As with Origen, but totally opposed to LDS theology, mortality is a punishment for a pre-existing spirit.
The New Testament itself does not speak of Adam’s fall as a sinful tragedy, but as the introduction of death into the world. (“In Adam all die,” and “by one man . . . death passed upon all men.”) (p. 26)
This should be compared with the following comment (though there are many that are representative of such in this short volume):
With no premortal context to give Eve’s choice its due honor, Christians could only read that choice as fatally wrong. (p. 16)
Such comments are true up to a point. Scripture, both biblical and uniquely Latter-day Saint, have some rather negative things to say about the Fall and the actions of Adam and Eve, including how, as a result, we have become morally and epistemologically fallen:
O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires. (Ether 3:2)
As King Benjamin said in his famous farewell address:
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:9)
Speaking of the Fall, the Lord, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, said:
And that he created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness, created he them; And gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship. But by the transgression of these holy laws man became sensual and devilish, and became fallen man. (D&C 20:18-20)
Capturing the Greek, especially the meaning of γεγονεν (from γιωομαι "to be/become"), the NRSV renders 1 Tim 2:14 accurately:
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
It is rather common, and understandable, for faiths to stress their unique teachings (e.g., the LDS stress on Jesus’ sufferings in Gethsemane), but often, a balance is lost (in the case of the stress on Gethsemane, a de-emphasis on the crucifixion’s role in the atonement). With respect to the Fall, I do believe that LDS authors need to strike a better balance between the negative aspects of the Fall explicated in Scripture as well as the positive elements thereof.
In this chapter, Irenaeus of Lyon, among a few other early Christian authors, is quoted to support the LDS view of the Fall. It is true that their view of the Fall is more positive when compared with the later theological formulations of the Fall as seen in the writings of Augustine and the Second Council of Orange in AD 529. However, when one examines the full quotations of these writers and not the snippets provided, we see that they held to a more negative view of the Fall than Latter-day Saint theology, and the reader without access to the patristic texts will walk away from reading this book with a false understanding of this area of patristic theology.
On p. 27, the authors, after stating that Irenaeus interpreted “the transgression itself as necessary rather than catastrophic,” quoted, in part, Against Heresies IV.xxxix.1-2:
Man has received the knowledge of good and evil. It is good to obey God, and to believe on him, and to keep His commandment . . . as not to obey God is evil . . . Wherefore he has also had a two-fold experience, possessing knowledge of both kinds, that which discipline he may make choice of the better things. But how, if he had had no knowledge of the contrary, could have had instruction in that which is good? . . . How, then, shall he be a God, who has not yet been made a man?
Here are the full quotations of these two sections (emphasis added):
1. Man has received the knowledge of good and evil. It is good to obey God, and to believe in Him, and to keep His commandment, and this is the life of man; as not to obey God is evil, and this is his death. Since God, therefore, gave [to man] such mental power (magnanimitatem) man knew both the good of obedience and the evil of disobedience, that the eye of the mind, receiving experience of both, may with judgment make choice of the better things; and that he may never become indolent or neglectful of God's command; and learning by experience that it is an evil thing which deprives him of life, that is, disobedience to God, may never attempt it at all, but that, knowing that what preserves his life, namely, obedience to God, is good, he may diligently keep it with all earnestness. Wherefore he has also had a twofold experience, possessing knowledge of both kinds, that with discipline he may make choice of the better things. But how, if he had no knowledge of the contrary, could he have had instruction in that which is good? For there is thus a surer and an undoubted comprehension of matters submitted to us than the mere surmise arising from an opinion regarding them. For just as the tongue receives experience of sweet and bitter by means of tasting, and the eye discriminates between black and white by means of vision, and the ear recognises the distinctions of sounds by hearing; so also does the mind, receiving through the experience of both the knowledge of what is good, become more tenacious of its preservation, by acting in obedience to God: in the first place, casting away, by means of repentance, disobedience, as being something disagreeable and nauseous; and afterwards coming to understand what it really is, that it is contrary to goodness and sweetness, so that the mind may never even attempt to taste disobedience to God. But if any one do shun the knowledge of both these kinds of things, and the twofold perception of knowledge, he unawares divests himself of the character of a human being.
2. How, then, shall he be a God, who has not as yet been made a man? Or how can he be perfect who was but lately created? How, again, can he be immortal, who in his mortal nature did not obey his Maker? For it must be that thou, at the outset, shouldest hold the rank of a man, and then afterwards partake of the glory of God. For thou dost not make God, but God thee. If, then, thou art God's workmanship, await the hand of thy Maker which creates everything in due time; in due time as far as thou art concerned, whose creation is being carried out.Offer to Him thy heart in a soft and tractable state, and preserve the form in which the Creator has fashioned thee, having moisture in thyself, lest, by becoming hardened, thou lose the impressions of His fingers. But by preserving the framework thou shalt ascend to that which is perfect, for the moist clay which is in thee is hidden [there] by the workmanship of God. His hand fashioned thy substance; He will cover thee over [too] within and without with pure gold and silver, and He will adorn thee to such a degree, that even "the King Himself shall have pleasure in thy beauty." But if thou, being obstinately hardened, dost reject the operation of His skill, and show thyself ungrateful towards Him, because thou wert created a [mere] man, by becoming thus ungrateful to God, thou hast at once lost both His workmanship and life. For creation is an attribute of the goodness of God but to be created is that of human nature. If then, thou shalt deliver up to Him what is thine, that is, faith towards Him and subjection, thou shalt receive His handiwork, and shall be a perfect work of God.
The rest of the chapter reads thusly:
3. If, however, thou wilt not believe in Him, and wilt flee from His hands, the cause of imperfection shall be in thee who didst not obey, but not in Him who called [thee]. For He commissioned [messengers] to call people to the marriage, but they who did not obey Him deprived themselves of the royal supper. The skill of God, therefore, is not defective, for He has power of the stones to raise up children to Abraham; but the man who does not obtain it is the cause to himself of his own imperfection. Nor, [in like manner], does the light fail because of those who have blinded themselves; but while it remains the same as ever, those who are [thus] blinded are involved in darkness through their own fault. The light does never enslave any one by necessity; nor, again, does God exercise compulsion upon any one unwilling to accept the exercise of His skill. Those persons, therefore, who have apostatized from the light given by the Father, and transgressed the law of liberty, have done so through their own fault, since they have been created free agents, and possessed of power over themselves.
4. But God, foreknowing all things, prepared fit habitations for both, kindly conferring that light which they desire on those who seek after the light of incorruption, and resort to it; but for the despisers and mockers who avoid and turn themselves away from this light, and who do, as it were, blind themselves, He has prepared darkness suitable to persons who oppose the light, and He has inflicted an appropriate punishment upon those who try to avoid being subject to Him. Submission to God is eternal rest, so that they who shun the light have a place worthy of their flight; and those who fly from eternal rest, have a habitation in accordance with their fleeing. Now, since all good things are with God, they who by their own determination fly from God, do defraud themselves of all good things; and having been [thus] defrauded of all good things with respect to God, they shall consequently fall under the just judgment of God. For those persons who shun rest shall justly incur punishment, and those who avoid the light shall justly dwell in darkness. For as in the case of this temporal light, those who shun it do deliver themselves over to darkness, so that they do themselves become the cause to themselves that they are destitute of light, and do inhabit darkness; and, as I have already observed, the light is not the cause of such an [unhappy] condition of existence to them; so those who fly from the eternal light of God, which contains in itself all good things, are themselves the cause to themselves of their inhabiting eternal darkness, destitute of all good things, having become to themselves the cause of [their consignment to] an abode of that nature.
Blake Ostler’s book, The Problems of Theism and the Love of God (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Book, 2006) is a must-read on this and many of the other issues discussed in The Christ Who Heals.
Chapter 8: The Atoning Christ
The authors attempt to empty the atonement of Christ from having any propitiatory element. At best, their theory of atonement is a half-truth (restorative justice and other themes) while, not just ignoring, but denying, other key elements of the atonement. Here are some relevant quotes from this chapter:
One epithet attached to Christ that can mislead in unfortunate ways is that of “mediator.” Warring nations may employ mediators. Contending spouses may make use of mediators. And antagonistic strikers and management are often assigned them . . . In the Christian West, with its emphasis on sin as rebellion against God’s “rigid interdiction,” Christ’s role as mediator became that of our shield and defender against the wrath and vengeance of a sovereign God . . . Appeasing some abstract justice, or propitiating a sovereign God, is not the point. (p. 53, 55, emphasis in original)
It was in precise anticipation of such weakness that our Savior was appointed, before earth’s creation, to bear the burden of pain that follows in sin and error’s wake. Christ assumes the full weight of the aftershocks of our actions in our place (he “suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer”). (p. 55, emphasis added)
Mediation . . . refers to Christ’s serving as an instrument by which a desired purpose or harmony is achieved. And that is precisely what Christ does. He brings out our soul’s healing, mending fractured relationships, resolving our temporary alienation from our Heavenly Parents, and effecting a more whole and holy self-hood. In this role, Christ is not protecting us from divine anger or judgment. On the contrary, Christ is collaborating with our Heavenly Parents for our homecoming. (p. 58)
Comfort, not judicial defense, is the purpose of a paraclete. Jesus promised a comforter, not a legal counsel, to those apostles who would soon bear the gospel to a hostile world, suffering trials, persecutions, and execution. Rather than a judicial advocate, they would need a helper, a sustainer, a teacher—someone to comfort them in times of distress and danger. And that is what the Lord promises them—the Holy Spirit as Comforter. (p. 59)
While rejecting the Reformed doctrine of Penal Substitution (which I, too, reject), the authors empty the propitiatory nature of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice and intercession. Note the following:
(1) The Propitiatory Nature of Christ's Sacrifice
In some Protestant circles, there is a debate as to the meaning of the terms ιλασμος and ιλαστηριον in the New Testament as well as the Hebrew כפר. For some commentators, most notably C.H. Dodd in his book, The Bible and the Greeks, such terms mean only expiation. Such would fit with the forensic nature of atonement and justification held by Protestantism, wherein an offender/sinner has their trespasses covered over, but there is no intrinsic change within the person at justification (such belonging only to sanctification). Dodd’s thesis was critiqued from various angles from Leon Morris in his The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, and the debate still continues in some circles to this day.
From my study of the issue, I think it would be unwise to claim that such terms, as well as related terms, only mean one or the other; there are some instances where these can mean expiation, but there are clearly instances where it can mean propitiation and others where both could be in view. One classical example would be Rom 3:25:
Whom [Jesus] God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement (ἱλαστήριον) by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed. (NRSV)
In this verse, the apostle Paul teaches us that God the Father provided Jesus as a ἱλαστήριον. As it is the Father who proposed/planned (the meaning of the Greek προτιθημι) his Son to be a place of ιλασμος/propitiation, translating it as propitiation would be unusual—God planning Christ to be a sacrifice that appeases His own wrath—contextually, it suits the meaning of “expiation,” that is, Christ as the means of our sins being covered/remitted.
Notwithstanding, Num 16:46 explicitly states that the propitiation is for the purpose of averting God’s anger against sin:
And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement (LXX: εξιλασκομαι; Heb: כפר) for them: for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; and the plague is begun.
Furthermore, in John 2:1-2, Christ is said to be our advocate (παρακλητος, the very same term used of the Holy Spirit [KJV: Comforter] that the authors discussed [quoted above!]), that is, the person who pleads our cause before the Father (cf. Heb 7:25; Rom 8:33-34), and tied into this, is John's statement that he is the propitiation (ιλασμος) for our sins. An advocate seeks reconciliation between an offended party (the Father) and those who offended the party (us as sinners). Obviously, the concept of appeasement is in view here.
As has been noted by commentators, the Maccabean literature is important for understanding the term ιλαστηριον ("place of atonement/propitiation" sometimes rendered "mercy-seat" or "propitiatory"), such as 4 Macc 17:22, where propitiation, not only expiation, is in view:
And through the blood of those devout ones [i.e., the Maccabean martyrs] and their death as an atoning sacrifice [ιλαστηριον], divine Providence preserved Israel that previously had been mistreated. (NRSV)
In other words, one must not engage, as some have done regardless of their translation preference, make this into an either-or issue; it can be at times “both-and.”
One of the main arguments against the propitiation motif is that God’s wrath is often relegated as a mere anthropomorphism. However, this results in a lot of fanciful eisegesis of the biblical texts. Furthermore, as Latter-day Saints, this is one approach we cannot take, as the reality of that wrath is emphasized time and time again in our canon, and furthermore, God is often only appeased by personally appeasing Him, whether through intercession (as in the case of Moses in Exo 32-33) or sacrifices.
One of the best examples of this is the case of Phinehas who averted the wrath of God from the Israelite camp. In Num 25 we read of some of the men of the Israelite camp were engaging in cultic sexual intercourse with Moabite and Midianite women (e.g., Num 25:2-3, 6), resulting in God commanding Moses to kill them (Num 25:4), resulting in 24,000 who died in the plague (Num 25:9). In defiance of this divine command, and Israelite man brought a Midianite woman to his tent, more than likely to engage in such cultic sexual intercourse. Phinehas, a priest, saw this happen and took the following action:
And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. (Num 25:7-8)
As a direct result of the actions of Phinehas, God’s wrath was appeased (propitiated) against the Israelite camp.
One text from modern revelation that further supports our thesis is that of D&C 63:2-4:
Yea, verily, I say, hear the word of him whose anger is kindled against the wicked and rebellious; Who willeth to take even them whom he will take, and preserveth in life them whom he will preserve; Who buildeth up at his own will and pleasure; and destroyeth when he pleases, and is able to cast the soul down to hell.
Commenting on this passage, Heber C. Kimball wrote:
The potter tried to bring a lump of clay into subjection, and he worked and tugged at it, but the clay was rebellious and would not submit to the will of the potter and marred in his hands. Then of course he had to cut it from the wheel and throw it into the mill to be ground over, in order that it might become passive; after which he takes it again and makes of it a vessel unto honor, out of the same lump that was dishonored. . . . There may be ten thousand millions of men sent to hell, because they dishonor themselves and will not be subject, and after that they will be taken and made vessels unto honor, if they will become obedient. . . . Can you find fault with that? (Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball. An Apostle; The Father and Founder of the British Mission [Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1888], 475-76)
That God is not only loving but wrathful against our sins, was put rather well and very succinctly by the Book of Mormon prophet Alma:
And now, my brethren, seeing we know these things, and they are true, let us repent, and harden not our hearts, that we provoke not the Lord our God to pull down his wrath upon us in these his second commandments which he has given unto us; but let us enter into the rest of God, which is prepared according to his word. (Alma 12:37, emphasis added)
The model of atonement in
The Christ Who Heals makes nonsense of this verse and other passages in the Latter-day Saint canon.
That Christ Himself continues to appease God’s wrath against sin is found in D&C 45:3-5:
Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom though gavest that thyself might be glorified. Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.
As we are told in D&C 38:4, the efficacy of Christ's intercession for us is grounded on "the virtue of the blood which I have spilt."
Of course, there is an important caution when it comes to adopting the concept of propitiation, and one that Leon Morris and others have correctly pointed out—that is, we must not think of God being able to be simply “paid off” and have his wrath averted against our sins like some pagan conceptions of propitiation that Dodd critiqued in his work. This was discussed by Elder Joseph E. Robinson, Conference Report, April 1918, p. 47:
I know that it is written by John and Paul that Christ was offered as a propitiation for our sins. I take it, if we had the original text we would learn that it was not in the sense of appeasing the anger of God that he became a propitiatory gift. That the Lord may have been, and has been, grieved and sometimes angry with his stubborn people, I grant you, but I have never felt that God had to be "bought off," if you will allow the expression, through the death of his Son, from visiting upon us condition punishment. No. As I understand it, he gave us his best loved gift, the First Born among many brethren in the spirit world, the only begotten of God in the flesh, that we might know him and thus in knowing him that we might be made free, "for this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." He gave its the gift of his Son that we should be won to him, that we should love him, for we give gifts to those whom we would win, whom we would have love us, whom we would draw to us, whom we would bring close in our affections, that they might be with us and associate with us, and share with us our joys and good fortune. He gave the Christ unto men that they might live again, that they might be made free, for the truth should make them free in their worship, in their power of mind and in their bodies, too, for that matter, and the redemption wrought out by the Christ makes us all alive again in eternity, clothed upon with immortality and eternal youth.
The reason why God is appeased with the sacrifice of Christ and forgives (expiates) our sins is due to the strong covenantal/personal relationship Christ has with the Father, and, by being united to Christ through the salvific covenant of baptism and other covenants that engraft us to Christ (e.g., John 6:3-4; Gal 3:27), and as a result, we can appropriate the salvific benefits of Christ’s atonement (remission of our sins; new spiritual life; an advocate whose intercession will allow for the remission of our future sins, etc), and not the “whimsical” concepts within pagan conceptions of atonement.
While it is true that many ancients held to a view of God’s anger that was capricious and whimsical, it would be wrong to jettison the theme of propitiation because of such errors, as the authors do in the above quotes, as well as the following quote from chapter 10, “The Collaborative Christ”:
We have tried to show that our Savior’s Atonement is more fully understood within the context of a collaborative Godhead rather than as a defense against a sovereign God’s wrath. (p. 74)
Apart from being a false dilemma, such an attitude towards the placating of God’s (righteous, not whimsical) wrath against sin should not be compared to perversions of such a model. As theologian John Stott correctly noted in his The Cross of Christ pp. 173-75:
Secondly, who makes the propitiation? In a pagan context it is always human beings who seek to avert the divine anger either by the meticulous performance of rituals, or by the recitation of magic formulae, or by the offering of sacrifices (vegetable, animal or even human). Such practices are thought to placate the offended deity. But the gospel begins with the outspoken assertion that nothing we can do, say, offer or even contribute can compensate for our sins or turn away God’s anger. There is no possibility of persuading, cajoling or bribing God to forgive us, for we deserve nothing at his hands but judgment . . . No, the initiative has been taken by God himself in his sheer mercy and grace.
This was already clear in the Old Testament, in which the sacrifices were recognized not as human works but as divine gifts. They did not make God gracious; they were provided by a gracious God in order that he might act graciously towards his sinful people...It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a propitiation for our sins...God does not love us because Christ died for us; Christ died for us because God loved us...What the propitiation changed was his dealing with us . . . It is God himself who in holy wrath needs to be propitiated, God himself who in holy love undertook to do the propitiating, and God himself who in the person of his Son died for the propitiation for our sins.
As S.R. Driver notes on the meaning of כפר in the Hebrew Bible, in this instance Deut 21:8 (“Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them”) wherein the LXX uses ἵλεως (BDAG: "pert. to being favorably disposed, with implication of overcoming obstacles that are unfavorable to a relationship, gracious, merciful")
The note on 21:8 was so worded as to give the general sense of this term, whether its primary meaning were assumed to be (from the Syriac) to wipe, wipe off, or (from the Arabic) to cover. Although, however, there are many passages in which the use of the word could be naturally explained upon the former supposition, there are others (esp. Gn. 32:21) in which this is hardly the case: the latter (which is also the usual explanation) must accordingly be deemed the more probable one. The various applications of the word are best explained in the note in Wellh. Comp. p. 335 f. Kipper is to cover—never, however, in a purely literal sense (like בסה), but always morally, viz. with the collateral idea of either conciliating an offended person, or screening an offence or an offender. It is used in three applications. (1) Its most primary application appears in Gn. 32:21, where Jacob, in dread of Esau’s anger, says אֲכַפְּרֶה פניו במנחה I will cover his face with the present—i.e. conciliate him, the fig. being that of a person blinded by a gift (Ex. 23:8, 1 S. 12:3) so as not to notice something (cf. Gn. 20:16). Hence (face being omitted) kipper acquires the gen. sense of to conciliate, propitiate, appease, the means employed (the כֹּפֶר) being, according to circumstances, a gift, an entreaty, conciliatory behaviour, and esp. (see 2) a sacrifice: so Ex. 32:30 אולי אֲכַפְּרֶה בעד חטאתכם (by intercession: v. 31f.), fig. Pr. 16:14 (of a king’s wrath) ואיש חכם יכפרנה, Is. 47:11 (of calamity) לא תוכלי כפרהּ (|| שחרהּ to charm it away). The subst. kopher, lit. a covering, i.e. a propitiatory gift, is, however, restricted by usage to a gift offered as an equivalent for a life that is claimed,—the wergild so rigorously prohibited by Hebrew law (above, p. 234) in the case of murder, but permitted in certain other cases, and evidently a familiar popular institution. This sense of kopher illustrates 2 S. 21:3, where David says to the representatives of the murdered Gibe˓onites וּבַמָּה אֲכַפֵּר wherewith shall I make propitiation? the satisfaction demanded being the lives of Saul’s sons who are thereupon sacrificed to appease Jehovah’s anger (v. 6; cf. v. 1, 24:1) See also Nu. 35:33, comp, with v. 31, 32. (2) In the distinctively priestly phraseology (Ez. and P), the subject of kipper is the priest, the means a sacrifice—usually the blood of the sin-offering, or the guilt-offering (אשם), occasionally the burnt-offering (Lev. 1:4, 16:24), now and then something else: the object was perhaps orig. פני יהוה (cf. Gn. 32:11, and חלּה פני יהוה), the verb being construed absolutely, to perform a propitiatory rite, with על (on behalf of) the person, less freq. with בעד (Lev. 9:7, 16:6, 11, 17, 24, Ez. 45:17); but the use of the accus. of a material object (Lev. 16:20, 33, Ez. 43:20, 26, 45:20†) supports the view that the idea involved is to cover up (cf. כסה על, חתם בעד), screen, viz. by a propitiatory rite: there follows (if required) טן of the guilt from which one is freed (Lev. 4:26, 5:6, 10, 16:16 al.), or על (on account of), Lev. 4:35, 5:13, 18, G usually ἐξιλάσχομαι. See more fully on Lev. 4:20. (3) Sometimes God is the subject, who “covers”—i.e. treats as covered, overlooks, pardons, condones—either (a) the offender, or (b) the offence: so (a) Dt. 21:8a, 32:43, Ez. 16:63, 2 Ch. 30:18; (b) Jer. 18:23, Ps. 65:4, 78:38, 79:9, Dan. 9:24 (obj. in all עון or פשעים)†. God is also, no doubt, conceived as the implicit agent where the verb is passive: viz. Dt. 21:8b, 1 S. 3:14 (אם יתבפר עון בית עלי בזבח ובמנחה עד עולם), Is. 6:7 וסר עונך וחטאתך תְּכֻפֶּר (the means a purging or atoning rite); Is. 22:14 (means not specified); Is. 27:9, Pr. 16:6 בחסד ובאמת יְכֻפַר עון (the means meritorious conduct): in all these cases, the subj. is the iniquity, which, when the verb is in the active voice, is the obj. in (3b), but never in (2). On Nu. 35:33, see above, No. 1, at the end. In actual usage, the primary sense of covering was probably altogether forgotten. The connexion between the three applications may, perhaps, be best preserved by rendering in (1) and (2) propitiate, or make propitiation, and in (3) deal propitiously with. (S.R. Driver, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteronomy [3d ed.; Edinburgh, T&T Clark, 1902], 425-26, emphasis added)
Other instances where כפר is used in the sense of propitiate/appease, further refuting the thesis of C.H. Dodd et al., include the following:
And you shall say, "Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us." For he thought, "I may appease him (Heb: כפר ; LXX: ἐξιλάσκομαι) with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me" (Gen 32:20 [v. 21 in Hebrew] NRSV)
A king's wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will appease it (Heb: כפר ; LXX: ἐξιλάσκομαι) (Prov 16:14 NRSV)
In LDS literature, one will find that many commentators have referred to Christ’s sacrifice as a propitiation; others, expiation, and some have used both terms in the same breath, showing that one cannot divorce one from the other. Consider the following examples:
Use of “propitiation”
Doctrine and Covenants (1835), p.57 (Lecture Fifth of Faith)
Q. Was he ordained of the Father, from before the foundation of the world, to be a propitiation for the sins of all those who should believe on his name?
A. He was. I Peter, 1:18, 19, 20. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you. Rev. 13:8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, [the beast] whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. l Corin. 2:7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden mystery, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.
Elder Joseph D. Robinson, Conference Report, April 1918, p.47
I know that it is written by John and Paul that Christ was offered as a propitiation for our sins. I take it, if we had the original text we would learn that it was not in the sense of appeasing the anger of God that he became a propitiatory gift. That the Lord may have been, and has been, grieved and sometimes angry with his stubborn people, I grant you, but I have never felt that God had to be "bought off," if you will allow the expression, through the death of his Son, from visiting upon us condign punishment. (N.B. note that Robinson agrees that God's anger is in some sense placated [propitiated] by the atonement of Christ, he rejects that such is a legal or monetary-like exchange, á la Penal Substitution; this shows how one must be careful to balance appeasement and the personal nature of God, something missing in many atonement theologies as they view God as an angry, stern judge and can only be placated via a legal payment)
Marion D Hanks, Conference Report, April 1969, p.25
He died willingly, alone, for this was how it must be. There had to be a propitiation, by one of his unique qualifications, for the sins of men -- our sins -- payment for which, through the love of God and the love of his Son, was made on Calvary's hill. (Note: Hanks, while using the language of "payment," clearly uses it as a metaphor, as it is tied into love which is not a legal virtue, but a free-will volition)
James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith, pp.77-78
4. Nature of the Atonement:—The atonement wrought by Jesus Christ is a necessary sequence of the transgression of Adam; and, as the infinite foreknowledge of God made clear to Him the one even before Adam was placed on earth, so the Father's boundless mercy prepared a Savior for mankind before the world was framed. Through the Fall, Adam and Eve have entailed the conditions of mortality upon their descendants; therefore all beings born of earthly parents are subject to bodily death. The sentence of banishment from the presence of God was in the nature of a spiritual death; and that penalty, which was visited upon our first parents in the day of their transgression, has likewise followed as the common heritage of humanity. As this penalty came into the world through an individual act, it would be manifestly unjust to cause all to eternally suffer therefrom, without a chance of deliverance. Therefore was the promised sacrifice of Jesus Christ ordained as a propitiation for broken law, whereby Justice could be fully satisfied, and Mercy be left free to exercise her beneficent influence over the souls of mankind.d All the details of the glorious plan, by which the salvation of the human family is assured, may not lie within the understanding of man; but surely, man has learned from his futile attempts to fathom the primary cause of the phenomena of nature, that his powers of comprehension are limited; and he will admit, that to deny the effect because of his inability to elucidate the cause, would be to forfeit his claims as an observing and reasoning being.
James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith, p.80
8. The many kinds of sacrifice prescribed by the Mosaic law are clearly classified under the headings, bloody, and bloodless. Offerings of the first order only, involving the infliction of death, were acceptable in propitiation or atonement for sin
James P. Harris, The Essential James E. Talmage, p.149
The Atonement accomplished by the Savior was a vicarious service for mankind, all of whom had become estranged from God through sin; and by that sacrifice of propitiation, a way had been opened for reconciliation whereby man may be brought again into communion with God, and be made able to live and advance as a resurrected being in the eternal worlds. This fundamental conception is strikingly expressed in our English word "atonement," which, as its syllables attest is "at-one-ment," "denoting reconciliation, or the bringing into agreement of those who had been estranged."
B. H. Roberts, The Truth, The Way, The Life, p.467
The Christ suffered for Adam's transgression, not for his own; and for the transgression of all men; for the sins of the world. He suffered for all men, that they might not suffer on certain conditions—the condition of repentance and acceptance of the Christ (D&C 19:16-17). And that by reason of his stripes men might be healed (Isa. 53:5, and Isa. 53:1-4). He made "propitiation" for men's sins (1 Jn. 2:2), and thus satisfied the claims of the law to the uttermost—even unto death—the death of the cross. But it was not "possible that he should be holden of it" (Acts 2:24)—i.e, of death; for he was Lord of life and of death. He had power to lay down his life, and to take it up again.
James E. Talmage, The Vitality of Mormonism, Ch.88, p.308-10
Israelitish sacrifices may be conveniently classified as bloody and bloodless, the former comprising all offerings involving the ceremonial slaughter of animals, and the latter consisting in the offering of vegetables or their manufactured products. The bloody sacrifices were early associated with the idea of expiation, or propitiation for sin, the offerer, whether an individual or the community as a whole, acknowledging guilt and craving propitiation through the death of the animal made to serve as proxy for the human offender.
The animal victim intended for sacrificial death had to be chosen in accordance with specific requirements. Thus, it was to he of the class designated as clean, and within this class only domestic cattle and sheep and certain birds--pigeons and turtle-doves--were acceptable. Furthermore, it was essential that the selected animal be without physical defect or blemish; and thus all that were deformed, maimed or diseased were absolutely excluded. Physical defects were held as typical of spiritual blemish, or sin; and "God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance."
These requirements of relative perfection on the part of the victim were in accord with the fact that the slaughter of animals as a priestly rite by Divine direction was in prefigurement of the then future sacrifice of the Christ Himself, whose atoning death would mark the consummation of His ministry in mortality, while the animal victims slain on Israel's altars figuratively bore the sins of the people, who in their observance of the sacrificial rite sought propitiation for their offenses, or reconciliation with God, from whom they hail become estranged through transgression, Jesus Christ actually bore the burden of sin and provided a way for a literal reconciliation of sinful man to God. The principal sacrifice in the Mosaic dispensation was that of the Passover; and the superseding of the type by the actual is forcefully expressed by Paul: "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." (1 Cor. 5:7.)
Theologians, Bible scholars generally, and ethnologists as well, admit the absence of all record both in the Bible and in profane history concerning the origin of sacrifice. The writer of the article "Sacrifice" in one of our Bible Dictionaries (Cassell's), which article is in line with other learned commentaries, says, following an array of facts: "On these and other accounts it has been judiciously inferred that sacrifice formed an element in the primeval worship of man; and that its universality is not merely an indirect argument for the unity of the human race, but an illustration and confirmation of the first inspired pages of the world's history. The notion of sacrifice can hardly be viewed as a product of unassisted human nature, and must therefore be traced to a higher source and viewed as a Divine revelation to primitive man."
Use of Expiation
President David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1944, p.121
A young student recently expressed the thought that belief in Christ as the Redeemer, as God made manifest, is waning; that professing Christians no longer believe that Jesus is the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh; that in some miraculous manner his death made expiation for sin; or that after His crucifixion Christ rose from the dead.
President Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, April 1962, p.108
The transgression of Adam, together with all of its consequences, was foreseen and the expiation provided for before the foundations of the world were laid. In that primeval council, of which the scriptures speak
George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses Vol. 11, p.68
The Lord has truly provided for us a plan of salvation that is as wide as eternity, that is God-like in its nature and in its origin; it is intended to exalt us, his children, and bring us back into his presence. For this purpose our Lord and Savior came in the meridian of time. His blood was shed that an expiation might be made by which the plan of salvation could be completed, that we, whose bodies would otherwise continue subject to an everlasting sleep in the grave, might have our mortal tabernacles resurrected and brought into the presence of our Father and God, there to dwell eternally.
George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses vol. 15, p. 367
those who contend for the same faith to know that slander, persecution, ignominy and shame, and even death itself are not evidences of the falsity of a system, or of the falsity of the doctrines taught by any individual, because we have the history of the Apostles—some of the best men that have ever trod the earth, and of Jesus, the holiest and best man that ever trod the earth, or that ever will, and we find that he and they were persecuted, hated and despised, and their names were east out as evil, and they were slain by a generation who professed to honor God and be very righteous, and who claimed to be the descendants of the Patriarchs of old, who were called the friends of God. If this story were told to us without our knowing anything of the circumstances, we should be reluctant to believe it. It would be a difficult thing to persuade us that human beings could have been so base and degraded, and so lost to every feeling of humanity as to persecute and crucify a pure being like Jesus, who had come from the Father for the express purpose of laying down his life as an expiation for their sins.
The Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, Vol.1, No.3, p.35
The very idea of atonement or reconciliation, where there is so much guilt as there is attached to the family of man, involves the idea of expiation in propria persona or vicariously: For says the apostle, without shedding of blood is no remission. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. We who were once far off by reason of sin and rebellion, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, Ch.16, p.126 - p.127
As from the commencement of the world to the time when the Passover was instituted, sacrifices had been offered as a memorial or type of the sacrifice of the Son of God; so from the time of the Passover until the time when He came to offer up Himself, these sacrifices and types and shadows had been carefully observed by Prophets and Patriarchs; according to the command given to Moses and other followers of the Lord. So also did He Himself fulfil this requirement, and kept the Passover as did others; and now we, after the great sacrifice has been offered, partake of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in remembrance thereof. Thus this act was the great connecting link between the past and the future; thus He fulfilled the law, met the demands of justice, and obeyed the requirements of His Heavenly Father, although laboring under the weight of the sins of the world, and the terrible expiation which He had to make, when, sweating great drops of blood, He cried: "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not my will be done," and when expiring in agony upon the cross He cried, "It is finished," and gave up the ghost.
John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, Ch.20, p.144 - p.145
In the economy of God pertaining to the salvation of the human family, we are told in the Scriptures that it was necessary that Christ should descend below all things, that He might be raised above all things; as stated above, He had to "become subject to man in the flesh." It was further necessary that He should descent below all things, in order that He might raise others above all things; for if He could not raise Himself and be exalted through those principles brought about by the atonement, He could not raise others; He could not do for others what He could not do for Himself, and hence it was necessary for Him to descend below all things that He might be raised above all things; and it was necessary that those whom He proposed to save should also descend below all things, that by and through the same power that He obtained His exaltation, they also, through His atonement, expiation and intercession, might be raised to the same power with Him; and, as He was the Son of God, that they might also be the adopted sons of God; hence John says: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."--1 John, iii, 2.
B. H. Roberts, The Truth, The Way, The Life, p.491
It can be readily understood that not even God's omnipotence could make it possible for Him to act contrary to truth and justice. It ought to be no more difficult to understand that God's omnipotence would not permit Him to set aside a satisfaction to justice, any more than to grant an arbitrary concession to mercy. Mere power has not the tight to nullify law, nor even omnipotence the right to abolish justice. Might in Deity is not more fundamental than right. God, we must conclude, will act in harmony with all His attributes, else confusion in the moral government of the world. These reflections lead to the inevitable confusion that there must be a satisfaction made to justice before there can be redemption for man. They also lead to the confusion that the necessity of expiation in order to pardon both Adam's transgression and secure forgiveness of man's individual sins arise from the nature of the case, an existing reign of law, and harmonious reactions to the attributes of God, and not from arbitrary action. Justice is of such an absolute character that it would be as impossible to save the guilty without an antecedent satisfaction to God's attribute of justice as it would be for God to lie; and for God to lie would wreck the moral government of the universe, and result—if such a thing were possible—in His dethronement.
B. H. Roberts, The Truth, The Way, The Life, p.504
We conclude, then, that for man's individual sins, as for Adam's transgression, though differing in some respects already noted, involve the same necessity of atonement. There is the same inexorableness of law; the same helplessness on the part of man to make satisfaction for his sin; hence, man's dependence upon a vicarious atonement, if he is to find redemption at all. There is the same need for ability on the part of the one making the atonement to make full satisfaction to justice by paying the uttermost farthing of man's obligations to the law; the idea of satisfaction necessarily involves that of penal suffering. This couples together the two ideas, satisfaction through expiation; or satisfaction to justice through expiation. Whosoever redeems man from his individual sins must pay the penalty due to sin by suffering in man's stead. No merely human sacrifice will be adequate. As put by Alma, the Nephite prophet: "If a man murder, behold, will our law, which is just, take the life of his brother? I say unto you, Nay. But the law requireth the life of the murderer. Therefore, there can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins of the world (cf. Alma 34:11-12)."
James E. Talmage, The Vitality of Mormonism, Ch.14, p.60
We have learned but little of the eternal laws operative in the heavens; but that God's purposes are accomplished through and by law is beyond question. There can be no irregularity, inconsistency, arbitrariness or caprice in His doings, for such would mean injustice. Therefore, the Atonement must have been effected in accordance with law. The self-sacrificing life, the indescribable agony, and the voluntary death of One who had life in Himself with power to halt His torturers at any stage, and whom none could slay until He permitted, must have constituted compliance with the eternal law of justice, propitiation and expiation by which victory over sin and death could be and has been achieved. Through the mortal life and sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ the demands of justice have been fully met, and the way is opened for the lawful ministration of mercy so far as the effects of the Fall are concerned.
James E. Talmage, The Vitality of Mormonism, Ch.88, p.308-p.309
Israelitish sacrifices may be conveniently classified as bloody and bloodless, the former comprising all offerings involving the ceremonial slaughter of animals, and the latter consisting in the offering of vegetables or their manufactured products. The bloody sacrifices were early associated with the idea of expiation, or propitiation for sin, the offerer, whether an individual or the community as a whole, acknowledging guilt and craving propitiation through the death of the animal made to serve as proxy for the human offender. [Note how this and the previous quote uses both terms]
The Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, Vol.1, No.10, p.156
Scarce can the reflecting mind be brought to contemplate these scenes, without asking, for whom are they held in reserve, and by whom are they to be enjoyed? Have we an interest there? Do our fathers, who have waded through affliction and adversity, who have been cast out from the society of this world, whose tears have, times without number, watered their furrowed face, while mourning over the corruption of their fellowmen, an inheritance in those mansions? If so, can they without us be made perfect? Will their joy be full till we rest with them? And is their efficacy and virtue sufficient, in the blood of a Savior, who groaned upon Calvary's summit, to expiate our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness? I trust, that as individuals acquainted with the gospel, through repentance, baptism and keeping the commandments of that same Lord, we shall eventually, be brought to partake in the fulness of that which we now only participate the full enjoyment of the presence of our Lord. Happy indeed, will be that hour to all the saints, and above all to be desired, (for it never ends) when men will again mingle praise with those who do always behold the face of our Father who is in heaven.
(2) The Nature of Christ's Intercessory Work
Christ's on-going work before the Father as High Priest and Heavenly Intercessor also shows us that it is for the appeasing of God's (righteous) anger:
New Testament:
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (Rom 8:34)
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Heb 2:17)
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Heb 7:24-25)
Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For ever high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat to offer. (Heb 8:1-3)
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of the things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, not to appear in the presence of God for us. (Heb 9:22-24)
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lam as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Rev 5:5-6)
Book of Mormon
Wherefore, he is the first fruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him, shall be saved. And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him according to the truth and holiness which is in him. Wherefore, the ends of the law which the Holy One hath given, unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment that is affixed in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the atonement. (2 Nephi 2:9-10)
And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men--having ascended into heaven the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice. (Mosiah 15:8-9)
Doctrine and Covenants
Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him-saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life. (D&C 45:3-5)
With respect to Heb 2:17 (cf. D&C 43:3-5 quoted above), there are a number of interesting things when one examines this verse. Firstly, there are two “purpose clauses” in this verse; the first (“that he might be a merciful high priest”) is the Greek ινα clause; the second is the use of the Greek preposition εις which means “into” or “with a goal towards” and this is coupled with the present infinitive form of the verb ιλασκομαι “to make atonement” (ιλασκεσθαι), and this present “making of atonement” is “for the sins of the people” (τας αμαρτιας του λαου). The author of Hebrews views Christ’s on-going office of heavenly intercessor as one that allows for the continuing appeasement of the Father to win the forgiveness of sins committed by believers, sins that were not forgiven at one’s conversion. In other words, this verse presents Jesus as the heavenly high priest who, even at present, makes atonement for sins; this is alien to many theologies that think of one's forgiveness as being once-for-all. The author of Hebrews says Jesus makes atonement for sins on an ongoing basis. If ones’ then-future sins were already atoned for when one appropriated Jesus (esp. if one holds to imputed righteousness), and their justification can never be lost, this verse and its theology is nonsensical. However, Christ's ongoing work as High Priest in the heavenly tabernacle is ongoing in reference to our own sins. Thus, the present infinitive form in Heb 2:17 conclusively demonstrate the continuing need for the application of Christ's work for our own salvation. Reformed Protestants are in the unenviable position of having to advocate a soteriology that is at odds with the witness of biblical exegesis.
This fits perfectly well with what we find in the Expositor's Greek New Testament (5 vols.), ed. Nicoll Robertson, where Protestant scholar Marcus Dods wrote the following on Heb 2:17 (here, vol. 4 pp. 269-70):
εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι, “for the purpose of making propitiation,” εἰς indicating the special purpose to be served by Christ’s becoming Priest. ἱλάσκομαι (ἱλάσκω is not met with), from ἵλαος, Attic ἵλεως “propitious,” “merciful,” means “I render propitious to myself”. In the classics it is followed by the accusative of the person propitiated, sometimes of the anger felt. In the LXX it occurs twelve times, thrice as the translation of כִּפֵּר. The only instance in which it is followed by an accusative of the sin, as here, is Psalms 64 (65):3, τὰς ἀσεβείας ἡμῶν σὺ ἱλάσῃ. In the N.T., besides the present passage, it only occurs in Luke 18:13, in the passive form ἱλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ, cf. 2 Kings 5:18. The compound formἐξιλάσκομαι, although it does not occur in N.T., is more frequently used in the LXX than the simple verb, and from its construction something may be learnt. As in profane Greek, it is followed by an accusative of the person propitiated, as in Genesis 32:20, where Jacob says of Esau ἐξιλάσομαι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς δώροις κ.τ.λ.; Zechariah 7:2, ἐξιλάσασθαι τὸν Κύριον, and Zechariah 8:22, τὸ πρόσωπον Κυρίου, also Matthew 1:9. It is however also followed by an accusative of the thing on account of which propitiation is needed or which requires by some rite or process to be rendered acceptable to God, as in Sir 3:3; Sir 3:30; Sir 5:6; Sir 20:28, etc., where it is followed by ἀδικίαν, and ἁμαρτίας; and in Leviticus 16:16; Leviticus 16:20; Leviticus 16:33, where it is followed by τὸ ἅγιον, τὸ θυσιαστήριον, and in Ezekiel 45:20 by τὸν οἶκον. At least thirty-two times in Leviticus alone it is followed by περί, defining the persons for whom propitiation is made, περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐξιλάσεται ὁ ἱερεύς or περὶ πάσης συναγωγῆς, or περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν. In this usage there is apparent a transition from the idea of propitiating God (which still survives in the passive ἱλάσθητι) to the idea of exerting some influence on that which was offensive to God and which must be removed or cleansed in order to complete entrance into His favour. In the present passage it is τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ λαοῦ which stand in the way of the full expression of God’s favour, and upon those therefore the propitiatory influence of Christ is to be exerted. In what manner precisely this is to be accomplished is not yet said. “The present infinitive ἱλάσκεσθαι must be noticed. The one (eternal) act of Christ (c. x. 12–14) is here regarded in its continuous present application to men (cf. c. Hebrews 2:1-2).”
The theme of the appeasement of the anger of God is explicated throughout the LDS canon, including the Book of Mormon. After Nephi “saw that the people had repented and did humble themselves in sackcloth” (Helaman 11:9), we read:
O Lord, behold this people repenteth; and they have swept away the band of Gadianton from amongst them insomuch that they have become extinct, and they have concealed their secret plans in the earth. Now, O Lord, because of this their humility wilt thou turn away thine anger, and let thine anger be appeased in the destruction of those wicked men whom thou hast already destroyed. O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, yea, thy fierce anger, and cause that this famine may cease in this land. O Lord, wilt thou hearken unto me, and cause that it may be done according to my words, and send forth rain upon the face of the earth, that she may bring forth her fruit, and her grain in the season of grain. O Lord, thou didst hearken unto my words when I said, Let there be a famine, that the pestilence of the sword might cease; and I know that thou wilt, even at this time, hearken unto my words, for thou saidst that: If this people repent I will spare them. Yea, O Lord, and thou seest that they have repented, because of the famine and the pestilence and destruction which has come unto them. And now, O Lord, wilt thou turn away thine anger, and try again if they will serve thee? And if so, O Lord, thou canst bless them according to thy words which thou hast said. (Helaman 11:10-16)
Such should be compared with other texts that speak of (1) the reality of God's wrath against sin; (2) its necessary appeasement/propitiation and (3) that such is not whimsical or capricious, unlike other ancient understandings thereof, such as:
But if the children shall repent, or the children's children, and turn to the Lord their God, with all their hearts and with all their might, mind, and strength, and restore four-fold for all their trespasses wherewith they have trespassed, or wherewith their fathers have trespassed, or their father's fathers, then thine indignation shall be turned away. And vengeance shall no more come upon them, saith the Lord thy God, and their trespasses shall never be brought any more as a testimony before the Lord against them. D&C 98:47-48)
Then Jared said unto his brother: Cry again unto the Lord, and it may be that he will turn away his anger from them who are our friends, that he confound not their language. (Ether 1:36)
And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them. And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity. For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off. And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God-- that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done . . . And the brother of Jared repented of the evil which he had done, and did call upon the name of the Lord for his brethren who were with him. And the Lord said unto him: I will forgive thee and thy brethren of their sins; but thou shalt not sin any more, for ye shall remember that my Spirit will not always strive with man; wherefore, if ye will sin until ye are fully ripe ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And these are my thoughts upon the land which I shall give you for your inheritance; for it shall be a land choice above all other lands. (Ether 2:8-11, 15)
This mirrors the propitiatory appeasement of God by Moses in Exo 32-33. Let us look at it in point by point format:
1. God determines to destroy all of Israel for worshipping the golden calf.
2. Moses pleads with God to relent, reiterating the promise to Abraham and the potential mockery from Egypt.
3. God rescinds His threat to destroy all of Israel, yet punishes the leading perpetrators.
4. Moses spends 40 days prostrate and fasting to appease God for Israel’s sin.
5. Although temporarily appeased, God refuses to go with the Israelites through the desert, because they are so “stiff-necked” he “might destroy them on the way.”
6. Moses pleads again with God to change His mind.
7. God changes His mind and decides to go with them.
8. God then remarks on the intimate relationship He has with Moses as the basis of His decision to change His mind.
9. God confirms this intimate relationship by showing Moses part of His actual appearance.
What Moses (and Helaman) and other intercessors did in an imperfect manner, Christ, through His atoning sacrifice and intercessory work before the Father, does in a perfect manner. Indeed, we should not think that Christ’s work was, reverently speaking, “done and dusted” 2,000 years ago—instead, it continues and will continue, as we read in the Doctrine and Covenants, “until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work” (D&C 76:106). Such is also beautifully summed up in the second stanza of the hymn,
O Thou, Before the World Began (no. 189 in the current [1985] LDS hymnal), which reads as follows:
Thy off’ring still continues new before the righteous Father’s view.
Thy self the Lamb for ever slain; thy priesthood doth unchanged remain.
Thy years, O God, can never fail, nor thy blest work within the veil.
Other texts in uniquely Latter-day Saint Scripture also explicates the theme one divine wrath, propitiation, and divine retribution, such as:
Yea, behold, the anger of the Lord is already kindled against you; behold, he hath cursed the land because of your iniquity. And behold, the time cometh that he curseth your riches, that they become slippery, that ye cannot hold them; and in the days of your poverty ye cannot retain them. And in the days of your poverty ye shall cry unto the Lord; and in vain shall ye cry, for your desolation is already come upon you, and your destruction is made sure; and then shall ye weep and howl in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts. And then shall ye lament, and say: O that I had repented, and had not killed the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out. Yea, in that day ye shall say: O that we had remembered the Lord our God in the day that he gave us our riches, and then they would not have become slippery that we should lose them; for behold, our riches are gone from us. Behold, we lay a tool here and on the morrow it is gone; and behold, our swords are taken from us in the day we have sought them for battle. Yea, we have hid up our treasures and they have slipped away from us, because of the curse of the land. O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them. Behold, we are surrounded by demons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days. But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head. O ye people of the land, that ye would hear my words! And I pray that the anger of the Lord be turned away from you, and that ye would repent and be saved. (Helaman 13:30-39)
And it came to pass that there was a voice heard among all the inhabitants of the earth, upon all the face of this land, crying: Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen! Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned. And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the inhabitants thereof to be buried up in the depths of the earth; Yea, and the city of Onihah and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Jerusalem and the inhabitants thereof; and waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up any more unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gadiandi, and the city of Gadiomnah, and the city of Jacob, and the city of Gimgimno, all these have I caused to be sunk, and made hills and valleys in the places thereof; and the inhabitants thereof have I buried up in the depths of the earth, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up any more unto me against them. And behold, that great city Jacobugath, which was inhabited by the people of king Jacob, have I caused to be burned with fire because of their sins and their wickedness, which was above all the wickedness of the whole earth, because of their secret murders and combinations; for it was they that did destroy the peace of my people and the government of the land; therefore I did cause them to be burned, to destroy them from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up unto me any more against them. And behold, the city of Laman, and the city of Josh, and the city of Gad, and the city of Kishkumen, have I caused to be burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof, because of their wickedness in casting out the prophets, and stoning those whom I did send to declare unto them concerning their wickedness and their abominations. And because they did cast them all out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that their wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them. And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations. O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? (3 Nephi 9:1-13)
Verily, verily, I say unto you, my servants, that inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord, forgive you. Nevertheless, there are those among you who have sinned exceedingly; yea, even all of you have sinned; but verily I say unto you, beware from henceforth, and refrain from sin, lest sore judgments fall upon your heads. For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation. (D&C 82:1-3)
(3) Christ's atonement is for "aftershocks" of sin?
Christ's sacrifice is not simply for the "aftershocks" of sin (p. 55)
merely. Christ is constantly referred to being a "sin sacrifice" and other like-terms. For instance, Isa 53:10 (quoted by Abinadi in Mosiah 14:10 and interpreted to be a prophecy of Christ), reads:
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasures of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
The term "offering for sin" in Hebrew is אָשָׁם and in the LXX is περι αμαρτιας, a technical term for a "sin offering" or "sin sacrifice" (cf. its usages in Num 29:11, 16, 19, 22, 25, 38, 31, 34, 38 for example).
As one final example (as this section is getting very lengthy, but it is a central theological issue, thus its importance):
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Pet 2:24)
The verb translated as "bare" is αναφερω, which is a sacrificial term. This verb is used ten times in the Greek New Testament in contexts of "lifting up" or "offering sacrifices" (e.g., Matt 17:1; Mark 9:2; Luke 24:51; Heb 7:27; 9:28; 13:15; 1 Pet 2:5). Note how the verb is defined in BGAD (highlight added for emphasis):
3. to offer as a sacrifice, offer up, specif. a cultic t.t. (SIG 56, 68; Lev 17:5; 1 Esdr 5:49; Is 57:6; 2 Macc 1:18; 2:9 al.; ParJer 9:1f; Did., Gen. 219, 15) ἀ. θυσίας ὑπέρ τινος offer sacrifices for someth. Hb 7:27. ἀ. τινὰ ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον (Gen 8:20; Lev 14:20; Bar 1:10; 1 Macc 4:53; Just., D. 118, 2 θυσίας) offer up someone on the altar Js 2:21. Of Jesus’ sacrifice: ἑαυτὸν ἀνενέγκας when he offered up himself Hb 7:27. τὰς ἀμαρτίας ἡμῶν αὐτὸς ἀνήνεγκεν ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον he himself brought our sins in his body to the cross 1 Pt 2:24 (cp. Dssm., B 83ff [BS 88f]). Pol 8:1 (Is 53:12).—Fig. (schol. on Apollon. Rhod. 2, 214b χάριν=render thanks to the divinity) ἀ. θυσίαν αἰνέσεως offer up a sacr. of praise Hb 13:15 (cp. 2 Ch 29:31). ἀ. πνευματικὰς θυσίας 1 Pt 2:5. ἀ. προσευχάς offer prayers 2 Cl 2:2. ἀ. δέησιν περί τινος offer up a petition for someth. B 12:7.
Additionally, note the following comment from two biblical scholars writing on the nature of the atonement with respect to related sacrificial terminology used in the gospels, including the Isa 53:10 text quoted above:
If the Johannine formula, “who takes away sin,” is understood as a reference to the “Servant of God,” it must be recalled that neither in vv. 4 nor 21 of Is 53 is the verb nāsā accompanied by the phrase, “upon himself,” in spite of the Greek translation in verse 4, tas hamartias hēmōn ferei, “he carries our sins.” When Matthew applies the statement of Is 53:4 to Christ, he wishes to say that he took away our illnesses, not that he took them upon himself. The same meaning is found in the Exultet of the Paschal liturgy: “he is the true Lamb who took away (absulit) the sins of the world,” and in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “Thus Christ offered once for the taking-away of the sins of many, a second time—without sin—will be seen to those awaiting for salvation” [Heb 9:28]. (Stanislas Lyonnet and Léopold Sabourin, Sin, Redemption, and Sacrifice: A Biblical and Patristic Study [Analetcta Biblica Investigationes Scientificae In Res Biblicas 48; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1970], 40)
While (correctly) rejecting one error, the more forensic models of atonement (especially Penal Substitution), the authors empty the atonement of its other purposes than they discuss in their book (some of which they reject).
For more, see
An Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed Theology wherein the anger of God and other issues, such as appeasement in the Old Testament and New Testament, are discussed and many of the relevant texts are exegeted.