What you and I attempt to accomplish concerning personal sin does not work and never will. We are unable to remove our sin because we are the problem. Sin is not the problem, but listening to and walking into temptation IS the problem. However, Satan is the source of our problem. James writes, “Happy is the one who endures testing because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.” James 1:12-15 HCSB.

The moment Adam and Eve looked beyond God’s for provision their/our world changed dramatically. Satan tempted them just as he does today. They succumbed to his words just as we do today. “When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” Genesis 3:6-7. 

Jesus is our Redeemer, the One who set in motion the prophesied work of God found in the Old Testament. Atonement. Look at what Jesus did in the desert, “Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’Then the devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to his needs.” Matthew 4:10-11. (Read Matthew chapter 4 for the entire narrative.)

 The Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness where he fasted for 40 days and was tempted by Satan, but His final statement to the Devil reveals to everyone Who our Savior, our God is. We are to serve and worship Him only.

“For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. So when he came into the world, he said, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in. Then I said, ‘Here I am:I have come—it is written of me in the scroll of the book—to do your will, O God.’”  When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” (which are offered according to the law), then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first to establish the second. By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:4-10.

The last thought given here leads us to what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place.” The work of Jesus will continue until He returns.  

No, the word ‘atonement’ does not appear in the New Testament. However the New Testament provides the world with information concerning the atoning work of the Savior that is provided by our faith in Christ. When one confesses and repents of personal sin the Holy Spirit then effects the sacrifice of Christ; atonement takes place. Through our union with Christ we find the truth of what the Apostle Paul writes, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.” Romans 5:6-11.

There is no way to adequately discuss the process of the atoning work of Christ here, but please continue to read the Word of God in order to know the work of salvation by grace through faith in Him alone.

“But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, and he entered once for all into the Most Holy Place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.” Hebrews 9:11-15.

Jesus is Lord.