The 10 Things You Need to Know About Islam by Ron Rhodes

Author:Ron Rhodes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2009-01-22T05:45:00+00:00

Necessity of an Atonement

God did not subjectively or arbitrarily decide to overlook man's sin or wink at his unrighteousness. Contrary to the Muslim denial of a need for an atonement, Scripture demonstrates that this atonement was absolutely necessary in order to make justification possible. Jesus died on the cross for us. He died in our stead. He paid for our sins. Jesus ransomed us from death by His own death on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus Himself defines for us the nature of the atonement. He affirmed that He came into the world for the very purpose of dying (John 12:27). Moreover, He saw His death as a sacrificial offering for the sins of humanity (He said His blood "is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" in Matthew 26:26-28). He took His sacrificial mission with utmost seriousness, for He knew that without Him, humanity would certainly perish (Matthew 16:25; John 3:16) and spend eternity apart from God in a place of great suffering (Matthew 10:28; 11:23; 23:33; 25:41; Luke 16:22-28).

Jesus therefore described His mission this way: "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17).

In John 10, Jesus compares Himself to a good shepherd who not only gives His life to save the sheep (John 10:11) but also lays His life down of His own accord (John 10:18). This is precisely what Jesus did at the cross (Matthew 26:53-56): He laid His life down to atone for the sins of humanity.

This is certainly how others perceived His mission. When Jesus began His three-year ministry and was walking toward John the Baptist at the Jordan River, John said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). John's portrayal of Christ as the Lamb of God is a graphic affirmation that Jesus Himself would be the sacrifice that would atone for the sins of humanity (see Isaiah 53:7).

In Romans 3:25 we read, "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement."the Greek word for "sacrifice of atonement" is rendered more literally propitiation. This word communicates the idea that Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross provided full satisfaction of God's holy demands against a sinful people, thereby averting His just wrath against them (Romans 1:18; 2:5,8; 3:5). Because of this propitiation, He can freely and justly declare us righteous and justified.

When you speak to a Muslim, I suggest you focus on Abraham's sacrifice of his son in the Old Testament (Genesis 22). In the Quran's depiction of this event, Abraham's son was ransomed from death by an animal sacrifice (Sura 37:102-107).These are the same words that describe what Jesus did at the cross (Matthew 20:28; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Hebrews 7:27; 9:15,28).

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