Atonement

Sin cannot be removed unless someone takes responsibility to make expiation for the transgression. This is the concept of atonement.

Atonement is required because of God’s lawful nature, which requires that the object of His love be worthy to receive it.

The predicament of the sinner is made worse by Satan’s accusation, which serves to remind God of sins he might rather overlook. Therefore, some act of sacrifice is needed to pay the debt, clear away the sin, and remove the obstacle to full forgiveness and fellowship between God and human beings.

In Christianity, Jesus Christ offers himself on the cross as atonement for sin. This is the ultimate atonement: a sinless man dying to save sinners.

And yet, Jesus’ atoning death on the cross is an example of a larger principle, as vicarious atonement can occur in many situations: a priest offers a sacrifice for sins of the worshipers, a good man pays with his life for the sins of the community, or a patriot sheds his blood on the altar of his nation. In each case, a righteous person’s sacrifice provides atonement for many.

The Principle of Atonement

When God desires to give healing to the world He smites one righteous man among them with disease and suffering, and through him gives healing to all… A righteous man is never afflicted save to bring healing to his generation and to make atonement for it. The ‘other side’ prefers that punishment should light upon the virtuous man rather than on any other; it would disregard the world on account of the joy it finds in having power over him. Zohar 5.218a (Judaism)

Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats, and set them before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting; and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer it as a sin offering; but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it… He shall kill the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood within the veil, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat; thus he shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel… And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities upon him to a solitary land… And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month… on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord. 9 Leviticus 16.6-30

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.10 Isaiah 53.4-6

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
In the Old Testament Age, the chosen people of Israel made atonement through offering ceremonies involving the shedding of blood. But they did not know the principle behind it. God is the owner of all creation.

However, the sacrificial offering represented the people. It was divided into two: one part was taken by God and the other by Satan. (309:203, May 30, 1999)

What is meant by indemnity? No human being could possibly pay all his debt of sin. Even if he tried for his entire lifetime, he would die with the debt still unpaid.

Therefore, salvation requires that there be a way to lighten the debt and shorten the period to pay it off. God would shorten the period to, say, one year.

However, at that point Satan makes accusations and insists that God cannot be so lenient; he demands a greater payment, one that might require ten years. Then what happens? God and Satan agree to a compromise. In other words, there is a struggle between God and Satan.

Satan demands that human beings pay a great deal of the debt as is their due, while God only asks people to pay a small amount as a condition to forgive the whole debt.

Satan is correct from the viewpoint of principle: debts should be paid in full. Yet, God is correct from the viewpoint of love, in seeking a way to reconnect human beings with His love. And love is the very core of the principle. (111:147, February 10, 1981)

We received the amazing grace of forgiveness of our sins thanks to the altars of blood erected by the many saints and sages.11 (9:161, May 8, 1960)

Why has God patiently made sacrifice after sacrifice, developing His providence to the worldwide level? For whom has God made these sacrifices?

Not for America, nor for Christianity; God did it to save me. God sent the Jesus Christ and allowed him to die on the cross for me, for my salvation. God then raised up the Christian church, established it throughout the world, and prepared it for the Second Coming in these Last Days—all for me. (77:46, March 30, 1975)

There are several categories of people who go to the spirit world. One group lives out their full span of life; another group does not. Among those who go to the spirit world earlier than their given life span, there are two categories: those who are being punished for their sins, and those who are taken as indemnity conditions for the sins of the world.

There is a saying that if in a village three exemplary young men die in their prime, great blessings will come to that village. The same is true for a clan: if three great young men die in a clan, that clan will receive many blessings. That is, to deserve blessings a price must be paid.

This is by the law of cause and effect: it applies everywhere. When God lets one central person, worthy of one thousand people, go the path of death, if those one thousand people are moved by his love and are determined to live like him, taking after his example, they will enter that person’s realm of benefit.

People want to follow the path of a patriot or a saint because they want to enter the same realm of benefit. Last year, many of our church members went to the spirit world, and it will be the same this year as well.

Although I do not speak of it, I am already aware it will happen. Why is it so? Every time we take another step forward, we must pay indemnity for it. (33:11, July 28, 1970)

You should become like a chief priest, repenting of the past on behalf of your people and making an offering of atonement before God. In order to make such an offering, you should share your people’s path of tribulation. This is a principle in approaching God. (13:265, April 12, 1964)

Atonement by the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ

Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3.23-26

But when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once and for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Hebrews 9.11-14

In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4.10-11

For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt. Hebrews 6.4-6

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Jesus Christ came to the earth to save humanity, bringing with him the glory, love and eternal life of God. Yet there was one condition that obstructed his way.

This was none other than sin—sin intertwined like a gigantic steel net, woven through this person and that person, this organization and that organization, this society and that society, this nation and that nation.

Jesus willingly offered himself to eradicate sin; otherwise, we could not see the glory of God on this earth, nor could we know the love of God or the life of God. (1:167, July 11, 1956)

When someone owes a huge debt, if the creditor displays goodwill in forgiving a portion of the debt, then the debtor can pay back less than the total amount and still satisfy the entire debt.

The outstanding example of this is redemption through the cross. Merely by fulfilling a small indemnity condition of faith in Jesus, we receive the much greater grace of salvation, which entitles us to participate with Jesus in the same resurrection. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Restoration 1.1)

Many Christians believe that the omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent and loving God forgives us even though we commit sins tens of thousands of times. Then, as soon as they go outside the church door, they start fighting again. A church is not a house of forgiveness, dispensing forgiveness to people who commit sins unceasingly.

If God could forgive sins so lightly, why would He not forgive the one sin that was committed in the Garden of Eden? Furthermore, if God could find a way to forgive Satan, would He not have done it? Surely He would. Nevertheless, God cannot forgive Satan’s sin, which transgressed the core principle of the universe.

For God to forgive that sin would be to fundamentally undermine the universal law of love, causing the world, which was created for love, to fall into chaos. Satan violated God Himself. This cannot be forgiven.

This is why God had to set up the Providence of Restoration to enable humans to reach the standard before the Human Fall. By this means, when people reach that standard, Satan can be expelled, and a new perfect Adam can appear. It has taken God six thousand years to prepare that foundation. (19:161, January 1, 1968)