THE DOCTRINE OF

THE SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT

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   Faith in Christ is more than just believing that He lived, it is believing that He died for our sins, and that through His death we have forgiveness and eternal life. Because God will not simply ignore sin, if it were not for the forgiveness that Christ won for us every one of us would wind up in hell (Joshua 24:19). In other words, God did not just decide to overlook our sin or "let us off the hook," Christ paid for our sin. He took those sins upon Himself and died the death that we deserved to die. For that reason, His death is referred to in theology as the Vicarious (Substitutionary) Atonement.

AN OVERVIEW

    Passages that either refer to, or allude to, Christ's death in our stead are scattered throughout the Bible. The blood sacrifices that were required of those under the law were designed help us to think of Christ as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Isaiah speaks of God laying "the iniquity of us all" on Christ (Isaiah 53:6). And Paul uses the word "atonement" – a term that is used throughout the Old Testament in reference to blood sacrifice – in reference to Christ's death (Romans 5:10-11). Therefore, let us look at what the Bible says.

THE GOSPEL

In the fifth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans, we read:
6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

[Comment: When these verses tell us that Christ died "for us" or "for the ungodly," they are saying that Christ died in our place (verses 6&8). They then explain what that means by telling us that we are "justified by His blood… saved by wrath through Him… reconciled to God by the death of His Son" and "have now received the atonement" (verse 9). I might add, that to be "justified by His blood" is to be justified by what He did, and He did it for us "when we were enemies" and therefore totally unworthy.]

OTHER STATEMENTS BY PAUL

"Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:28).
"We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:10,14).
    [Comment: These verses tell us that Christ's death was a sacrifice (He was offered), that He bore our sins, and that through His death we are cleansed and made perfect in the sight of God.]

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3).
"Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father (Galatians 1:4).
    [Comment: The first verse tells us that Christ "died for our sins," while the other tells us that He freely "gave Himself" so that by His death He might" deliver us from this present evil world."]

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Colossians 2:13-14).
    [Comment: These verses tell us that even though we were spiritually dead because of sin, He made us alive through forgiveness, blotting out all of the ordinances that condemned us, through His death on the cross.]

THE TESTIMONY OF PETER

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit // Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness" (1 Peter 3:18 and 2:24).
    [Comment: When these verses tell us that Christ "suffered for sins, the just for the unjust" or "bare our sins in His body on the tree" they are telling us that He died in our place as our substitute.]

THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN

“The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin (1John 1:7).
For “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1John 2:2).

CHRIST’S OWN TESTIMONY

“This is my body, which is broken for you // this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28, 1Corinthians 11:24).
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).
    [Comment: In these verses Christ tells us that His blood was shed so that our sins might be forgiven, and that we receive that forgiveness (and thus eternal life) through faith in Him.]

CONCLUSION

    Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf, and the corresponding victory over death that resulted in His resurrection, is the basis of our faith. "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:17).