1. When Adam and Eve sinned, God took the initiative in searching for them.
2. The process of reconciliation has been associated with the English word, atonement, which
originally meant “at-one-ment’—a state of being at one or in agreement.
3. Christ’s atoning sacrifice at Calvary marked the turning point in the relationship
between God and humanity.
4. Scriptures present Christ as the sin-bearer of the human race.
5. The New Testament reveals that the Old Testament ceremonies for obtaining
forgiveness, purification, and reconciliation through substitutionary blood were only partially fulfilled in the atoning blood of Christ’s Calvary sacrifice.
6. Through His death, Christ broke the dominion of sin, terminated the spiritual captivity of the
human race, removed the condemnation and curse of the law, and made eternal life
available to all repentant sinners.
7. In spite of Christ’s death, because of our human corruption, we cannot submit ourselves
to Christ and our wills cannot be merged with His.
8. Christ has the twofold objective of forgiving and clothing sinners in His robe of righteousness. We need not only the debt (of sin) to be cancelled,
we need our bank account restored—we need both his perfect sacrifice for sin and his perfect life credited to us.
9. While the atoning sacrifice at Calvary was sufficient and complete, without the
resurrection we would have no assurance that Christ had successfully finished His divine mission on earth.
10. Obedience and good works are not the ground of salvation but its fruitage.
