ATONEMENT

The word atonement is of special interest in the fields of philology, literature, theology, and Scripture. It is the only word of Anglo-Saxon origin that signifies a theological doctrine. It indicates a setting "at one" of two parties that were estranged.

History of the Word. The verb "atone" existed in Middle English prior to the substantive "atonement." "Atone" was coined from "at" and "one" and signifies to set at one, to reconcile. It originated in the phrase "to be at one," a translation of the Anglo-French phrase être à un, to agree. In Le Livre de reis we read of Henry II and St. Thomas Becket: "Ils ne peusent être à un"— They could not agree.

Wyclif already used the noun "onement" for reconciliation. From frequent use of the phrases "set at one" or "at onement," the combined atonement began to take the place of onement early in the 16th century. St. Thomas More is the earliest known author to use the word atonement, in his English work the History of King Richard III. William Rastell, More's nephew, edited a strictly correct text in 1557. Rastell claimed that More wrote this incomplete history in 1513. Referring to the discord of the nobles at the time of Richard's coronation, More observed their lack of regard for their new atonement. Atonement was used here to signify reconciliation.

The Anglican Bibles—Tyndale (1525 or 1526), Coverdale (1535), Matthew (1537), Taverner (1539), Geneva (1557). King James (1611)—made ample use of the word atonement in the sense of reconciliation and expiation. C. S. Lewis, an Oxford authority on Tudor English, observed that the use of this word of Anglo-Saxon origin was probably no more than a case of stylistic preference. The King James Version was substantially Tyndale corrected and improved by Coverdale, Geneva, Rheims, and Cranmer, almost in collaboration [C. S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama (Oxford 1954) 214]. This was reflected in the use of the word atonement to translate καταλλαγή in Rom 5.11, as evidenced in the English Hexapla (Bodleian Library, Oxford MS Mason H H. 168, p. 88), which used later editions of the Tyndale and Geneva Bibles.

Theology. Since reconciliation is generally between one who has been offended and one who offends, atonement receives the ordinary meaning of satisfactory reparation or expiation for an offense. In the Old Testament, atonement is the reestablishment of Yahweh's communion with His people, who had offended Him by sin. It is a work of mercy on the part of God and on the part of man the fulfilling of certain things prescribed by God.

The Hebrew verb kippēr, pi’el of the root kpr, is translated as atone. It probably meant to cover, especially with a liquid. In the priestly documents it signifies mainly "to make atonement for sin by an expiatory rite" (Lv 4.31–35; 6.17–23). The LXX regularly translates kippēr by ἐξιλάσκομαι, which means to propitiate, also to atone. The highest spiritual sense of atonement in the Old Testament is found in Is 52.13–53.12. The placation concept of atonement seems to have disappeared, and the passage concentrates on expiation. Sin is atoned for with a life, the life of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh, as a guilt offering. The personal deeds of this innocent mediator take the place of sinners. He suffers for them and effects atonement with a personal God moved by pity for them. The ideas of reconciliation and vicarious expiation permeate the passage.

In the New Testament, atonement does not play a primary role. In Heb 2.17 Christ has "become a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate [ἱλάσκεσθαι] the sins of the people." Paul presents atonement as an act of divine love that effects a new state of things, the peaceful relationship between God and man. Man is reconciled to God (2 Cor 5.18–19; Eph 2.15–16). In the second phase man acts: "be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5.20). Paul develops these ideas out of the Old Testament background: e.g., the Old Testament notion of sacrifice, when he speaks of the sacrifice of the cross, of which atonement is an effect. Thus atonement is effected through the blood of the cross (Rom 5.9; Eph 2.13–16). The Pauline concept of atonement is related to the idea of justification, which forms the basis of atonement. Man is placed in a new relation to God. We live with God in peace (Rom 5.1–2; Eph 2.17–18).

Among the Christian writers atonement in the sense of satisfaction for sin, as applied to Christ's work, is found in its early development in the works of SS. Irenaeus, Ambrose, and Peter Damien. It assumed greater importance in the Cur Deus Homo of St. Anselm of Canterbury. Anselm made the atonement the basis of his explanation of the incarnation and the redemption, in place of earlier notions of sacrifice and payment for sin. The great scholastic theologians of the 13th century, notably, St. Thomas Aquinas, perfected the Anselmian doctrine. In place of Anselm's teaching on the quasinecessity of the atonement, St. Thomas holds that it was a work of the free choice of God that vicarious satisfaction for sin was effected by the God-Man.

While the Council of Trent treats of the all-sufficient atonement of Our Lord, it also takes into account man's personal cooperation in the work of satisfaction for sin under the influence of Christ's grace. Trends in contemporary Lutheran theology of justification show remarkable agreement with this position. Excessive stress on man's personal cooperation in the work of atonement is evidenced in the long and arduous penances for remission of sin demanded by the Jansenists. In the present stance of Catholic and Protestant Biblical studies, there is a common stress on the atonement as a work of divine mercy rather than a juridical placation of divine wrath.

See Also: expiation (in theology); reparation; satisfaction of christ.

Bibliography: a. c. baugh, A History of the English Language (2d ed. New York 1957) 245. w. w. skeat, Principles of English Etymology (2d ed. Oxford 1892) 56. a. mÉdebielle, Dictionnaire de la Bible, suppl. ed. l. pirot, et al. (Paris 1928–) 3:1–262. g. kittel, Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament (Stuttgart 1935–) 1:252–260; 3:301–318; 4:330–337. h. f. davis, CDT 1:189–198. j. bonsirven, "Le Péché et son expiation selon la théologie du judaisme palestinien au temps de Jésus-Christ," Biblica 15 (1934) 213–236. s. lyonnet, De peccato et redemptione (Rome 1957–), 4 v. planned. j. dupont, La Réconciliation dans la théologie de St. Paul (Paris 1953).

[k. f. dougherty]