Teaching based upon Bob Gordon's Foundations of Christian Living

1. Understanding the Cross:
Part 2
The Mystery of the Cross
Lesson #14

3. In this section we shall look at what is called The
ATONEMENT
It is quite complex and so your notes have been
broken down into small steps to help easier
understanding.

4. atonement |əәˈtəәʊnm(əә)nt|
• the action of making amends for a wrong or
injury: he submitted his resignation as an act of
atonement.
• (in religious contexts) reparation or expiation
for sin: an annual ceremony of confession and
atonement for sin.
• (the Atonement) Christian Theology the
reconciliation of God and mankind through
Jesus Christ.

5. CARM:
In theology Atonement speaks of God's acting
in human history to reestablish the original
relationship between God and man by dealing
with sin.
To atone means to make amends—to repair a
wrong. Biblically, it means to remove guilt of man.
The OT atonements offered by the high priest were
temporary and a foreshadow of the real and final
atonement made by Jesus.

6. Jesus atoned for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2).
This atonement is received by faith (Rom. 5:1; Eph.
2:8-9).
Man is a sinner (Rom. 5:8) and cannot atone for
himself.
Therefore, the love of the Father sent Jesus (1 John
4:10) to die in our place (1 Pet. 3:18) for our sins (1
Pet. 2:24).
Because of the atonement, our fellowship with God
is restored (Rom. 5:10).

7. 1 Corinthians 1:23–25
23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block
to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those
whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human
wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than
human strength.

8. Key Scriptures
John 12:23–33
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son
of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless
a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it
remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose
it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will
keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must
follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.
My Father will honor the one who serves me.

9. 27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this
very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify
your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it,
and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there
and heard it said it had thundered; others said an
angel had spoken to him.
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not
mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world;
now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32
And I, when I am lifted up[a] from the earth, will draw
all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the
kind of death he was going to die.

10. Hebrews 12:1–3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let
us run with perseverance the race marked out for
us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and
perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he
endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3
Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose
heart.

11. Galatians 3:13
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is
everyone who is hung on a pole.”[a]

12. 1 Corinthians 1:23–25
23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block
to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those
whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human
wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than
human strength.

13. b) Introduction
Atonement is God satisfying the
demands of His holiness, at the
same time as showing the depths
of His love towards mankind.
• God made Jesus bear the
punishment of our sins and
take our guilt upon Himself as
our substitute (1 Peter 2:24).

14. 1 Peter 2:24
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the
cross, so that we might die to sins and live for
righteousness; “by his wounds you have been
healed.”

15. • Jesus did something more than
the Old Testament idea of sin
offering ever did. As our
substitute, he took sin upon
Himself, but also took our sin
into Himself (2 Corinthians
5:21).
• The victory over sin, death and
the power of Satan was not only
worked by Him, it was achieved
in Him.

16. • Jesus did something more than
the Old Testament idea of sin
offering ever did. As our
substitute, he took sin upon
Himself, but also took our sin
into Himself (2 Corinthians
5:21).
• The victory over sin, death and
the power of Satan was not only
worked by Him, it was achieved
in Him.

17. 2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for
us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.

18. c) The Difference between
Sin and Sinful
• Jesus was actually made sin with our sin.
• Jesus did not become a sinner, that is, He
was not sinful.
• He was not punished for any sin of His own.
• He took in Himself the penalty for our sins.
• Jesus offered Himself up as a perfect sacrifice
without spot or blemish (Hebrews 9:14).

20. P.T. Forsyth said about Jesus,
‘‘God made Him sin, treated Him as if He were
sin, but He did not view Him as sinful. God
lovingly treated Him as human sin, and with
His consent, judged human sin in Him and on
Him. Personal guilt Christ could never
confess.’’

21. This is the heart of Calvary. God did
not deal with the question of sin
merely by observing the physical
death of His Son. No, Jesus
entered into that death.
Man’s sin and disobedience to God
has many results; for example,
man’s physical death; divine
judgement and dereliction;
death towards God; Satan’s
oppression and bondage;
sickness and disease.

22. For man to be delivered
from the fact and effect
of his sin, the Son
needed to take all this sin
into Himself. The Son of
God became all our
sin.

23. d) The Difference Between
Human and Mortal
To be human, as far as we are concerned, is to be
mortal — i.e. we will physically die.
God did not originally create man to be mortal. In
Genesis 3:22 God expelled man from the garden of
Eden to prevent him from eating of the tree of life by
which he could live for ever. God was cutting man
off from the source of his eternal life because of his
disobedience.

24. • From this point on, man
became subject to death as a
judgement from God
• Mans years became shorter the
further he went away from his
beginnings with God, until they
were set at 120 years within the
terms of the Old Covenant
(Genesis 6:3).
• Most of us though only make
70–80 years (Psalm 90:10).

25. • Jesus was not subject to man’s
death until He took sin into
Himself, because death is the
outcome of sin (Romans 5:12).
• Jesus was not sinful, therefore, He
did not live His life under the threat
of death as a necessary outcome
of sin.

26. Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world
through one man, and death through sin,
and in this way death came to all people,
because all sinned—

27. • Jesus, who had no need to die, either spiritually
or physically, was the very one who took death
upon Himself to break its power (Hebrews 2:14–
15).
• On the cross it was the Immortal (living forever,
never dying) who was put to death. Jesus was
human but immortal.

28. Hebrews 2:14-15
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he
too shared in their humanity so that by his death
he might break the power of him who holds the
power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free
those who all their lives were held in slavery by
their fear of death.

29. • Jesus’ struggle in the garden of Gethsemane was
due to the awful reality He recognised was before
Him. He knew that He was to take human sin
upon Himself and know death as a result, but He
submitted Himself completely to the will of the
Father. No man in normal human strength could
ever have faced what Jesus faced (Luke 22:41–
44).

30. • This is where the power of Calvary lies with us:
when we bow before it, accept the mystery and
power of it, and when we receive into ourselves
the saving effect of it.
• ‘‘The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself
for me.’’ (Galatians 2:20)
Mount of
Olives and
Garden of
Gethsemane

31. e) Born of God, not of Adam
The truth of the virgin birth
is vital to our
understanding of both the
life and death of Jesus.
It is clear that the life
Jesus lived was lived in a
real body of flesh — He
experienced real
temptations.

32. Hebrews 4:15
15 For we do not have a high priest who is
unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but
we have one who has been tempted in every
way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

33. • He was just as human was we are
(Hebrews 4:15). However Jesus was
different to all other men: He was not
subject to sin, and He had the power
to overcome every temptation because
Jesus was not born of Adam: He was
born of the Holy Spirit.
• Men take their lineage from the old
Adam; they take their weakness from
the old Adam; they take their sin from
the old Adam.

34. • Jesus is the last Adam, the
man from heaven (1
Corinthians 15:45–49). He is
like them in body but not in
spirit. Men do not take on the
likeness of the man from
heaven until they too are born
of God through the Holy Spirit
(Romans 8:3; John 1:12,13).

35. f) Jesus Overcame Sin
Jesus had to overcome sin at two levels.
First, in daily living, where He overcame the reign
of sin in the flesh by His perfect obedience to the
Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Second, in terms of the judgement of God upon
sin, through which He received in Himself the
punishment for sin and thereby totally atoned for it,
and defeated the power of death through His own
death on the cross.

36. • Jesus was born of the Spirit and
lived in the power of the Spirit.
He never knew what it was to
sin.
• Jesus lived at the level of true
humanity for which Adam was
created.
• Jesus had a real body of flesh
that was susceptible to
temptation, (like Adam before
he fell). But unlike ours Jesus’
body was governed by the Spirit
of God, and never knew the
reality of sin until the end.

37. • On the cross Jesus did
something which He had
never experienced before:
He opened Himself to the
reality and effects of sin
within His own body. Not His
sin, but the sin of all other
men, and into Himself He
gathered all its awful effects
and judgement (2
Corinthians 5:21).

38. 2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for
us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.

39. A.W. Tozer wrote,
‘‘The old cross is a symbol of death. It
stands for the abrupt, violent end of a
human being. In Roman times the man
who took up his cross and started down
the road was not coming back. He was not
going out to have his life redirected, he
was going out to have it ended.’’

40. Questions and Discussion
Points
1. Read Luke 22:39 – 46 and Matthew 26:36
– 46. What do you think Jesus went through at
this time and who did He do it for?
2. How did Jesus deal with our sin? (Hebrews
4:15; 9:26).

41. 3. Why was the sacrifice of Jesus on the
cross acceptable to God for our salvation? (2
Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:3–4).
4. Why do we have eternal life as a result of
Jesus’ work on the cross? (Romans 6:5–
14,23).
5. Why is Jesus called the last or second
Adam? (1 Corinthians 15:22, 45–49).

42. h) Summary and Application
1. Our heavenly Father offered up His
sinless pure Son on the cross to be sin for
all men.
2. Man brought about his own downfall due
to his own disobedience but God raised up
Jesus Christ, the last or second Adam, to
break the power of this and to set us free.

43. 3. Jesus is our substitute. The punishment we
deserve He bore in His sinless self on the
cross of Calvary.
4. When we realise how much Jesus had to
suffer for us, can we do anything but take up
our own cross, as He asks of us, and follow
Him?