The State of Man and the Atonement Outline

Original State of Man

·         Created in God’s image (Gen 1:27).

·         Declared good by God (Gen 1:31).

·         Endowed with righteousness, holiness, and an upright nature (Eccl. 7:29).

·         Created for God’s good pleasure (Rev. 4:11).

Fallen State of Man

·         God said that man would die if he ate the fruit (Gen. 2:17).

·         Man sinned by disobeying God and died (Rom. 6:23).

·         Man died physically (Rom. 5:12; 6:23; Eph 2:5).

o        As a penalty of sin (Gen. 2:17; 3:19; Num 16:29; Psa. 90:7-11; Isa. 38:17; John 8:44).

·         Man died spiritually (Rom. 5:21; Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13).

·         Sin corrupted and polluted the moral character of man (Rom. 3:10-18).

·         Corrupt nature is passed on to all of mankind (Rom. 5:12).

·         Man is therefore now constituted a sinner (Rom. 5:12-14,19; Rom 3:10-12; Rom 3:19; Eph. 2:3; 1 John 1:18; Psa. 143:2; Prov. 20:9).

·         God cannot even look upon wickedness (Hab. 1:13).

·         Man is separated from God by his sin (Isa. 59:2; Eph. 2:12).

·         As a result of being separate from God, mankind is:

o        Inclined toward and a servant of sin (Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 6:6).

o        Spiritually blind (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

o        Lacking understanding (Rom. 3:11).

o        Cannot please God (Rom. 8:8).

o        Enemies of Christ (Matt. 12:20).

o        Objects of wrath (Eph. 2:3).

o        Children of the devil (John 8:44).

o        Incapable of righteousness (Rom. 3:11, 12).

·         Man is totally depraved.  His mind is at odds with God (Rom 8:7-8); his senses are corrupt (Eph. 4:18); man is devoid of anything good within him (Rom. 7:18).

·         Man is guilty, deserving of punishment, and faces eternal death (Matt 10:28; 25:41; 2 Thess. 1:9; Heb. 10:31; Rev. 14:11).

·         All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).

·         Man is essentially a criminal and in rebellion to God, as well as an enemy of God (Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 1:21; Titus 3:3).

Role of the Law

·         Make man aware of how sinful he is, even to the point of abandoning a defense of himself (Rom. 3:19-20).

·         Make known God’s holiness and righteousness (Rom. 3:5).

·         Lead man to Christ (Gal. 3:24).

·         Christ is therefore the end of the law (Rom 10:4) and the fulfillment of the law (Matt 5:17).

The Reality of the Law

·         Man is guilty of sin, deserves the full penalty of sin, and justly falls under the judgment of God (Rom. 3:19).

·         God does not leave the guilty unpunished (Exod. 34:7; Pro. 11:21).

·         Man is incapable of covering his sin and restoring his relationship with God on his own.

o        Man’s attempt to cover his shame did not satisfy God (Gen. 2:25, 3:7, 21).

o        Works will not restore mans standing before God (Titus 3:5; Eph. 2:4-8; Rom 3:27-28; Gal. 2:16; Gal. 3:21-22; Acts. 13:38-39).

o        The law was made weak by the flesh (Rom. 8:3) and man is powerless to uphold it (Rom. 5:6, 8:7).

o        The law of righteousness was not attained because it was not sought by faith but by works (Rom. 9:31-32).

·         Gal. 2:21 states that if man’s personal merit could satisfy the penalty of sin, then Christ died for nothing.

·         God’s justice demands fulfillment, for without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Heb. 9:22).

God’s Provision for Sinful Man

·         God wants all men to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 3-4; 2 Pet. 3:9).

·         We were chosen to be made righteous in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Pet. 1:20).

·         While we were dead in our sins God made peace with us through Christ (Rom. 5:1, 8-21; Rom. 6:23).

·         Christ came to take a way the sin of the world (John 1:29).

The Application of God’s Provision

·         Christ was without sin and as such became a vicarious sacrifice, a substitute, for our sin (John 8:46; Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 2:22; Heb 9:14-15).

·         Christ came to save us from our sins (Matt. 1:21).

·         Christ was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities.  We were healed by his scourging, and all our sins fell upon him (Isa. 53:5).

·         He was delivered up for us by God (Rom 8:32).

o        Greek preposition of “for” is huper, which means “in behalf of” or “in the stead of.”

o        Christ literally took our place and suffered the consequence of sin in our behalf and in our stead.

o        Christ became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).

o        Christ has set us free, and we are free indeed (John 8:36; Gal. 5:1).

o        There is nothing left to pay (Heb 7:25-27, 9:12-14). Observe the following:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.  He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.  Col. 2:13-14 (NIV)

…Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures…  1 Cor. 15:3

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.  1 Cor. 5:21

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.  1Pet. 2:24

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God…  1 Pet. 3:18

…that he (Jesus) by the grace of God should taste death for every man.  Heb. 3:9

·         See also Mark 10:45 and John 10:10.

·         Christ made atonement for our sins. 

o        Hebrew word for atonement is kaphar, which means a covering.

o        Atonement comes from the Greek work hilaskomai, which means to offer something in your place to free you from the guilt of your sins.  It is essentially a covering of sins.

o        See Lev. 6:2-7, individual atonement; Lev. 4:13-20, national atonement for unintentional sins; and Lev. 16, Day of Atonement for all of Israel’s sins.

·         Christ made propitiation for our sins. 

o        Propitiation comes from the Greek word exilaskomai, and gives the double meaning of covering sin and appeasing God’s wrath.

o        See Luke 18:13; 1 John 2:2, 4:10; Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; Heb. 9:5).

·         Christ satisfied the justice of God and released man from punishment (Rom, 8:3-4; Rom. 3:25) “that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:26).

The Result of God’s Provision

·         Man is given justification by God’s provision.

o        Justification comes from the Greek word dikaiōsis, which means to declare righteous.  It is an acquittal of guilt.  It is therefore a declarative act whereby God declares man righteous before him in Christ.

o        Righteous is derived from the Greek word dikaiosunē, which means to contain the attributes of right standing.  A right standing is whatever conforms to the revealed will of God.

o        Justification is conditioned in the sense that Christ fulfilled the law (Rom. 2:13) through propitiation and we put our faith in Christ.

·         The penalty is removed.

o        Christ has borne the penalty, and God remits it for those who believe in Christ (Acts 13:38; Rom. 8:1, 33; 2 Cor. 5:21).

o        Man is, therefore, forgiven all his sins (Rom. 4:7; Eph. 1:7, 4:32; Col. 2:13).

·         Man’s relationship to God is restored.

o        Through justification man is called a friend of God (James 2:23) and a fellow heir of Christ (Rom. 8:16-17; Gal. 3:26-29; Titus 3:7; Heb. 2:11).

o        Man is also adopted as a child of God through Christ (Eph. 1:5; John 1:12).

o        Man is, therefore, “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.”  (Col. 3:10).

·         Righteousness is imputed to man.

o        To impute means to attribute, ascribe, or reckon to a person.

o        Through Christ, the righteous requirements of the entire law are fully met in man (Rom. 8:4).

o        Man is attributed with the righteousness of Christ (Philip. 2:13).

o        Belief in God and Christ is credited as righteousness (Rom. 4:3-5).

o        The work of Christ is what allows the imputation of righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Cor. 1:30).

·         Justification is the basis by which we are able to live righteously (James 2:17:18).

·         Because justification is declarative, it cannot be earned and must come by Grace.

o        We are justified freely by God’s grace through our redemption in Christ (Rom 3:24; Titus 3:7).

o        We are justified by grace apart from works (Titus 3:5; Eph. 2:4-8).

·         Because justification is by grace it comes through faith.

o        Justification is by faith apart from works (Rom. 3:27-28; Gal. 2:16).

o        We have peace with God because we have been justified by faith (Rom. 5:1).

o        God foreknew that it would be by faith (Gal. 3:8).

o        The very attribute of justification, righteousness, is by faith (Rom. 9:30).

o        Belief is the expression of faith and belief in Christ and his redemptive work is what we are commanded to do (Rom. 10:10-11).

o        John 6:29 goes so far as saying that the work of God is to believe in the one God sent, Jesus Christ.

o        We are exhorted in 1 John (3:22) to keep God’s commandments.  What are God’s commandments?  They are, first, to “believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ,” and, second, “to love one another”  (3:23).

o        God is downright emphatic about belief and redemption by its many references as the principle action by which we are redeemed.

§         Through Jesus, all might believe (John 1:7).

§         All who believe might become children of God (John 1:12).

§         He that hears the word of Christ and believes on God has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation (John 5:24).

§         John 3:36 both states that those who believe on the Son have eternal life and those who do not believe shall not see life.

§         John 11:25 states that Christ is the resurrection and the life and those who believe in him have life, even though they were dead.

§         We will die in our sins if we do not believe that Jesus is the one he claimed to be (John 8:24).

§         In John 9:38, belief led to worship.

§         He who believes in Christ will not die but will have eternal life (John 11:25).

§         No one who believes in Christ will be in darkness (John 12:46).

§         All who believe in Christ receive forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43).

§         Acts 13:39 states that all those who believe in Christ are justified from those things that they could not be justified from by the law. 

§         Acts 13:31 – “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”

§         Righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus to all those who believe (Rom. 3:22).

§         God justifies those who believe (Rom. 3:26).

§         Righteousness is credited to those who believe (Rom. 4:11, 24).

§         Rom. 10:9-10 says that if we believe that God raised Christ from the dead, we are saved because it is with our heart that we believe and are justified.

§         What we have through faith in Christ (righteousness), we have through belief (Gal. 3:22).

§         “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

§         We know we have eternal life because we believe in the Son of God (1 John 5:13).

·         It is Christ’s sacrificial death that justifies man.

o        Rom. 5:9-10 says that we are justified by his blood and reconciled to God by the death of his Son.

o        Heb. 9:12 says that eternal redemption was obtained by Christ’s own blood.

o        Christ clearly had to die to make atonement for our sins.  See the following:

§         1 Cor. 1:18

§         1 Cor. 15:3

§         Rom. 5:8,10

§         Eph. 2:16

§         Col. 1:20

§         Col. 2:14

§         Heb. 9:22

§         Heb. 10:10-18

§         Heb. 12:2

Justification Leads to Reconciliation

·         We were once enemies of God but are now reconciled through the death of Christ (Rom. 5:10-11)

·         Reconciliation is by God to man (2 Cor. 5:18-20).

·         We are reconciled and presented holy to God through Christ’s death (Col. 1:22).