Athronges CASpoyyjjc), a person of mean extrac- tion, and by occupation a shepherd, i\ho, without any other advantages than great bodily stature and un- daunted hardihood, raised a body of banditti in Judaea, in connection with his four brothers, during the rule of Gratus, so powerful that they at last cssnmed royal- ty, and were with difficulty subdued in detail and cap- tured by the successive procurators (Joseph. Ant. xvii, 10, 7). In the parallel account (liar, ii, 4, 3) ho is called Athrongaus (ASpoyymof).
ATIPIIA
ATONEMENT
At'ipha ('Arrffi, Vulg. Agisti), one of the "tem- ple-servants" whose "sons" returned from the captiv- ity (1 Esdr. v, 32) ; evidently the Hatipha (q. v.) of the true text (Ezra ii, 5-1).
Atonement (expressed in Heb. by 122, kapha/, to cover over sin, hence to forgive ; Gr. KaraXXayij, reconciliation, as usually rendered), the satisfaction of- fered to divine justice for the sins of mankind by the death of Jesus Christ, by virtue of which all penitent believers in Christ are reconciled to God, and freed from the penalties of sin.
I. Scripture Doctrine. — 1. The words used to d s ribe Christ's work. — The redeeming work of Christ, in its several aspects, is denoted in Scripture by various terms, namely, reconciliation, propitiation, expiation, atonement, redemption, satisfaction, substitution, and salvation. The following summary of the uses and meanings of these terms is taken, with slight modi- fications, from Angus, Bible Hand-book, § 329. (a.) Looking into the English N. T., we find "reconcilia- tion" and "reconcile" in several passages, in all of which (except one) the Greek word is some form of aWaacroj, "to produce a change between parties" (when, for example, they have been at variance) ; in turning to the Sept. we find this word never used in this sense at all, nor have the many passages in the O. T., which speak of "making reconciliation," any verbal reference to these passages in the N. T. The idea is involved in several passages, but it is never ex- pressed by this word, nor by any single word. "To turn away anger," "to restore to favor," "to accept," are the common expressions, generally forms of J"!^ and StKTog (Isa. lvi, 7 ; lx, 7 ; Jer. vi, 20 ; Lev. xix, 7). Hence the conclusion, that in the word of the N. T. translated "reconcile" there is reference only to the change or effect produced by some measure of mercy, and not to the nature of that measure itself: it describes merely the change produced in our relation to God ; his moral sentiment of displeasure against sin (called his "wrath") is appeased, and the sinner's enmity and misgivings arc removed. That there is this double change may be gathered from the following passages : Heb. x, 26, 27 ; Rom. v, 9 ; Heb. ix, 20, 28 ; 2 Cor. v, 18-20 ; Eph. ii, 1G ; 1 Cor. vii, 11 ; Col. i, 20, 21. (6.) In one passage, however (Heb. ii, 17), we have in Greek another word, iXdaKOfiat, translated also " make reconciliation." Its meaning may be gathered from the passages in the 0. T. in which it occurs. It is, in fact, the constant rendering of a word translated in the English version "to make reconciliation" or "to atone for" (Lev. vi, 30; viii, 15; Ezek. xlv, 20; Dan. ix, 2-1, etc.). (c.) But it would excite surprise if this were the only passage in the N. T. where this phrase is found. It occurs agaiu, in fact, in Rom. iii, 25 ; 1 John ii, 2 ; iv, 10; but in each of these passages it is translated propitiation, a word which does not occur in the O. T. Expiation, again, does not occur in the New, and but once in the Old (Numb, xxxiii, 35); it is the same word, however, as is translated elsewhere '•to make reconciliation" or "to atone for." Atone- ment itself does not occur in the N. T., except in Rom. v, 2, ami there it has no connection with the O. T. phrase, but is the same word as is translated " recon- ciliation" in the first sense above indicated ; a change, that is, of state between parties previously at variance. ('/.) Thus far, therefore, the result is clear. Recon- ciliation and atonement are, in all the N. T., except Heb. ii. 17, translations of the same word, and mean the state of friendship and acceptance into which the Gospel introduces us. "Reconciliation" in the sense in which it is used in Heb. ii, 17, and "atonement" in the uniform sense of the Old Testament, "propitiation" in the New Testament, and " expiation" in the Old, are all different renderings of one and the same He- brew and Greek words "133, Icaphar (in the Piel form "IS3) and t'iiXaoKoiuu, in some of their forms. These
words, which may be regarded as one, have two senses, each involving the other. They mean to appease pacify, or propitiate (Gen. xxxiii, 20; Prov. xvi, 14 ; Ezek. xvi, 03); and also to clear from guilt (1 Sam. iii, 14; Psa. lxv, 3 ; Prov. xvi, 0 ; Isa. vi, 7, etc.). In propitiation, we have prominence given to the first idea ; in expiation, to the second ; in atonement, we have a distinct reference to both, (e.) The thing which atones, propitiates, or expiates is called in Greek iXaapuc, iliXaaixoc,, and Xvrpov, all translations of two derivatives of the Hebrew word "lES (D^->22 and "i£3), i. e. price or covering. (f) The use oi' XxWpcv for T22 introduces another form of expression, "redemption." This word, as a noun, always repre- sents in the N. T. XvrpwaiQ or aTroXvrpwvtg. Both are descriptive of the act of procuring the liberation of an- other by paying some Ai'rpov or airoiva, i. e. "ran- som" or "forfeit," and hence always in the N. T. of the state of being ransomed in this way. These words mean (1) to buy back, by paying the price, what has been sold (Lev. xxv, 25), and (2) to redeem what has been devoted by substituting something else in its place (Lev. xxvii, 27; Exod. xiii, 13; Psa. lxxii, 11 ; Psa.exxx, 8; Isa. lxiii, 9). The price paid is called A i>- rpov (Matt, xx, 28 ; Mark x, 45), di'riXvrpov (1 Tim. ii, 0), the Hebrew terms being <"l!?X5 and ""'"IE', answering precisely to Xvrpor, and "122, which again answers to Wao-fiuc,. In 1 Tim. ii, 0, this ransom is said to be Christ himself. " Redemption," therefore, is general- ly a state of deliverance by means of ransom. Hence