The Price of the Atonement

We've all heard the parable found in the twelfth chapter of the Gospel Principles manual, the one about the man who incurred a large debt and was unable to pay it. His creditor demanded justice, the debtor begged for mercy, and neither could get what they wanted expect at the expense of the other. Then a mediator came, paid the creditor in full, and told the debtor that he would extend mercy to him, making it possible for him to repay the debt without losing everything he had and going to prison.

The parable is so familiar to me (and so long!) that I usually skim through it whenever I read this chapter, but this time, I decided not only to read the parable, but also the talk from which the parable came, which is appropriately titled The Mediator.

The talk made me think about the price of sin and the debt we owe to the Mediator for having paid that price for us. We all know that the penalty of unrepented sin will be terrible. Exactly how terrible is hard to say, but it goes without saying that we don't want to have to pay it. President Boyd K. Packer, the author of the parable and the talk, said:

Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice untempered, unsympathetic, must, positively must fall on us. The full recompense for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be exacted from us to the uttermost farthing.

That sounds pretty bad. If you're not convinced, go look up any scripture that describes hell and the emotional state of those who end up there. It's not a pretty picture. And the only thing keeping us from ending up in the infernal pit is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

My favorite song from Handel's Messiah comes from Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." I like the song for two reasons. First, it starts off light-hearted and catchy and is fun to sing along with. then, second, they drop all pretense of fun to demonstrate the magnitude of the burden the Lord carried in Gethsemane, leaving me with the powerful realization that for every sin and transgression that any person (including myself) has ever committed or will ever commit has a price, and in Gethsemane, Jesus Christ paid all of it.

Think of every evil action that has ever been done. Every murder. Every rape. Every kidnapping. Every unkind word. Think of all the justice that is due to every person who has ever done such things. Then imagine, if you can, how the Savior must have felt when that entire burden fell unto His shoulders, and He carried it. That was the price of the Atonement. And Jesus Christ paid it for us.

Through Him mercy can be fully extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of justice.

But that does not mean, as some Christians believe, that salvation is free, that it's already all bought and paid for, or that it comes at not cost to us. To think that Jesus Christ hands out salvation freely to those who don't ask for it and aren't willing to make any sacrifices to obtain it and aren't even willing to put forth any real effort to thank Christ for it, is an insult to the tremendous price Christ paid for it.

The extension of mercy will not be automatic. It will be through covenant with Him. It will be on His terms, His generous terms, which include, as an absolute essential, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.

Though Christ's terms are described as being "generous" (and, compared to being cast into hell, I'm sure they are), I feel the need to find out exactly what those terms are, which is especially important to those who desire to accept and meet those terms. For that knowledge, I return to where I started, the twelfth chapter of the Gospel Principles manual.

Our sins are our spiritual debts. Without Jesus Christ, who is our Savior and Mediator, we would all pay for our sins by suffering spiritual death. But because of Him, if we will keep His terms, which are to repent and keep His commandments, we may return to live with our Heavenly Father. (Emphasis Added)

In comparison to what we should be paying for our sins and to what Christ has paid for them,  forsaking our sins and striving to overcome them sounds like a very small price to pay. So, yes, I'd say Jesus' terms are very generous, but remember: we still have to meet them. The price we have to pay has been greatly reduced by the Savior, but we still have to pay it. We are getting the best part of the deal, but we still have to hold up our (much lighter) end of it.

So, there was a price to pay. We all owe a tremendous debt, and Jesus Christ paid it. So now we can choose whether we will meet the Lord's terms and pay our debt to Him or whether we'll reject His offer and pay the full penalty of our sins ourselves. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking of taking Jesus up on His offer, not only because it sounds a lot less painful, but also out of respect for the price He had to pay to make our salvation possible.