IT is as deplorable as it is surprising to find that many men who claim, to be evangelical, are in fatal error as to this fundamental doctrine of God's word. The substitutional atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ is sneeringly referred to by many as the ''doctrine of the shambles."

Frederick W. Robertson, in attempting to account for the death of Christ, says: ''He ventured too near the whirling wheel of evil and was cut to pieces," Another eminent theologian tells us that "He fell a victim to the wickedness of self-seeking men who put him to a violent death. In this way he suffered and died for us." It is difficult to account for such opinions. Certainly they were not formed from the Scriptures. Possibly it all comes from the conviction upon the part of some that every man has a right to think for himself. In this way many "theories of the atonement" have been constructed, but these men forget that they have no right to think contrary to the Word of God. Paul once said: 'T verily thought with myself." But little good did his thoughts do him and he afterwards wrote: "Learn in us not to think above what is written."

Definition.

The primary meaning of kah-phar, which is most frequently translated atonement, is "covering." It first occurs in Gen. 6:14. When God commands Noah to pitch the ark within and without with pitch. Here the first pitch is kah-phar, most frequently translated "make atonement/' and the second pitch is the word most frequently translated ''ransom/' The verb kah-phar, in its various forms and tenses, is rendered "make atonement" seventy times; "purge/' eight times; "make reconciliation" six times; "forgive" three times; "be merciful" twice; "cleanse once; "pardon" once.

Many define atonement to mean at-one-ment, but there can be no at-one-ment of the sinner with God until his sins have been covered.

At-one-ment is the result of the atonement. Sin can be effectually covered only by expiating its penalty. Atonement, therefore, means an "expiatory covering" of sin by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, by which the penalty of the law is fully met and its justice and righteousness maintained and the believing sinner brought into a state of peace and at-one-ment with God.

Its Necessity.

1. All have sinned. Not only the Bible but human experience and history agree that without one exception all men of all ages are sinners. "There is not a just man that sinneth not" (i Kings 8:46). "There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not "(Eccl. 7:20). "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment" (Isa. 1:6). "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way" (Isa. 53:6). "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it" (Jer. 17:9). "There is none righteous, no not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom.. 3:10,23). "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us'' (1 Jno. 1:10).

God has given us this fearful arraignment of the human race that the mouth of every self-righteous boaster might be stopped and all the world might become guilty before him (Rom. 3:19).

2. God, in justice, cannot overlook sin. There are but four attitudes possible in any being toward sin — ignorance, indifference, consent, condemnation. God the All-wise cannot be ignorant; God the Just cannot be indifferent; God the Holy One cannot consent; God the Righteous must condemn; must under the moral necessity of His being.

Condemnation can be expressed only in two ways — through precept and through penalty. When the first fails, there remains only the second. God condemned sin by precept to the unfallen world. The freedom of man challenged this precept. The condemnation of sin by penalty became, therefore, a moral necessity in the nature of God. He could not do otherwise. There is nothing of passion, nothing of revenge, nothing of hatred. in God's punishment of sin.

The law of God is a transcript of God. The preception and the penal elements of the law proceed from God, and are "holy, just and good.''

The righteousness and justice of the law demand full and perfect reparation and satisfaction for every infraction. ''Shall not the judge of all the earth do right'' (Gen. 18:25). Thousands are living in sin and relying on the love and mercy of God to escape its penalty. God is merciful and full of love, but he is just. God can with hold his infinite love with equal ease as his infinite justice, and we can see no reason why the former should be more necessary to the perfection of his character than the latter. Those who object to the holiness and justice of God as fundamental to the security and peace of his moral government, should, to be consistent, object to the same principles operating in human society and government. If, however, the judges of our criminal courts should deal with violators of our laws as men hope and expect God to deal with violators of his laws, they would be impeached and removed from office by an angry constituency. The righteous enactment, and execution of law is the goal to which all progressive governments are striving.

God said to Adam with reference to the forbidden fruit, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). God was not trying to frighten Adam. He meant just what he said, and now sin must be condemned unto death before it can be forgiven.

''The soul that sinneth it shall die" (Ezek. 18:20). There is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law" (Rom. 2:11, 12). "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). There is no exception. Law must have its penalty, else it ceases to be law and becomes mere advice to be followed or not at one's option. A law becomes a dead letter v/hen the penalty ceases to be enforced. Were God to fail to enforce the penalty of his law in one instance, it would be to confess that either the law which he had enacted was unrighteous or the penalty thereof which he had affixed was too severe. In the one instance he would impeach his goodness; in the other his wisdom. Sin and its penalty must be equal.

''Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them'' (Gal. 3:10). The violation of one of our criminal statutes will send a man to the penitentiary as surely as the violation of them all. One sin will as surely bring a man under the condemnation of God's law as one thousand.

It is not sufficient to acquit a man of the violation of a law because he has rigidly kept every other law. ''For whosoever shall keep the w^hole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty" (Jas. 2:10).

God must, in order to maintain his righteousness and justice, enforce the penalty of his law and require full reparation and satisfaction for every infraction. Prayers, tears, repentance and good resolutions of and in themselves, will no more acquit or excuse a man before God than they will be before the bar of men.

To be continued.

This is the beginning of a series of greatly needed articles on "The Atonement." Inasmuch as "Modern Scholarship" is seeking by means both fair and foul to undermine the fundamental truth of the vicarious sufferings of our Lord, Brother Davidson's masterly testimony on this subject is most timely.— Editor.