The Concept of Atonement in the Old Testament, Greco-Roman World and the New Testament

Abstract

The Concept of Atonement has been an old concept in the biblical world. The Old Testament speaks of it using mainly the Hebrew word כפר (kphr), with its attendant various implications. This concept wasn’t alien in the Greco-Roman world which formed part of the New Testament background. The New Testament writers pushed the concept of atonement beyond the level of animal sacrifice in the Old Testament, and the gods allowing themselves to be reconciled to sinful humanity in the Greco-Roman religious context, to the point of Jesus Christ being viewed as the Lamb of God, i.e. both the sacrificial lamb and the priest that offers the sacrifice. In this way, Christ is presented both as the offering and the offeror. The New Testament uses two main Greek words καταλλαγή/ (katallage) and ἱλασμός (hilasmos) in driving home this important concept which stems from God’s love towards the creation and results in forgiveness, restoration of estranged relationship, maintenance of divine justice and expression of divine mercy. The work used content analysis method of research and comparative theory in the study of religion in dealing with the subject of atonement in the Old Testament, Greco-Roman Context and the New Testament. Significantly, the work draws a thread of thought from Old Testament through Greco-Roman thought on atonement to that of the New Testament. It therefore also serves a point of comparative religious study of this thought among these three world views.