What does “Atonement” Mean?

In biblical language, atonement is the appeasement of anger due to sin.

In Biblical Hebrew, the concept of atonement is represented by the noun kippūriym (כִּפֻּרִים) and the related verb, kippēr (כִּפֵּר).

The Appeasement of God’s Anger

The Bible teaches that God’s anger is against the sinfulness of people (Rom. 1:18; 2:5, 8; Eph. 2:3; 5:6; Col. 3:6). This anger of God is not a petty anger, but rather a righteous attitude against unrighteousness. In order for a person to be saved from God’s anger, an “appeasement” or “atonement” must be made.

A clear example of the relationship between God’s anger and atonement can be found in the story in Numbers 16:41–50. The people of Israel had sinned against God, and so God sent a plague on them (vv. 41–45). In verse 46, Moses instructed Aaron on how to stop the plague:

And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement [kippēr] for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD; the plague has begun. (ESV)

The passage suggests that the plague was a result of God’s “wrath” or “anger” against the people because of their sin. Aaron was to use the incense in the censer for a specific purpose: to “make atonement” for them. When Aaron did this, the plague stopped (vv. 47–48). The anger of God against the people had been appeased.

Life for Life

Leviticus 17:11 describes how atonement is signified by the killing of an animal in the biblical law:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement [kippēr] for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (ESV)

The Hebrew word for “soul” here is nep̄eš (נֶ֫פֶשׁ), which denotes the life of a breathing being. In fact, this is the same Hebrew word for “life” in this same passage! The blood of an animal contains its life, and it was used to make atonement for the life of a person.

The rightful penalty that we deserve for our sins is death—the deprivation of life (Rom. 1:32; 6:23; cf. Ezek. 18:4, 20). When an animal was killed as an atonement, it signified that in order for a person to avoid this death penalty, another life must die in exchange for his life.

Of course, the killing of an animal cannot actually accomplish atonement. Rather, like all the other ceremonial aspects of the biblical law, it was a shadow of what Jesus will do when he died on the cross (Heb. 10:1).

Atonement is Accomplished by Jesus

In Biblical Greek, the equivalent terms for “atonement” are

• hilasmos (ἱλασμός),
• hilastērion (ἱλαστήριον), and
• the verb hilaskomai (ἱλάσκομαι).

Like their Hebrew equivalents, these Greek terms mean “appeasement”, but they are commonly rendered in English translations as “propitiation”.

Jesus is the “atonement” or “propitiation” for our sins (Rom. 3:26; 1 Jn 2:2). When Jesus died on the cross, he suffered in our place the death penalty that we deserve for our sins. Thus, Jesus appeased God’s anger which was directed against us due to our sins. Hence, salvation means being saved from God’s anger (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thess. 1:10). Therefore, Jesus is our true high priest, who “atones” or “makes propitiation” for our sins (Heb. 2:17).