Born in 1860

THE RECONCILIATION[1]

[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from "Doctrine and Deed,"
Copyright, 1901, by Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.]

_Christ died for our sins_.--1 Cor. xv., 3.


I want to think with you this morning about the doctrine of the
Atonement. Having used that word atonement once, I now wish to drop
it. It is not a New Testament word, and is apt to lead one into
confusion. You will not find it in your New Testament at all,
providing you use the Revised Version. It is found in the King James
Version only once, and that is in the fifth chapter of Paul's letter
to the Romans; but a few years ago, when the revisers went to work,
they rubbed out the word and would allow it no place whatever in
the entire New Testament. They substituted for it a better
word--reconciliation--and that is the word that will probably be used
in the future theology of the Church. It is my purpose, then, this
morning, to think with you about the doctrine of the reconciliation,
or, to put it in a way that will be intelligible to all the boys and
girls, I want to think with you about the "making up" between God and
man.

Christianity is distinctly a religion of redemption. Its fundamental
purpose is to recover men from the guilt and power of sin. All of
its history and its teachings must be studied in the light of that