Atonement

Atonement—defined as the reconciliation between sinful humans and God through the vicarious death of His Son on the cross—lies at the heart of the Christian faith. The English verb means what it says, 'at-one,' i.e., doing all that brings about reconciliation.

The noun 'atonement' occurs 105x in the Bible (4x in the NT), while the verb 'atone/d' occur 9x, and the participle 'atoning,' 3x.

The English verb 'atone' translates

1. the Hebrew verb kapar (cf., Yom Kippur, 'the Day of Atonement'). It has often been asserted that the root meaning is 'to cover'; used in a theological context, this has been understood as God "covering over of sin." This understanding of the word, however, is based on assuming that it shares the same meaning as the equivalent Arabic root. The evidence for this connection is weak. Most scholars believe that a better connection is with the noun koper, 'ransom,' the payment of which leads to 'redemption.' Exo 30:12 decrees that every Israelite over the age of twenty was required to pay a koper of half a shekel to Yahweh "for his life at the time he is counted [i.e., admitted to adulthood]." In Psm 49:7, this word is also used in parallel to pada, 'redeem' ("no man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him . . ."). The Mosaic laws also dictates that a man guilty of murder cannot redeem himself; no koper can be paid so in exchange for his life. From this, a strong case can be made that the Hebrew verb denotes the payment of x so that y may be redeemed, y being substituted by x. This sense is clear in the majority of its usage in the OT in which the life and blood of a sacrificial animal is offered as a substitution for life and blood of the sinner (the worshipper).

Resources:

Jeremy Begbie, "Rediscovering and Re-Imagining the Atonement," Anvil 11.3 (1994): 193-202.
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Douglas Campbell, "The Atonement in Paul," Anvil 11.3 (1994): 237-250.
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George L. Carey, "The Lamb of God and Atonement Theories," Tyndale Bulletin 32 (1981): 97-122.
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R.A. Finlayson, "Why an Atonement?" Terminal Letter of the Theological Students' Fellowship 26 (Spring 1960): 10-12.
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Wayne S. Hansen, "Two Aspects in the Design of Christ's Atonement," Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry 2.2 (Fall 2004): 85-98.
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Trevor Hart, "Atonement and Worship," Anvil 11.3 (1994): 203-214.
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Leon Morris, "The Vocabulary of the Atonement - Redemption," Themelios 1.1 (Oct. 1962): 24-30.
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Leon Morris, "The Atonement and Substitution," Terminal Letter of the Theological Students' Fellowship 37 (Autumn 1963): 10-12.
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Leon Morris, "The Atonement in John's Gospel," Criswell Theological Review 3.1 (1988): 49-64.
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S. S. Smalley, "The Atonement in the Epistle to the Hebrews," Tyndale Bulletin 7-8 (1961): 28-35.
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Elaine Storkey, "Atonement and Feminism," Anvil 11.3 (1994): 227-235.
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