What is the meaning of atonement?

The word atonement, in the Old Testament, is a translation of various forms of the word kaphar. It literally means “to cover.” Its usage in Scripture is not always literal, however, and the word has a further theological meaning associated with appeasement, ransom, and forgiveness.

The word kaphar first appears in the Bible in a literal context: God instructs Noah to build the ark “and cover it inside and out with pitch” (Genesis 6:14, ESV). The word translated “and cover” is a form of the Hebrew word kaphar. The waterproof “covering” of the ark would seal out the flood water. Noah and his family were preserved from judgment by the “atonement” of the ark.

The word atonement begins to take on a more theological meaning in the law, becoming associated with reconciliation and the purging of sin. The place of atonement was the altar, where the blood of an animal substitute was shed to cover people’s sins: “Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. The altar is most holy to the Lord” (Exodus 30:10).

In Numbers 8:21, atonement is made for the Levites to prepare them for service in the tabernacle. “The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron . . . made atonement for them to purify them.” In Isaiah 6:7, God uses a coal from the altar to prepare Isaiah for his role as prophet. Then God, through an angel, tells him, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” In both of these passages, men chosen by God are covered by what God regards as suitable for purification; in both cases, a form of the word kaphar is used.

Every atonement made under the Old Testament law required a substitute for the sinner. The blood of an innocent was shed to cover the guilty. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament provided a temporary covering for sin and highlighted the just penalty of death. At the same time, each sacrifice anticipated the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifices were “only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves” (Hebrews 10:1). The old concept of atonement is tied to the work of Christ in Romans 3:25, which says, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood.” Under the Old Covenant, sins were not taken away (Hebrews 10:4); they were only covered. But under the New Covenant, ratified by Christ’s death on the cross, sins are truly removed (see John 1:29).

As a theological word, atonement is often used today as an all-inclusive, generic term for all that Christ’s death accomplished. In this sense, atonement includes the acts of forgiveness, justification, adoption, etc. Passages such as 1 John 2:2 support this broad usage of the word: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” The atonement provided by Christ’s death is described this way in the Amplified Bible’s wording of Romans 3:24–25: “The redemption [the payment for our sin] . . . is [provided] in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly [before the eyes of the world] as a [life-giving] sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation (propitiation) by His blood.”

Jesus’ death on the cross fulfilled part of the prophecy of Daniel 9:24, viz., the prediction that Christ would “put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness.” The New Testament presents Jesus Christ as the once-for-all offering to render all other offerings pointless (Hebrews 9:11–14). Just as on the Day of Atonement the sins of the nation were transferred to the sacrifice (Leviticus 16), our sins were transferred to Christ, and He “bore our sins in his body on the cross” (1 Peter 2:24). Because of the sacrifice of Christ, we can be saved, justified, forgiven, adopted, sanctified, and glorified.