Three Big Words: Atonement, Remission, Forgiveness
//Timeless Teaching of Kenneth E. Hagin
Have you ever wondered what the three biggest words in the Bible are? People’s ideas differ on this. It depends on what they are studying at the moment and where they are in their lives. But probably no one would disagree that the following words are three of the most important in the Bible.
Let’s take a look at each word and how it affects us.
Atonement
The children of Israel lived under the Old Covenant and followed the Mosaic Law. Whenever they broke the law—which was inevitable—the priests made an atonement (or covering) for their sins once a year on the Day of Atonement. The Old Testament describes two remarkable things that took place on this day.
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First. The High Priest carried the blood of an innocent animal into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat. That blood “covered” the sins the children of Israel had committed the previous year.
Second. The priest symbolically placed the sins of the people on the scapegoat by laying his hands on the animal’s head and confessing the people’s sins over it. The scapegoat was then turned loose in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts.
This sin offering had to be repeated year after year because it only “covered” the Israelites’ sins. Their sin nature still remained
in them.
Eternal life, the greatest event that can ever take place in any person’s life, could not be provided until Jesus, the perfect Sacrifice, had come.
Remission
If a cleaning agent is applied to an ink stain, the stain remover eradicates the ink. The stain wouldn’t have to be covered
over, because it would be cleansed, or erased. This is a picture of remission of sins. When we receive Christ as our Savior, we become new creatures in Him (2 Cor. 5:17).
Everything we’ve done in our past, and everything we’ve been, is wiped out. In God’s eyes, it no longer
exists. We begin again with a clean slate.
Remission means “a wiping out as though it had never been.” The word remission is only used in connection with the New Birth. Several times in the King James translation of the Bible, the Greek word that should be translated “remission” is translated “forgiveness.” A sinner, however, receives remission of sins, not forgiveness. If a sinner had to confess all of his sins to be saved, then he could never be saved. A sinner could never think of everything he has ever done wrong—because everything he has
ever done is wrong!
When we look at ourselves from a natural standpoint, it’s obvious that we have the same body that we’ve always had. Our body doesn’t change when we are born again. It’s the real man on the inside, or our spirit being, that is born again.
Forgiveness
Whenever a person accepts Christ as his Savior, his spirit is recreated and his sins are remitted once and for all. You may wonder, What happens if the person misses it after he is born again? What if he sins? Any Christian who commits sins receives forgiveness. If he were to receive remission, everything
he had ever done in the past—both good and bad—would be wiped out. Even his New Birth would be erased. But that is not the case, because the Christian—the person who is already born again—does not receive remission; he receives forgiveness.
Thank God for that word forgiveness. It is a fellowship word, speaking from a New Testament point of view. When a child of God sins, he breaks fellowship with the Father but he does not break relationship.
An example of this is when a husband and wife quarrel. They don’t break their relationship—they are still married. However, they have broken their fellowship, and they need to ask one another for forgiveness.
Similarly, when Christians sin, their fellowship with God is broken. They are still part of His family. They simply need to ask for forgiveness. Their way back into fellowship is found in First John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we do this, we once again stand in the presence of God as though we had never done wrong.
Thank God there is remission of sins and forgiveness. God is in the forgiving business and does not want anyone to be separated from Him. And He provided three big words for all of mankind. Under the Old Covenant, atonement was the biggest word for Israel. Today, remission is the biggest word for sinners. And forgiveness is the biggest word for Christians.
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(Editor’s Note: This article was adapted from Kenneth E. Hagin’s minibook Three Big Words.)