1014. Contrasting Atonement With What Jesus Did

The word "atonement" gets tossed around quite a bit in church circles, but it really isn't a word that should be associated within the context of the New Covenant. It was something more prevalent within the previous and now obsolete covenant the Jewish people were in before the cross.

Atonement represented a covering that included a priesthood involving many repeated sacrifices that ultimately could not take away sins. It was a covering, and it was temporary. The blood of Jesus was shed once and took sins away forever ... to be remembered no more by God. When people today debate whether we have an unlimited atonement (or not) is simply displaying a lack of knowledge regarding the eternal redemption which came through Jesus Christ.

Most of the corporate Christian church world has been stuck somewhere in-between these two very different covenants, making it harder for than it needs to be and putting unnecessary fear and pressure on themselves and others.



   
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676. Receiving the Forgiveness That Has Already Been Given

A once for all forgiveness for sins occurred through Jesus Christ when His blood was shed at the cross. The problem of sins ever bringing a separation or coming between God and us has been dealt with by God Himself through the body of Jesus Christ. God was in Him, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them. He no longer deals with us according to our sins, which have been cast as far away as the east is from the west. When the priests under the law made offerings for sin, it was a temporary covering (atonement) and a new forgiveness was needed shortly thereafter. They kept standing, offering the same sacrifices that could never take sins away. But our new High Priest (Jesus) made one offering… then He sat down, because when forgiveness is a completed and finished work, “there no longer remains an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18). Now in order to experience and enter the life of Christ, we simply believe in Him and what He did on our behalf. The gift of forgiveness that has already been “offered” is received by simply believing (see examples in Acts 10:43; 26:18).



   

501. All Your Sins Forgiven and Forgotten

Christians tend to be under the mindset that we should keep seeking forgiveness from God, and that He will keep forgiving repeatedly on an as-needed basis. But this diminishes the perfect completion of the finished work of the cross. Jesus came to take away sins and usher in a New Covenant where God would no longer deal with us according to our sins, not count them against us and He would remember them no more. Was Jesus successful with His mission? Of course, the answer is yes and we take a look at what that means for us in Christ.


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409. God's Gift to You (Has Already Been Given)

God loved you so much that He gave. He gave all He had to give with the gift of His Son. With this gift He has already brought you everything that pertains to life and godliness. He has made you accepted, holy, blameless, forgiven, perfected. The New Covenant will not allow us to try to make things right. He already has. Those who hunger and thirst for more from God can realize that He has done all that is necessary to bring reconciliation between you and Him. He has declared peace with us. Simply believe the good news.

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190. Our Message To the World: God is Not Counting People's Sins Against Them

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This week we take a peek into the deeply rich passage of 2 Corinthians 5. Not only does it talk about us being New Creations in Christ (not simply "changed" or "improved," but made completely new), but it talks about the ministry that we have to the world as believers. Is our ministry to point out people's sins? Is our ministry to protest all the sinful behavior of the world?

What about the message in 2 Cor. 5 that "God was in Christ reconciling (exchanging sin for righteousness) the world to Himself, not counting people's sins against them?" The very same passage goes on to say that God has committed to us that ministry - the message of reconciliation. The message of reconciliation is our ministry to the world - that God was in Christ exchanging our sin for His righteousness!