Atonement

RECOVERING BIBLICAL AT-ONE-MENT : M.
M. M. NINAN
"pesha',"—rebellious transgression—is a severance of the bond of life which unites the soul with
its Maker.
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die," says Ezek. xviii. 20 (compare Deut. xxx. 15-19; Ps. i. 6; Jer. ii. 13).
Since the life of the animal is in its blood, Yoma 5a; Zeb. 6a,
except with blood,".
= "There is no Atonement
Heb. ix. 22, "Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission [of sins]."
The principle is simply that of ransom of "life by life"; the blood sprinkled by the priest upon the altar
serving as the means of a renewal of man's covenant of life with God. In Mosaic ritualism the atoning
blood thus actually meant the bringing about of a reunion with God, the restoration of peace between
the soul and its Maker. Therefore, the expiatory sacrifice was accompanied by a confession of the sins
for which it was designed to make Atonement (Lev. v. 5, xvi. 21; Num. v. 7; Maimonides, "Yad,"
Teshubah, i. 1):
Thus "no atonement without confession of sin as the act of repentance," or as Philo ("De Victimis," xi.)
says, "not without the sincerity of his repentance, not by words merely, but by works, the conviction of
his soul which healed him from disease and restores him to good health."
But the word is also used to denote that by which this reconciliation is brought about, viz., the death of
Christ itself. When so used. it means satisfaction, and in this sense to make an atonement for one is to
make satisfaction for his offenses (Exodus 32:30; Lev. 4:26; 5:16; Num. 6:11), and, as regards the
person, to reconcile, to propitiate God in his behalf.
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