Alan Gross
Well-Known Member
Romans 3:25; "whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins."
or "Whom God has set forth to be an atoning sacrifice by his blood"
Acts 4:28; "For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Hebrews 13:20; "Now the God of peace,
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant,"
"Now Christ was "set forth" to be the atoning sacrifice
in the purposes and decrees of God, ðñïåèåôï,
God "foreordained" him, as he was foreordained
to be the Lamb slain, as the ransom price and propitiatory sacrifice;
"Whose sufferings and death, which were the sacrifice,
were according to the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God (1 Peter 1:19; Acts 2:23; 4:28),
and he was set forth in the promises and prophecies
spoken of by all the holy prophets that were
from the beginning of the world;
as the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpents head, destroy him and his works, among which this is a principal one, making an end of sin, by a complete atonement for it; and he was set forth as such in the types and shadows of the law, the trespass offerings, and sin offerings, which are said to bear the sins of the congregation, and to make atonement for them; which were typical of Christ, who was made an offering for sin, bore the sins of many, and made atonement for them (Leviticus 10:17), and he has been set forth, in the fullness of time, in the exhibition of him, in human nature, in which he was manifested to take away sin; and he has put it away, and even abolished it, by the propitiatory sacrifice of himself; and he is still set forth in the gospel, as the sin bearing and sin atoning Savior who has satisfied law and justice, and made peace by the blood of his cross; and therefore it is called the word of reconciliation, the gospel of peace, and the word preaching peace by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. There are two other places where Christ is spoken of as éëáóµïò, the "atoning sacrifice ";
and these are in the first epistle of the apostle John; in one of them (1 John 4:10), it is said, "God sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice of our sins"; that is, sent him in human nature, to offer up soul and body as a sacrifice, and thereby make expiation of sin, and full atonement for it; and in the other it is said (1 John 2:9). "And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins", the sins both of Jews and Gentiles;
for which he is become a propitiatory sacrifice; upon which God is "merciful", éëåùò, "propitious" to his people, notwithstanding all their "unrighteousness, sins, and transgressions", or is "pacified towards them for all that they have done" (Hebrews 8:12; Ezekiel 16:63).
2. Secondly, the word atonement, though often used in the Old Testament, of typical sacrifices, making expiation of sin; as in Leviticus 1:4; 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 16:6, 10, 11, 16-18, 27, 30, 32-34; 17:11 where the word rpk is used, which signifies to "cover"; and Christ, by his sacrifice, the antitype of these, is a covering to his people, from the curses of the law they have broken—from the wrath of God they have deserved—and from avenging justice their sins exposed them to. Yet it is but once used in the New Testament (Romans 5:11).
"By whom we have received the atonement" made for them by Christ their surety, head, and representative; that is, the benefit of it, the application of it by the Spirit of God, who takes the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, and applies to his people, and shows them their interest therein; the effect of which is joy, peace, and comfort.
The word used properly signifies "reconciliation"; and so it is elsewhere translated; and the Hebrew word is sometimes rendered to "reconcile" (Leviticus 6:30), atonement and reconciliation for sin, design the same thing, and both satisfaction for it.
