As a Christian I confess that I “belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins . . .” (Heidelberg Catechism, q. 1).

Satisfaction for sins—what a thought!

And especially when we know what sin really is! What is satisfaction? As the word is used here it means that Jesus Christ, through His atonement, provided the full payment for my sins so that I would be reconciled to God. Nothing more had to be done. He did it all.

What did Jesus do? He “met and answered all the demands of God’s law and justice against the sinner” (C. Hodge, Systematic Theology, II:482). This satisfaction is seen, then, in: 1. His perfect obedience in keeping the demands of God’s law (Romans 5:18, 19; Galatians 3:13; 4:4, 5); and 2. the shedding of His blood thus satisfying the justice of God (Romans 5:9, 10).

Demands of God’s law – First, then, to understand how Christ is our Satisfaction we must see His work in relation to God’s law.

The curse of the law is on all men because of sin (Galatians 3:10). “There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one” (Romans 3:12; Psalm 14:1). Because of involvement in Adam’s sin no man can do God’s will—and he doesn’t want to, either. Further, sin means guilt and the certainty of punishment because God demands nothing less than perfect obedience. This obedience to Him is seen in love, as we are told: love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10). Less than perfect obedience is rebellion against God, and this rebellion calls forth God’s wrath.

Because God is just in demanding love and, therefore, obedience, and because sinful men are hopelessly unable to do this, God sent His Son. This Son was to be completely obedient; that is, His life had to be characterized by the positive doing of God’s will. Without this obedience to God’s law He would not be able to satisfy God’s justice. He had to be perfectly righteous. “One who himself is a sinner cannot satisfy for others” (Heidelberg Catechism, q. 16; see Hebrews 7:26, 27). Satisfying God’s justice meant that He had to bear God’s wrath against sin, thus paying the penalty due to us because of our guilt.

Christ’s obedience – The key to understanding what Jesus did is found in His obedience. John Calvin wrote:

Now someone asks, How has Christ abolished sin, banished the separation between us and God, and acquired righteousness to render God favorable and kindly toward us? To this we can in general reply that he has achieved this for us by the whole course of his obedience {Institutes, II, xvi, 5).

Obediently Christ fulfilled the law and obediently He satisfied God’s justice (Psalm 40:7, 8; John 6:38; 4:34; 10:17, 18; Romans 5:19; Hebrews 5:8, 9). This obedience is often distinguished as active and passive obedience. However, both of these aspects are so intimately connected that you cannot have one without the other.

When we speak of Christ’s active obedience we are speaking about Christ’s obedience to God’s law in order to please God and obtain eternal life (Matthew 5:17, 18; John 15:10; Hebrews 10:7-9). Obediently He fulfilled the righteousness of the law for us (Romans 8:3, 4). What we would not do, He did! Through Christ’s active obedience we are free from the law as a condition for life and are now adopted sons and heirs (Galatians 4:4, 5; Ephesians 1:3-13; Romans 10:3, 4; 8:3, 4).

Only by this active obedience would Christ’s suffering be acceptable to God. Had He not been completely willing to conform to God’s will, He would have fallen short of God’s demands and He could not have atoned for others. Had He merely passively suffered, no sacrifice would have been made. The damned in hell suffer, too, but theirs is no atoning suffering because they do not willingly suffer. He had to suffer obediently, and therefore actively. Voluntarily He experienced suffering, death and hell. He would lay down His own life. The death on the cross was Christ’s supreme act of obedience (John 10;17, 18).

On the last day of his life, Dr. J. Gresham Machen dictated a telegram to his colleague Professor John Murray: “I’m so thankful for the active obedience of Christ; no hope without it.” He had been discussing this subject with Murray and it had been the subject of one of the very last addresses he gave. At the moment of death he gained comfort in Christ’s active obedience. Because of it, he would be accepted as perfectly obedient and righteous. Professor Ned Stonehouse wrote: “An exultant note of triumph through the merit of his Saviour was thus sounded forth as he was about to enter the divine presence” (J. G. Machen, God Transcendent, 11).

When we speak of Christ’s passive obedience we refer to His paying the penalty for sin by experiencing God’s wrath in His sufferings and death (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 4:25; I John 2:2). By this He removed the debt of His people. These sufferings were laid on Him as our representative. To these, in His active obedience, Christ voluntarily subjected Himself (John 10:18). The death He died was thus a sacrificial death. This sacrificial death we call the atonement.

The atonement – Although the word “atonement” is a common one in the Christian’s vocabulary, it appears only once in the King James Version of the New Testament: Romans 5:11. However, it does appear often in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it is a translation of a Greek word In II Corinthians 5:18, 19, we learn more: “But all meaning ‘reconciliation,’ and in the Old Testament it has the meaning of ‘propitiation’” (Leviticus 1:4; 16:6; etc.).

As the word is used in the Old Testament it implies that God has been offended because of sin and that something has to be done to satisfy God in order that this sin would be forgiven and communion with God would be restored.

As the word is used in the New Testament the act itself –the death of Christ—by which the satisfaction, or atonement, is made becomes, itself, the atonement. Therefore, when we speak about the atonement, we mean “not the reconciliation between God and man, not the ‘atonement’ between God and man, but specifically, the means by which that reconciliation is effected—namely, the death of Christ as something that was necessary in order that sinful men might be received into communion with God” (J. G. Machen, God Transcendent, 166).

We may, therefore, say that the teaching of Scripture is that Christ’s death, or atonement, is the way by which God’s justice is satisfied. What took place on Calvary was foreshadowed in t he sacrifices of the Tabernacle and the Temple. Jesus Christ was the last sacrifice. With His death there was no further need for the Old Testament typical offerings. What they pointed toward had taken place. Once for all it was done. The atonement had been completed. This is emphasized in t he Epistle to the Hebrews (7:27; 9:12, 26, 28; 10:10) and elsewhere, too (Romans 6:10; I Peter 3:18; John 17:4; 19:30).

Reconciliation – And what did this atonement, this satisfaction, bring about? Reconciliation.

By dictionary definition, reconciliation is “the act of re–establishing friendship after estrangement.” According to the word used for “reconciliation” in the New Testament, a payment of some kind is involved.

In II Corinthians 5:18, 19, we learn more: “But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, . . . .” We learn here that reconciliation is one–sided. There is no hint here of mutual reconciliation between God and man. In His everlasting love God removed the cause of estrangement.

How are we to understand reconciliation, then, as it relates to Christ’s work?

Reconciliation is: 1. a covenant idea. Strangers cannot be reconciled. Only those who have some kind of a relationship, though it be ruptured, can be reconciled: husband and wife, mother and daughter, two friends. God’s reconciliation is the result of God’s covenant love toward us.

Love is an element in reconciliation that we cannot overlook. It is clearly taught in Scripture (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 8:32; Ephesians 2:4, 5; I John 4:9, 10). The goal of this great covenant love is that we might be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29).

Further, reconciliation comes about because: 2. the covenantal relations hip was violated. The cause of this broken relationship lies wholly with us. We are guilty.

Therefore, reconciliation is: 3. the work of God. God must do the restoring work. He must remove the cause of the estrangement between Himself and His own. When we would not obey, God sent His Son to be obedient in all things on our behalf, and to suffer the agonies of death and hell voluntarily. Thus, by satisfaction for sins through the work of Jesus Christ, God reconciled “the world unto himself.” By this He changed the situation between Himself and His own. And because He has graciously done this through the work of His Son we know our Covenant God’s love and favor. What mercy! What love! What grace!