Atonement Now

Many people struggle with wondering whether or not they are truly saved. The struggle often comes from two sources:

1.     A lack of clarity on what the gospel that saves today is.

2.     Confusion over “faith alone” or “faith and works” from those who fail to distinguish the differences between the body of Christ and the remnant of Israel, especially when they’ve sinned.

Fortunately, there’s no need to struggle or guess, as the book of Romans addresses these dilemmas clearly for the body of Christ.

First and foremost, we see that our faith without works is counted for righteousness (Rom 4:3-5) when we trust in the gospel of Christ: the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of Christ on our behalf to pay for our sins and give us eternal life (Rom 3:19-26, 1Co 15:1-4, Rom 4:24-25).

We are justified (declared righteous/shown to be just) before a holy God through faith in his blood atonement (Rom 3:25-26). This justification and atonement, however, is not in the future:

“[9] Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. [10] 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. [11] And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”– Romans 5:9-11

By faith in Christ, we are justified NOW and have atonement NOW. We don’t have to wait for it or earn it.

What does that mean?

It means that the relationship that was severed between God and us because of our sin, is reconciled through Christ. It means you’ve been forgiven ALL trespasses, not just some of them, for Christ’s sake (Eph 4:32, Col 1:14, 2:13). It means that no matter how bad you mess up, or continue to mess up, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ (Rom 8:35-39).

Rather than use that liberty in Christ as a license to sin, we must use it to serve one another in love (Gal 5:13).

The whole point of grace is that we can’t do it on our own, we need Christ to do it for us. Our sin is the problem, not anyone else. When we mess up, we don’t need to sulk in self-pity or question our salvation, but rather, we must recognize that sin and death have no more dominion over us. We are Christ’s; we are alive; we are forgiven; we are adopted into God’s family; we are infinitely loved despite how wretched we all are (1Co 3:23, Rom 6:11, Eph 1:5, Eph 3:17-19).

Now that you’ve received the atonement, what are you going to do with it?