(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

THE FACT OF THE ATONEMENT IN NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.^[A]

SPECIAL TEXT: "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix:22.)

[Footnote A: "New Testament Scriptures," as here used means more than the New Testament of the Bible. It means that New Testament of course, but that plus the Book of Mormon books written after the birth of Messiah, beginning with III Nephi, and also the immediate scriptures of the New Dispensation, viz., the Doctrine and Covenants.]

DISCUSSION.

1. The Fact of the Atonement: The important thing to be established in the mind of man concerning the atonement is the fact of it. While it is not the intention of this treatise to avoid the discussion of the philosophy of the Atonement^[A]—by which is meant only a discussion of the reasonableness of it—and rest in the mere fact of it as proved from the Scriptures, still I repeat that the fact of it and man's acceptance of it as a fact, is of first importance.^[B] This and the following lesson of Part II, therefore, are devoted to grouping the scriptural texts for the fact of the Atonement from "New Testament Scriptures."

[Footnote A: Part III is wholly devoted to that division of the subject.]

[Footnote B: Elsewhere on this theme I have said: How is it that through the sacrifice of one who is innocent salvation may be purchased for those under the dominion of death? I will observe, in passing, that what should most concern us is, not so much how it is that such is the case, but is it a fact? Is it true that God has established such a scheme of redemption, is what should concern us most.

To that question the blood sprinkled upon a thousand Jewish altars, and the smoke that darkened the heavens for ages from burnt offerings, answer yes. For those sacrifices, and that sprinkled blood were but typical of the great sacrifice to be made by the Messiah.

Even the mythology of the heathen nations retains the idea of an Atonement that either has been, or is to be made for mankind. Fantastic, distorted, confused; buried under the rubbish of savage superstition it may be, but it nevertheless exists. So easily traced, so distinct is this feature of heathen mythology, that some writers have endeavored to prove that the gospel plan of redemption was derived from heathen mythology. Whereas the fact is that the gospel was understood and extensively preached in the earliest ages; men retained in their tradition a knowledge of those principles or parts of them, and however much they may have been distorted, traces of them may still be found in nearly all the mythologies of the world.

The prophets of the Jewish scriptures answer the foregoing question in the affirmative. The writers of the New Testament make Christ's Atonement the principal theme of their discourses and epistles. The Book of Mormon, speaking as the voice of an entire continent of people, whose prophets and righteous men sought and found God, testifies to the same great fact, and the revelations of God as given through the Prophet Joseph Smith are replete with passages confirming this doctrine. * * * The evidence here indicated is more than sufficient, it seems to me, to establish the fact of the Atonement beyond the possibility of a doubt: and if there are some things in it not yet within the scope of our comprehension, still there is sufficient foundation for our glorious hope and faith of eternal life through its power: for the evidence proving the fact of that Atonement is sufficient, wanting nothing, either in quality or quantity" "(The Gospel," Ch. ii.)]

2. The Angel's Testimony to the Atonement of Christ: "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: * * * She shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins."^[A]

[Footnote A: Matt. i:18, 23.]

Such were the words of the angel to Joseph, the betrothed husband of Mary, the Mother of Christ.

3. John the Baptist's Testimony: "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world * * * and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God."^[A]

[Footnote A: St. John, Ch. i:29, 34.]

Such John's testimony concerning Jesus of Nazareth, as he saw that more than Prophet coming to his baptism.

4. The Christ's Testimony to the Atonement: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."^[A]

[Footnote A: St. John iii:15-17.]

Such the Christ's testimony of himself. And again the Christ:

"When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he^[A] [i. e., the one that taketh away the sins of men]."^[B] "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me." This he said signifying by what death he should die."^[C]

[Footnote A: Ibid viii:28.]

[Footnote B: Ibid, verse 24.]

[Footnote C: St. John xii:32, 33.]

When instituting the sacrament, at the passover supper, celebrated upon the night of his betrayal, as the disciples were eating, "Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."^[A] Mark and Luke practically give the same account of the incident.

[Footnote A: Matt. xxvi:26-28.]

After the resurrection, Jesus, overtaking two of the disciples on their way to Emmaus, engaged them in conversation respecting the crucifixion of Jesus. And in course of their narrative of the missing body of the Christ, the resurrected Messiah interrupted them, saying:

"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."^[A]

[Footnote A: St. Luke xxiv:25-27.]

Subsequently, he was known of these two disciples by the breaking of bread. And after these two astonished disciples returned to Jerusalem and were detailing their experience to the eleven Apostles, and those that were with them, Jesus entered the room where they were gathered:

"And he said unto them: These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."^[A]

[Footnote A: St. Luke xxiv:44-47.]

5. Testimony of the Judean Apostles: Turning now to the disciples after the departure of the resurrected Christ from their midst, and the endowment of the apostles with the Holy Ghost, they teach: "Neither is there salvation in any other [name than the Christ's]: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."^[A] "Feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood."^[B] "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."^[C]

[Footnote A: Acts iv:10-12.]

[Footnote B: Acts xx:28.]

[Footnote C: Rom. iii:23-25.]

"If we believe on him that raiseth up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification."^[A]

[Footnote A: Rom. iv:24, 25.]

6. Paul's Testimony to the Atonement: An extended passage in his letter to the Romans, Paul reasons upon the atonement made by the Christ in the following manner:

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."^[A]

[Footnote A: Romans v:6-12, 15. See also Ch. vii.]

All will remember Paul's passage in the first letter to the Corinthians: "Since by man [Adam] came death, by man [the man Christ Jesus] came also the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die; even so in Christ shall all be made alive."^[A]

[Footnote A: I Cor. xv:21, 22.]

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures."^[A]

[Footnote A: I. Cor. xv:3-4.]

"To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."^[A]

[Footnote A: Eph. i:6,7.]

"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood; even the forgiveness of sins."^[A]

[Footnote A: Col. i:12-14.]

"For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified of in due time."^[A]

[Footnote A: I Tim. ii:5, 6.]

"We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels^[A] for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that by the grace of God should taste death for every man."^[B] "Who needeth not daily as those high priests [i. e., of the Mosaic law] to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he [the Christ] did once, when he offered up himself."^[C]

[Footnote A: "A little while inferior to" is the marginal rendering of the passage. See also "Mormon Doctrine of Deity," p. 163—Note—for a discussion of the passage.]

[Footnote B: Heb. ii:8-10.]

[Footnote C: Hebrews vii.]

"But Christ * * * by his own blood * * * entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of the bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. * * * And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."^[A]

[Footnote A: Heb. ix:12-14. 22.]

7. The Testimony of the Apostle Peter to the Atonement: The Apostle Peter is equally emphatic with Paul in testifying of the virtue of the Atonement of Christ in bringing to pass the redemption of man through his death, as witness the following:

"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. * * * Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you."^[A]

[Footnote A: I Peter i:2, 18-20.]

Again: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison."^[A]

[Footnote A: I Peter iii:18-19.]

8. The Testimony of John, the Beloved Disciple, to the Atonement: So also John, the beloved disciple, testifies to the same effect: "If we walk in the light as he [God] is in the light, we have fellowships one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."^[A]

[Footnote A: I John i:5-7.]

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."^[A]

"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation: and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth."^[B]

"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the dragon—Satan], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."^[C]

[Footnote A: I John ii:1.2.]

[Footnote B: Rev. v:9, 10.]

[Footnote C: Rev. xiii:8.]