God had created man and woman on the sixth day that God not only said He was “pleased” but rather He was “very pleased”. Now that we know what the word “atonement” means lets look at how God “restores to (the divine) favor”. We find the actual word “atonement” in Romans 5:11 “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Here we see that “atonement” or “restoring to (the divine) favor” is by Jesus Christ. This is the only way one can be atoned because only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse one from their sins; this make Him our atonement. The Jewish people just celebrated their holiday called “Yom Kippur” which is (to my understanding) their day of atonement. This is the day that they ask God to forgive their sins and to cleanse them. The only problem is that they have no Saviour; they have no redeemer as we have in Jesus Christ. However, as we look at the religions of the world we see no redeemer in any of them except in Christians (which is not a religion). What the Jewish people and other religions of the world need to consider is that God cannot just forgive sin. God has never just forgiven sin. There were in the Old Testament time sacrifices on alters but the last alter of sacrifice was the cross on Mt. Calvary where our redeemer paid a just price for all our sins and it is this just payment that God uses to count our sins as zero. God said "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (13.) But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Ephesians 2:12 – 13. If the Jewish people could just ask God for forgiveness and He was to grant it then God would be unjust Himself. The holiness and justice of God denies Him this ability. God is a God of law and when law is broken punishment must be delivered. The Holiness of God forbids such an oversight of sin and Justice demands vengeance or retribution for sin. Sometimes folks (especially those with little biblical knowledge) argue against limiting God but God is who He is. There are things God cannot do; He cannot lie, He cannot sin, He cannot go against His holiness, and etc. I believe to think that God could do any of these things is a sin in itself. A just and holy God demands laws to be obeyed or suffer the punishment for breaking them. There is a large difference between God just forgiving sin and God forgiving sin because a just payment was made by Christ Jesus. The Jewish people and other religious people believe that God will simply just forgive there sins; but if this was so then there would have been no need in Jesus Christ giving His life on the cross; and the scriptures conclude many times over that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Christ Jesus did not die in vain. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." 1 John 4:9 We want to conclude with this fact. God accepted the blood of Jesus Christ as a just payment for our sins and this makes Him our redeemer and our Atonement to be restored to a sinless being. God declared “…Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (8.) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Romans 4:7 – 8. We are forgiven because our sins are covered.