Dr. Gene Dillague

2 Cor 5:17–21

Atonement, as the etymology of the English word suggests, hints at the primary goal of the
sacrifice offered for sinners — reconciliation, that is, to be “at one” with God again. Alienation is
the immediate and lethal consequence of sin. God was clear that the day humans cross the line
is the day we “will certainly die” (Gen 2:17). Sin offends God and corrupts men. Both are
sufficient reasons for God to deny man his presence, his relationship, and access to the tree of
life (Gen 3:24).

Yet God in his infinite love could not stay away. He made the first move and “reconciled us to
himself” (2 Cor 5:18). God provided man a way to come near to him again. With Israel, Yahweh
prescribed a system for man to satisfy his justice and purge them from their pollution. One day
a year, at Yom Kippur, he demanded two goat sacrifices — the first one died on their behalf and
the other carried all their pollution away (Lev 16:7–10). With these, atonement — koper — is
made for Israel, and they are “clean from all their sins” (Lev 16:30).

But as the author of Hebrews pointed out, animal sacrifices were not sufficient (Heb 10:4). So
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood” (Rom
3:25). Jesus’ death as a koper was propitiatory, in that it was a sufficient ransom to assuage
God’s divine justice like the first goat (Heb 9:15); and expiatory, because it cleansed us from all
our pollution like the second one (1 John 1:7).

Now, in Christ, man can be “at one” with God again. But “reconciliation has to be received.
Sinners must enter into a state of peace with God, not to make it effective, but to benefit from its
blessings. The pressing exhortation of the apostle as an ambassador of Christ is ‘We implore
you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God’ (2 Cor 5:20)” (Wells, Cross Words, 254–256).

For those of us blessed with that grace and peace, God has “committed to us the message of
reconciliation.” We are “Christ’s ambassadors,” and God is calling the world to be reconciled to
him through the message of the cross (2 Cor 5:18–20).

References

• Sklar, Jay. Sin, Impurity, Sacrifice, Atonement: The Priestly Conceptions. Hebrew Bible Monographs 2. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2005.
• Wells, Paul. Cross Words: The Biblical Doctrine of Atonement. Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus Publications, 2006.