ATONEMENT
ATONEIMENT
119
for the sins of His people (He 2^'). This is possible in only one way — sacrifice. The OT conception, upon the analogy of which this NT structure is built, is that propitiation must be made for sin, if sinful men are to have fellowship with God at all ; the only propitiation known is the shedding of blood in sacrificial offerings. A root-principle, therefore, of the writer's theory is : ' Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission ' (9^-) . This sacrifice Christ provides in His blood ; He is at once Priest and Sacrificial Offering ; He is on this account capable of dealing effectively with sin as the obstacle to the fellowship of God and man ; 'once (ctTral— 'once for all') at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sia by the sacrifice of himself' (9^^).
(2) Sacrifice. — This offering of Himself is illus- trated from the three elements of the Levitical system — (a) the sin-offering, (6) the covenant- offering, (c) the offering on the gi'eat Day of Atone- ment. As sin-offering, Christ's death was a final sacrifice for sins (10^^- ^^), it made propitiation for the sins of the people (2^^), it put away sin (9^^). As a covenant sacrifice, it ratified the new cove- nant, of which He was the mediator, by ' blood of sprinkling' (12^*) ; for this covenant also, that it might become operative, His death was necessary. As the high priest entered every year into the Holy Place, Christ has entered into the heavenly sanctuary to appear before the face of God for us (9^*). He also suffered without the camp (13"'). "The writer dwells much upon the fact that all these were only symbolic and morally ineffective as types. Only in Christ's sacrificial offering of Him- self and in the functions of His changeless Priest- hood could be provided the eternal reality (see Sacrifice). The writer also further defines all that Christ did and suffered in its relation to God — and especially to His love. It was by the grace of God that He tasted death for every man (2^). God is not conceived in any sense as a hostile Being who is to be won over by sacrificial gifts to be gracious to man; these are never said to 'recon- cile' God. The Priesthood of Christ was God's appointment and calling (5^). Christ's supreme ministry was 'to do thy will, O God' (10^). The same will was fulfilled 'through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all' (aTra?, 10^"). Christ's life and death are in perfect obedience to God, and are a revelation of the mind and love of God ; such is God's gracious way of making it possible for the sinful to have fellowship with Him, of 'bringing many sons unto glory' (2^°) ; it was entirely congruous, the wTiter asserts, with God's perfect ethical nature and with man's sinful state. It is in the latter sense that the writer defiries further the relation of the sacrifice of Christ to sin. His work is described as 'having made purification of sins ' ( P ) . He was offered to bear the sins of many (928 2" iQi^ff •) . By whatever sacrificial illustrations His offering of Himself in His blood is set forth, the expiatory significance is common to them all ; they represent the Divinely appointed way of deal- ing with sin as a hindrance to communion with God.
(3) Theory. — Beyond the relation to God and sin referred to, it is not easy, without going outside the pages of the Epistle, to state a doctrine which explains to the reason the grounds on which the sacrificial ministry of Christ as Priest and Offering becomes available for the establishing of the fellow- ship with God which is plainly set forth as its object. It is said 'to sanctify' men (2" lO^"-^* 13^'-) ; to enable them 'to draw near to God' (4^^ 71911. 1022); 'to jnake perfect' (21° V^ 10"); 'to purify' (9^''). It is difficult, however, to give a close definition of these terms. Primarily they refer to status; men's relation to God is altered
rather than their character changed into ethical states befitting these terms as symbols of personal qualities ; the immediate effect upon men is reUgious rather than ethical. But ultimately this effect is inadequate. As much as this was acknowledged to have been accomplished by the ancient priest- hood and sacrifices, and it is the persistent plea of the writer that these ceased because they were in- adequate : the blood of bulls and of goats can never take away sin or serve for the purification of the conscience. Christ's Priesthood and Offering were, on the other hand, 'better,' 'perfect,' 'eternal,' or final ; they did what others could not do. In the end, therefore, those who shared their benefits would enter into possession and enjoyment of the ethical realities for which they were the surety; such persons were to become partakers of Christ (314.1 Qiy Identification was to follow the more strictly vicarious relation. Meanwhile, however, the writer is Pauline to this extent that, whilst not excluding the ethical from the results of Christ's substitutionary work, he emphasizes first and strongly the objective benefits. He holds that eventually conscience and character will share in the blessings assured by access to God, but the ethical change is considered as the outcome of the change in the religious and juridical relation. Before the 'sanctified' become sinless or the 'perfect' faultless or the 'pm-ified' pure, they have the status towards God of these, which is expressed in the privilege of fellowship. This is the effect of Christ's 'finished work' in His death : it is primary ; and the moral renewal, though assured as its outcome, is secondary, Christ's death has done something in regard to sin once for all, and by one offering has brought men for ever into a perfect reUgious relation to God. That such an objective result is thus brought about seems clear from the Epistle, but what it is pre- cisely which in God is related to this work is not stated by the writer, nor what constitutes the necessity in God for the Divinely appointed death of Christ. He does not go behind the Divine appointment ; that God wills it is sufficient ; this is for him axiomatic ; in what its absoluteness lies is not stated. How far it is legitimate to read into the Epistle the Pauline ideas is doubtful ; it has only the value of inference. The efficiency of the fact that Christ's death is the putting away of sin is the writer's contribution to the apostohc doctrine of atonement rather than its explanation. Denney finds the one hint of an attempt at explana- tion in 'Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spotto God' (9"). The sinlessness of Jesus gave to His offering an absolute and ideal character beyond which nothing could be conceived as a response to God's mind and requirements in relation to sin. The ideal obedience even unto death may be the clue — the spiritual principle of the atonement that gives the work of Christ its value. The Epistle lays great stress on Chi-ist's identification of Himself with man.