Channels, Spring 2018

Page 4 Pape • The Accomplishment of Biblical Theology on Atonement Accomplishment of the Sacrifice Jesus offered himself as a sin offering in order to purify the conscience from guilt and sanctify the sinner from transgression. However, two other key aspects of Jesus’ work of sacrifice is his accomplishment of forgiveness and the finality of his sacrifice. The theme of forgiveness is closely related to atonement; by tracing this concept through the canon and covenants it will enable us to identify the development of the theme of sacrifice from the Old Testament to the New. The Old Testament primarily uses forgiveness to describe God’s character. God proclaims his glory to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7, “the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger yet abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.” This description of God’s character is repeated throughout the Old Testament; 10 however, it is difficult to grasp God’s forgiveness of iniquity until the presentation of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31. “The famous ‘new covenant’ passage in Jeremiah looks ahead to a time when the Lord will forgive his people’s wickedness and remember their sins no more.” 11 Hebrews 8 picks up on Jeremiah 31 in order to show the means by which atonement and forgiveness are accomplished in this covenant. Hebrews states that the New Covenant eradicates the Mosaic covenant through a fulfillment of the sacrificial system and a true accomplishment of forgiveness through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In Leviticus, the Day of Atonement is summarized, “on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord for all your sins.” 12 In order for a sinful people to remain in the dwelling place of a holy God, a sacrifice must be made on their behalf to make atonement. There were individual sacrifices that could be offered to atone for sin, but the Day of Atonement offered a clean slate to all people. For all people “had contributed to the piling up of sin and, by the grace of God, on this day every individual, Israelite and foreigner alike, was to be a recipient of his mercy and know their sins forgiven.” 13 The Day of Atonement brings forgiveness through the sacrifices offered by the priest on behalf of the people. However, Leviticus 16:34 also presents the Day of Atonement as a repeated sacrifice saying, “a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” Thus, the main failure of the Levitical sacrificial system found in the Mosaic covenant was its inability to fully deal with sin and take away guilt for “it could make no provision for full and final forgiveness of the sinner. The various rituals 10 e.g. Numbers 14:18-19, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 103:8-10, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2 11 R.W. Yarbrough, “Forgiveness and Reconciliation” New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Downers Grove: IVP, 2000), p. 500 12 Leviticus 16:30 13 Derek Tidball, “The Message of Leviticus” The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove: IVP, 2005) p. 199