Article of Faith 3
We believe that through the
Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved,
by obedience to the laws and
ordinances of the Gospel.
This is the third essay about the Atonement of Jesus Christ as stated in the third Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first week, I discussed the importance of understanding how the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as the third pillar of eternity, is essential to Heavenly Father’s plan for the eternal happiness of His children. Last week, the discussion was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the nature of the atonement. This week, the discussion will concern the Atonement of Jesus Christ as a vicarious sacrifice, using the words of Elder James E. Talmage (Articles of Faith [1913], 77-79).
The Atonement a Vicarious Sacrifice – It is to many a matter of
surpassing wonder that the voluntary sacrifice of a single being could be made
to operate as a means of ransom for the rest of mankind. In this, as in other
things, the scriptures are explicable by the spirit of scriptural
interpretation. The sacred writings of ancient times, the inspired utterances
of latter-day prophets, the traditions of mankind, the rites of sacrifice, and
even the sacrileges of heathen idolatries, all involve the idea of vicarious
atonement. God has never refused to accept an offering made by one who is
authorized on behalf of those who are in any way incapable of doing the
required service themselves. The scapegoat and the altar victim of ancient
Israel, if offered with repentance and contrition, were accepted by the Lord in
mitigation of the sins of the people. It is interesting to note that while the
ceremonies of sacrifice formed so large and so essential a part of the Mosaic
requirements, these rites long antedated the establishment of Israel as a distinct
people; for, as already shown, altar sacrifice as rendered by Adam. The
symbolism of the immolating of animals as a prototype of the great sacrifice to
follow on Calvary was thus instituted with the beginning of human history.
The
many kinds of sacrifice prescribed by the Mosaic law are classifiable as bloody
and bloodless. Offerings of the first order only, involving the infliction of
death, were acceptable in propitiation or atonement for sin, and the victim had
to be clean, healthy, and without spot or blemish. So for the great sacrifice,
the effects of which were to be infinite, only an innocent subject could be
accepted, It was Christ’s right to
become the Savior as the only sinless being on earth, and as the Only Begotten
of the Father, and above all as the one ordained in the heavens to be the
Redeemer of mankind; and though the exercise of this right involved a
sacrifice, the extent of which man cannot comprehend, yet Christ made that
sacrifice willingly and voluntarily. To the last, He had the means of
terminating the tortures of His persecutors, by the exercise of His inherent
powers. In some way, though that way may be inexplicable to us, Christ took
upon Himself the burdensome onus of the sins of mankind. The means may be to
our finite minds a mystery, yet the results are our salvation.
Something
of the Savior’s agony as He groaned under this load of guilt, which to Him, as
a type of purity, must have been in itself bitter in the extreme, He has told
us in this day: “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that
they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they
must suffer even as I; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of
all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both
body and spirit – and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink –
Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my
preparations unto the children of men.” Further instances of the validity of
vicarious service are found in the rites of baptism for the dead as taught in
apostolic and modern times, and in the institution of other temple ordinances
in the current dispensation.
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