Theories Of Atonement

Bible Project Salvation What is Justification? Justification is the work of God where the moral rightness of Jesus is given to the sinner, so the sinner is declared by God as being morally right under the Law. This moral rightness is not earned or kept by any effort of the saved. Justification is an immediate event with the result being never-ending life. It is based completely and only upon Jesus' sacrifice on the cross ("and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to moral rightness; for by His wounds you were healed.")

The new covenant, therefore, leads to a desire to do what is right. Righteousness comes from an inner obligation, not an external set of laws. Guthrie points out that the Old Testament sacrifice had weaknesses, one of them being, that sacrifices atoned only sins of the past so new sacrifices had to be made for new sins. Jesus became the new and ultimate sacrifice able to redeem all sin- past present and future. The forgiveness of God allows us to have a clear conscience and prompts us to forgive others.

Here Nephi expresses why it is that he “delighteth in proving unto [his] people the truth of the coming of Christ.” He teaches that, “save Christ should come all men must perish.” Without a Savior and Redeemer, no man would be fit to enter back into the Kingdom of Heaven. But Nephi delights in Christ because, “in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy,” the Plan of Salvation is made possible. This characterization captures the true essence of who Christ is in so many ways. Our God is a God of justice, bound by divine principles to hold all men accountable for their actions. By this estimation, it would be impossible for any of us to make it back to Him on our own; we would all fall painfully short of the mark of perfection that qualifies men for Heaven.

Adam and Eve were the doors that allowed sin to enter the world. Sin causes death and without a savior, it is impossible to cleanse oneself. Once sin is conceived, it takes an atonement to wipe away one’s sin. Jesus became the atonement for all believers and He gives everyone a chance to have a relationship with God. As Christians, one must be aware of sin because it can affect a person’s destiny and cause delays with God’s blessing.

"[Jesus Christ] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15). Christ was "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.". (Philippians 2:8) "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1:15), or as Paul puts it in Romans 6:23 " the wages of sin is death".

With this Original Sin, corruption entered humanity never to leave until God the Father imposed His Word onto us so that we could be saved. This damaging corruption blinded us from seeing God in His own creation and in His own people. Never the less, God refused to abandon His people in a time of such great need for salvation. He chose to save them, but how? How could he destroy death and pay the debt of all humanity while remaining God?

I knew the root of all suffering came from sin, and that since Adam and Eve sinned, all man is burdened with sin. However, people are able to have a loving relationship with God if we trust in Jesus. Often time’s people portray God as a distant, but extremely powerful being that only smites the evil and mildly rewards the righteous. People holding that view could not be more incorrect. In James 4:8 it says, “Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you,” and in Romans 5:8 it says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” These verses do not show God as a cold hard sky dwelling creature, but a loving personal God that desires a personal relationship with all people.

The whole world will come before the final divine tribunal. We will all come to that place, at that time, as either unjustified or justified sinners. Paul says, "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed…" (Acts 17:30-31) This judgment will be a righteous judgment by a righteous God. Those who will be judged are unrighteous people and God, will be the judge, and only He, is respon... ... middle of paper ... ...when any and every contribution towards his salvation on the part of the believer or on the part of the Church is absolutely and unequivocally shut out. Justification must be seen and received as a blessing dependent wholly and exclusively on Christ alone, on what he is and what he has done—a blessing enjoyed simply through being joined directly to him, through finding one's all in him, through drawing one's all from him.” "Justification by Faith: the Reinstatement of the Doctrine Today," Evangelical Quarterly, July, 1952, p. 166.

We have been forgive and declared to have fulfilled all that God’s law requires of us. This is possible because of Christ’s death on the cross. When God looks upon the believer, he does not see us separate from Christ, but he sees us through the righteousness of Christ. We are justified because of Christ. The Old Testament teaches that God is the righteous Judge over all human beings.

God is the ultimate creator of all things. When these things, namely the human race, began their sinning ways, they were in dire need of a Savior. These wretched ways are expressed in St. Athanasius’ book On the Incarnation. Because of His loving nature, though, God came down in a human configuration through His Son, Jesus Christ, so that all might be spared from death and share in His salvation and eternal life. When God constructed the human race, He had in mind wondrous intentions for them.