Paid In Full: Understanding the difference between “Atonement” and
“Propitiation” and how it can affect your sanity.
By Sherri Stevens
Many of us think of theology as a dry and irrelevant subject. However, the degree to which we
understand accurate theology is the degree to which we can experience sanity. We've all heard
that our perception is our reality. So, how we perceive God, what He thinks about us, and how
He deals with us is how we will experience Him. In other words, our theology plays out in our
psychology, in how we relate to God and others. As suggested in the episode's title, I want to
show you how gaining an accurate view of theology is not irrelevant to you but very relevant to
your sanity and how you live your life.
What if a group of Christians were assembled and asked, “How many of you believe Jesus meant
what He said when He proclaimed from the cross, ‘It is finished!’?” Most likely, we would see
every hand go up. But if those same Christians were asked, “How many of you still ask God to
forgive you when you sin? " We would probably see those same hands raised again. So, what’s
the disconnect here?
The problem is that we have a culture of guilt-ridden, weary Christians today who have been
taught a faulty formula of forgiveness. They think that forgiveness is doled out to them on an “as
needed” basis by their pleading for a fresh batch of forgiveness. They function out of a “faith”
that offers them only partial, conditional forgiveness. They consider themselves as having only
the potential to be forgiven—and only if they fulfill the right conditions.
But God’s divine forgiveness was executed in a moment of time, once for all. It is absolute, not
ongoing. It is final, not temporal! It is complete, not partial. It is all-sufficient, not a shortcoming.
It is a reality, not a potential!
Paul told us, “In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Eph. 1:7). According to this verse and many others
throughout the New Testament, you are a forgiven person. You are not forgiven over and over
again! “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you
alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins” (Col. 2:13).
It is not a function of faith but rather a dysfunction of faith to ask God repeatedly to do
something He said He has already accomplished.
The Bible communicates that Jesus was sacrificed “once for all” for our sins. “And by that will,
we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb.
10:10). “Once for all!” And yet most Christians do not rest in that “once for all” provision made
for them two thousand years ago. The book of Hebrews explains the forgiveness that New
Covenant believers live under today: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And
where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary” (Heb. 10:17).
Most garden-variety Christians, however, live a life in complete contradiction to this explanation
of the New Covenant. They live as if God does remember their sins. They live as if they need to
execute more forgiveness, and they continue to “sacrifice” for their sins in a vicious cycle of
confession—or maybe some self-imposed penance.
Let me briefly address the potential question that commonly arises in dealing with total
forgiveness: if we’ve already been forgiven, can’t we do whatever we want and not worry about
sin?
Interestingly, we read in Scripture that the apostle Paul had to deal with this same question
among church members who took issue with such a bold and broad reach of grace. He said,
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1).
And what was Paul’s response? “By no means!” Then he continued in the following three
chapters of Romans to explain that we have died to the law and are now under grace and that we
have been set free from sin. Titus 2:11–12 says, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers
salvation to all people. It [grace] teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to
live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age.” Grace, not the law, teaches us to
say no to worldly passions.
Let me illustrate this concept of the finished work of forgiveness in accounting terms. Let’s say
that your bank account was excessively overdrawn, and Jesus went into the bank and paid your
debt in full. Then, on top of that, He deposited an extra one billion dollars into your account. But
instead of being thankful for those generous dollars He deposited (reckoned to your account),
you continued going back to the bank every other day, begging and badgering the teller, saying,
“I am so sorry! I only have these two cents to deposit into my overdrawn account today. Please
forgive me.” The bank teller tells you the same thing every visit: “Go home. Your debt has been
fully paid. The bank ledger has been balanced!”
But sadly, most Christians today do not live much differently from the way Old Testament Jews
used to live. They live with a self-imposed pseudo-sacrificial system. The only difference today
is that instead of shedding the blood of bulls and goats, which God instituted as an acceptable
and temporary system to cover sins, Christians today have devised their own pseudo-sacrificial
system based on confession and begging God for more forgiveness.
This faulty formula of faith overlooks the most fundamental premise taught in Scripture:
“Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). God only gave man two
systems acceptable to Himself to deal with sins, and both include the shedding of blood. The
blood of bulls and goats atoned for sins in the Old Testament, and the Lamb of God took away
the world's sins in the New Testament!
Jesus, the Lamb of God, was the propitiation for the sins of the world. The Greek word hilasmos,
meaning “propitiation,” taught in the New Testament differs from the Hebrew word kippur,
meaning “atonement,” taught in the Old Testament. Propitiation means “to take away” sins,
whereas atonement means “to cover” sins. “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2 KJV).
Misunderstanding 1 John 1:9
When Christians operate out of a faulty formula of faith, they neglect to rest in the finality of
forgiveness that was accomplished by Jesus’s death on their behalf. But most Christians will
never get off this “merry-go-round” model of forgiveness because they have been misled
regarding the proper context and application of one verse in particular: “If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1
John 1:9). Most Christians utilize this single passage as a “Christian bar of soap,” thinking that
somehow they are cleansing themselves of whatever sin they have committed according to their
confession.
Let’s break down some problems with this popular mode of receiving forgiveness.
First, God did not give us the option to cleanse ourselves according to our confession.
Remember: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” Jesus shed His blood “once
for all” on the Cross, and He is not going to do it again ... and again and again, according to our
chronic and contrite confessions.
Second, 1 John 1:9, when read in its proper context, is a salvation passage. Once we have
acknowledged our sin of unbelief, we are cleansed of all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus.
This leads us to the third point: How much more cleansing do you need if you have been
cleansed from all unrighteousness?
So, what is the appropriate response when we sin? We confess our sins to God (which means
acknowledging and agreeing with Him concerning our sins) and then thank Him for already
forgiving us. We do not confess in order to be forgiven; we confess and thank Him that we are
forgiven. That is the difference! Then, we ask God for His guidance and strength to walk in the
newness of life through the power of His Spirit.
Now that we have examined how our understanding (or lack thereof) of the difference between
atonement and propitiation can play out practically in our lives let’s examine four key
theological takeaways:
1. Old Testament atonement focused on the ritualistic covering of sin, while New Testament
propitiation emphasizes the ultimate satisfaction of God’s justice through Christ’s final
sacrifice.
2. Old Testament atonement dealt with the annual ceremonial cleansing of sin through
animal sacrifices, while New Testament propitiation points to Christ’s final sacrifice as
an appeasement of God’s wrath, reconciling humanity with Himself.
3. Old Testament sacrifices were repeated and incomplete, while Jesus’ sacrifice was a
once-for-all act that fully satisfied God’s justice.
4. “A new and living way” was established by Jesus Christ for believers to access God. This
path, inaugurated by his sacrifice and resurrection, is described as “new” in contrast to
the old, ritualistic ways of the Old Covenant. It’s called “living” because it’s not a mere
set of rules or ceremonies but a personal relationship with God through Jesus.
If reconsidering these points has helped you diagnose why you have been feeling so spiritually
dizzy, then this episode is an invitation to exit the misery of a life lived on the “merry-go-round”
of asking God to forgive you over and over again and rest in the finality of God’s forgiveness.
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