Posted on by Andries van Niekerk

The English term atonement did not mean to propitiate God’s wrath.

Summary

When the word “atonement” was put in the King James translation, it did not mean what it means today.

Today, it means the process whereby Christ made amends to propitiate the Father’s wrath.

But, a few centuries ago, it meant to be reconciled, at one, or ‘at-one-ment.’

It was the forensic doctrine of salvation, that presented God as angry and the death of Christ as a sacrifice to pacify God, that slowly changed the meaning of “atonement” over the centuries.

But Christ did not die as a sacrifice to pacify God. The blood of the Cross did not change how the Father feels about sinners. Instead, because He loves us, God sent His only Son to be “the Lamb of God.”

Introduction

Making amendsCommonly, in the last few centuries, Atonement has come to mean making amends, paying a penalty to meet legal demands, to propitiate wrath, or to adjust one’s legal standing. To many, Atonement is what Christ did to reconcile the Father unto us and assuage His offended wrath. But that is not the term’s original meaning nor the word’s meaning in the Bible.

Original Meaning

Dictionaries agree that the word Atonement began as a made up of three terms: “at-one‐ment.” It was based on a verb, ‘to one’. Two people are fighting, and you are sent to ‘one’ them. And when you have succeeded, they are in a state of oneness. Atonement is the state of being ‘at one,’ not the process of ‘one-ing’ people. Therefore, it means to be in harmony or unity. That is what Atonement meant when the Bible was first translated into English.

Katallasso

The only place you’ll find the word “atonement” in the King James Version is in Romans 5:10. But, in the Greek, it is the very common word ‘katallasso’. In this word, there’s no hint of making amends. It means ‘reconciliation’. Holman’s Bible dictionary defines this word as follows:

Reconciliation … specifically the reconciliation between God and humanity effected by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. … The basic Greek word is usually translated as “to reconcile.” The basic meaning is to establish friendship.

Therefore, in the NASB, Romans 5:10 reads:

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.”

Why the Meaning Changed

Only one dictionary really gives the word’s history, a multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary. It shows how, for a long time, it was used in its original sense of being at one, reconciling people to harmony, friendship, unity, and so on. However, later on, it was changed to mean ‘making amends, paying the penalty,’ and that’s how it’s commonly used now.

It was the forensic doctrine of salvation that changed the meaning of “atonement” over the centuries. This doctrine teaches that somebody must pay for sins committed. It presents God as angry and the death of Christ as a sacrifice to pacify God. It was because the reformers had this understanding of the purpose of Christ’s death that the meaning of “atonement” has slowly changed over the centuries to “reparation for an offence or injury” (Merriam-Webster).

How we should understand Atonement

Christ did not die as a sacrifice to pacify God. It is not God that had to change. The blood of the Cross did not change how the Father feels about us sinners. The opposite is rather true, namely that the blood of Christ was the means by which the Father reconciled His creatures to Himself (Col 1:20). We must change. It is not God that is angry; it is His creatures who “were enemies” (Rom 5:10) and “hostile in mind” (Col 1:21). In the Bible, God is never reconciled to us; it is always us that must be reconciled to God, through Christ (Col 1:20). God, because He loves us, sent His only Son to be “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29) to bring His people back to Him (John 3:16).

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