Atonement
The word atonement in the Hebrew is literally “to cover” and refers to the removal of positive guilt out of God’s sight. Atonement then refers to the cross where expiation (full payment) was made for sin.
The holiness of God’s nature demanded the judgment of sin. The love of God provided a sacrifice.
All the claims of God as “light” have been met at the cross, so that God is free to come out in the fullness of His grace; therefore the riches of His grace are now made known in the present blessing of every one that has believed the gospel.
This fullness of blessing is given by the Spirit through the apostles in the New Testament epistles. It is Christ speaking from heaven (Heb. 12:25).
The knowledge of it is through faith in the Word of God. The enjoyment of it is the result of walking in the path of obedience to the Word, so that the Holy Spirit can without hindrance fill our hearts with the precious love of Christ and our minds with the fruit of His atoning work that has glorified God in the putting away of our sins.
Justification
To justify is to declare righteous. Now justification in Christianity always brings the believer into a new position before God. The believer is justified as being “in Christ” before God.
Grace is the way of it (Rom. 3:24).
Faith is the means of it (Rom. 3:28).
The blood is the ground of it (Rom. 5:9).
“Justification of life” in Romans 5:18 is our standing before God in Christ, who is our life (Col. 3:4).
Wondrous grace! What praise must break forth when we see ourselves “in Christ” before God and learn that the will and the heart of God put us there!
New Birth
Being “born again” is really being “born of God” (1 John 5:1). That is, we partake of the life and nature of Him who gave us new birth. It is not the re-enthronement of man’s spirit nature, nor is it the old nature improved or governed by a new life.
John 1:12 declares that we become the children of God when we believe on His name. This new life is manifested by having God as its object.
This new life walks in the light. That is, it has now the knowledge of God revealed in the Son (1 John 1:7).
Its fruit is obedience (1 John 2:35) and righteousness (1 John 2:29), and those divine affections that have God as their object, and love to all the children of God as their character (1 John 3:14). When the new life is manifested, the world knows us not, because such live with wholly new desires new objects new pleasures. We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 3:13; Rom. 5:11).
May this life be seen in all His children!
H. E. Hayhoe