@Addy ....believe it or not, most Christians know they are not under the law, although many do not understand atonement of sins to then be able to be saved per Christ....there cannot be any salvation without atonement of sin first. And there cannot be any effective atonement for unrepentant sin. And then there was only one human being that fulfilled the Father's standard...as his scapegoat under the Law. Remember that the Law was still active until Christ was resurrected...so this atonement of shed blood was done to complete the requirement
under the Law.
....from the Forerunner commentary...a little lengthy and meaty....
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Propitiation signifies what Christ became for all mankind—a sacrifice capable of bearing and absorbing God's judgment while turning His justifiable wrath to favor (GRACE) (
Romans 5:8-9). It expresses the idea that Jesus endured His crucifixion to pay the price for
sin that a holy God
demands from the sinner (
Genesis 2:17;
Romans 1:32).
Propitiation is necessary because humanity's sinful nature stands in defiance of God's sacred law and
holiness (
Romans 8:7), separating people from God (
Isaiah 59:2) and earning them the death penalty (
Romans 6:23). God does not cause the separation; the breach is squarely the fault of humanity. Therefore, someone—sinless and of perfect
(human) nature and held by God in the highest regard (
Colossians 1:19;
Matthew 3:17)—is
required to intercede for mankind, to atone for human sin and guilt and alter humanity's standing before God—and in turn—to alter God's disposition toward mankind.
Simply, this is what Christ did for us, open the door for our salvation through his seritude, self-sacrifice, sinlessness and his actions, and his Father.
and further...........
Our Savior's perfect, sacrificial life and death were not merely displays of His righteous prowess.
God the Father required Christ's unblemished life and death so that the
law's legal requirement—that there is a price for every person's sins—could be satisfied once for all by His shed blood (
II Corinthians 5:15;
Hebrews 9:28).
Furthermore, only a sinless
Jesus Christ, as the antitype of the unblemished
sin offering (
I Peter 1:19;
Leviticus 9:3;
John 1:29), could appeal to God the Father as our Advocate without compromising His righteousness or law (
Job 8:3;
Deuteronomy 32:4), thereby
atoning for the repentant person's sins and reconciling him or her to God (
Psalm 51:1-4;
Romans 3:25-26;
I John 2:1-2).
Notice, we have to repent for sin to make Christ's sacrifice meaningful and effective...so Christ DID NOT ATONE and 'PAY' for unrepentance of one's sins, of unbelievers.
Happy trails...Henri APAK
