Meaning
translated "atonement" in the AV of Rom 5:11, signifies, not "atonement," but "reconciliation," as in the RV. See also Rom 11:15, 2Co 1:5-19. So with the corresponding verb katallasso, see under RECONCILE. "Atonement" (the explanation of this English word as being "at-one-ment" is entirely fanciful) is frequently found in the OT. See, for instance, Leviticus, chapters 16 and 17. The corresponding NT words are hilasmos, "propitiation," 1Jo 2:2, 1Jo 4:10, and hilasterion, Rom 3:25, Heb 9:5, "mercy-seat," the covering of the ark of the covenant. These describe the means (in and through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His death on the cross by the shedding of His blood in His vicarious sacrifice for sin) by which God shows mercy to sinners. See PROPITIATION.
