Christ’s atonement is too deep a subject for us to fully comprehend, but there is much that we can understand. The benefits of the atonement are gloriously real, and had there been no atonement, the consequences would have been tragically real. Nevertheless, the atonement is still an abstract concept. One way to understand abstract concepts is to relate them by analogy to things we are familiar with. Analogies are very useful, but we must always be careful to not take an analogy too far. In the following cases, I will describe the atonement by various paradigms, models, or analogies, each of which contributes unique concepts to our understanding of the atonement, although each has its own limitations. I will use the term “model” to describe the way that each of these analogies helps us understand the atonement. Part I of this article will include the first five models; Part II will include models six through eleven.
Model 1. The Pit Model
In this model, by our own sins, we are cast into a pit. No amount of sorrow, changing our ways, or restitution can change the fact that we have sinned. Because we are not able to reverse time and undo our sins, we cannot climb out of the pit. Furthermore, in addition to our own sins, we have inherited both spiritual and physical death from Adam, which we are powerless to nullify. Spiritual death means a separation from God; and although physical death means a separation of the spirit and body, it also brings a separation from God (see 2 Nephi 9:8). The pit is infinitely deep, because in all of eternity, we could not atone for our own sins, nor for the transgression of Adam.
The only escape from the pit is to be pulled out by someone who is himself not trapped in it. Jesus, by His own sufferings and death, voluntarily entered the pit. But having inherited power over both physical and spiritual death from His Father, and having no sins of His own, Jesus is the only person who was able to escape the pit; He can pull us out of it. His infinite power is equal to the infinite depth of the pit.
The Pit Model reminds us of the vast difference between our state and that of Jesus. He has descended into the pit and has in fact gone “below all things” on our behalf (Ephesians 4:9-10; D&C 88:6; 122:8) prior to rising above all things. This model explains why Jesus is the only one who can save us from the effects of our sins and Adam’s fall but does not account for the atonement’s role in sanctification and exaltation.[i]
Model 2. The Debtor/Creditor/Mediator Model
In this model, given by President Boyd K. Packer,[ii] our relationship to Christ is described by analogy to that of a debtor to a mediator, who shields the debtor from the demands of the creditor. The debtor has signed an agreement with his creditor to pay his debt in full by a certain date. However, since that date is seemingly far off, the debtor procrastinates and fails to work hard enough to earn the money required to pay the debt. Finally, the due date comes, and the debtor is unable to pay the debt. The creditor is about to exercise his right under the contract to place the debtor in prison and auction off his personal possessions. The debtor, however, pleads for mercy. Either mercy or justice can prevail, but not both. Then a mediator steps in and pays the debt, on condition that the debtor now owes the bill to the mediator; however, it can be paid in installments over time. Since the creditor was paid, justice was served; and since the debtor avoided prison and the forfeiture of his goods, mercy was also served.
In the spiritual application, we are sinners, each sin adding to our debt. We are unable to pay off our debt, because we are unable to change the past and eliminate the fact of our sin. Mercy and justice are both eternal laws, and God abides in the fullness of both. By providing a mediator who has paid our debt, God has not denied the claims of either one. But, like the debtor in the story, we must strive to keep the commandments of our mediator. If we do not, we are not truly “penitent,” and the Book of Mormon informs us that under these conditions, justice would again not be satisfied. Thus, “none but the truly penitent are saved” (Alma 42:24—the whole chapter is the best explanation of this concept in the scriptures or anywhere else).
In an additional example, President James E. Faust related a story earlier told by President Gordon B. Hinckley about a rural one room school full of rough boys. A new teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and penalties. They did so, and penalized rule-breaking with a beating. Soon, a boy’s lunch was stolen and the thief turned out to be little crippled ten-year old Jim, who was hungry. The teacher hesitated to whip little Jim; but Big Tom, the victim of the theft, volunteered to take the punishment, and the rod broke across his back. Little Jim hugged Big Tom and said, “I will love you forever.”[iii]
This story, like the first, demonstrates that justice and mercy were both served through a mediator.
The Debtor/Creditor/Mediator Model, therefore, emphasizes the importance to God of both justice and mercy, and shows how Christ’s atonement was the only way in which both could be satisfied. In the words of Eliza R. Snow, the atonement allowed “Justice, Love, and Mercy [to] Meet, in Harmony Divine.” [iv] This model also emphasizes that even though Christ has technically paid our debt, we now owe Him—and our payment is that we must strive to keep His commandments.
Model 3. The Partner Models
Model 3 is actually three related models, each showing how we become partners with Christ in our salvation, but also showing that He contributes the far greater part.
Model 3a is the Bride & Groom Model. When a couple marries, all of their debts merge, and all of their assets merge. In this model, we are the bride and Jesus is the groom. While each of us have assets—good qualities and good deeds—we also have liabilities—our sins. And no matter what good things we do, we cannot undo our sins. Therefore, our liabilities will always outweigh our assets. Jesus, on the other hand, has absolutely no liabilities. Just as importantly, He does have great assets. When we form a covenant relationship with Him, His assets are enough to cover our liabilities, and we become “perfect in Christ.” We must, however, keep the terms of the covenant including denying ourselves of ungodliness. In this vein Moroni counsels us to
…come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God (Moroni 10:32; italics mine).[v]
When the scriptures speak of being perfect in Christ, they do not mean that we become immediately perfect (although perfection is our ultimate goal), but that God sees us as perfect because we are linked to Jesus, so after we have endured to the end of our mortal lives, He can promise us salvation, even if we require substantial time beyond mortality to become literally perfect.
Model 3b is the Yoke Model. We are yoked to Jesus just as two oxen are yoked together, making us a team with Him, just as in the Bride & Groom Model. Jesus has asked us to “take my yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29).
Model 3c is Stephen Robinson’s “Parable of the Bicycle,” which I will call the “Bicycle Model.”[vi] It is based on events that happened in his family: Briefly, his young daughter wanted a new bicycle, and he, not wanting to worry about it at the moment, put her off by telling her to start earning money. While he forgot about her request, she earned as much as she could over a period of several weeks by doing household chores. Finally, she asked him again for a trip to the bicycle store. They went, only to have her cry when she discovered that bicycles cost far more than the sixty-one cents that she had saved. He therefore asked her to pay all she had, and he would contribute the balance and she could have her new bicycle. This story reminds us that the Savior asks for our best efforts, even though we both know that they will come up far short. But when we give our best efforts, He contributes the rest—He saves us. Nephi taught that “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).
The Partner Models—the Bride & Groom, Yoke, and Bicycle models—teach us that while alone we are nothing, when we are partners with Christ, we can do everything. They remind us of the necessity to enter a covenant relationship with Him. One thing these models lack, however, is an explanation that Christ cannot simply merge His assets with our liabilities just because He loves us; rather, He is able to form this relationship with us only through His atonement, which was, of course, motivated by his love, and which we must accept by covenant and subsequent obedience. Without an atonement, no merging is possible.
Model 4. The Washed Model
Several scriptures, especially in the Revelation of St. John and the Book of Mormon, refer to being washed clean in Jesus’ blood.[vii] Here is an example:
There can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins (Alma 5:21).
This is a striking image, because normally we think of blood creating stains, not removing them! This is the most graphic in this collection of atonement models. Why was it necessary that Jesus shed His blood—why couldn’t He have died another way? Throughout the scriptures, particularly in the Old Testament discussions of aspects of the Law of Moses, blood is used as a symbol of life. Even as the Savior’s life-giving blood leaves His body, we can “wash” ourselves with it, which brings us life.
Blood has several symbolisms: It gives life to our cells, just as our spirits give life to our bodies, so it may symbolize spirit material. Furthermore, liquid seems less “tangible” than solid material, so is a good symbol of spirit. Blood also represents mortality, and with it, Adam’s fall—and therefore, it also represents sin. Blood also represents inheritance; we speak of “blood relatives” and our ancestors’ “blood running through our veins.” (We now know that DNA is what we inherit, that makes us related to our parents.) Christ sweat out blood on our behalf, as if taking upon us our sins and sweating them out. Because of this, we can become His offspring and thus be “blood related” to Him.[viii]
The Washed Model shows us that the shedding of blood was an important part of the atonement, and that forgiveness of our sins (being “washed clean”) depends upon it.
Model 5. The Image Models
Christ merited salvation through His works because He was perfect. Through His atonement, He can share this perfection with us, and we can partake of it, so that we are seen by God as if we were perfect too. This causes us to “look like” Christ, or in other words, to carry His image. There are several scriptural examples about us looking like Christ. Here are three:
Countenance. Alma asked the members of the church, “Have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances” (Alma 5:14)?
Adam’s and Eve’s garments. After Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit and were discovered trying to cover their nakedness, but before they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, God made coats of skin for them (see Genesis 3:21 and Moses 4:27). Although the scriptural accounts gloss over this briefly, it was a highly symbolic event, for coats of skins require the death of the animal that formerly wore those skins. It seems likely to me that this was the first animal sacrifice, and thus the first symbolic representation of the atonement. I believe that the dead animal(s) would therefore represent Christ’s need to die to cover our sins. Thus, when dressed in the animal skins, Adam and Eve symbolically “looked like” the animal and thus “looked like” Christ. And His atonement covered their spiritual nakedness. They had “put on” Christ (see Romans 13:14 and Galatians 3:27).
Sacrament. Furthermore, we symbolically incorporate Christ into us, and therefore become more like Him, when we figuratively eat His body and drink His blood—in other words, when we partake of the sacrament. Jesus called Himself the “bread of life” and said, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you” (John 6:53; see verses 35-53). The sacrament is full of additional symbolism, as demonstrated in this endnote.[ix]
The Image Models demonstrate that the power of the atonement not only allows our sins to be forgiven, but it allows us to become holy, pure, and sanctified, and to partake of divine nature and become new persons—to look like Christ (see 2 Peter 1:4 and 1 John 3:2).
Notes:
[i] The role of Christ’s atonement in exaltation, as well as how it relates to those who receive salvation in the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial kingdoms is discussed in the book from which this article is excerpted.
[ii] See, for example, Boyd K. Packer, “The Mediator,” Ensign, May 1977.
[iii] This story apparently originated with Rev. A. C. Dixon (1854-1925), but was retold by Gordon B. Hinckley (“The Wondrous and True Story of Christmas,” Ensign, December 2000) and by James E. Faust (“The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope.” Ensign, November 2001).
[iv] Eliza R. Snow, “How Great the Wisdom and the Love,” in Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City, Utah: Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1985. #195.
[v] See also the next verse (Moroni 10:33). Also, Colossians 1:28 and 1 Peter 5:10.
[vi] Stephen E. Robinson, Believing Christ (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1992), pp. 30-32.
[vii] See also Revelation 1:5; 7:14; Alma 13:11; 3 Nephi 27:19; Ether 13:11; Moses 6:59.
[viii] These symbolisms are discussed in Richard D. Gardner, Who is the Holy Ghost (Eborn Books, Salt Lake City, 2024), pp. 158-160. On those pages, I discussed that Joseph Smith said that “The effect of the Holy Ghost upon a Gentile, is to purge out the old blood, and make him actually of the seed of Abraham. That man that has none of the blood of Abraham (naturally) must have a new creation by the Holy Ghost.” Therefore, I opined on those pages that the Holy Ghost transfers Abraham’s spiritual DNA (whatever that is—but it would be an actual spiritual substance, inasmuch as Joseph Smith taught in D&C 131:7-8 that spirit is a type of matter) to us, just as I opine throughout the book that the Holy Ghost through His gift transfers Christ’s spiritual DNA to us, thus making us children of Christ, and enabling our sanctification. “Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 2 July 1839, as Reported by Willard Richards,” pp. 18-19, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 11, 2021,
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-between-circa-26-june-and-circa-2-july-1839-as-reported-by-willard-richards/5, OR, Joseph Smith. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 149-150.
[ix] The sacrament bread symbolizes Christ’s body and water/wine symbolizes Christ’s shed blood; as described in the Washed Model, it may also therefore symbolize His spirit. Thus, we have body and spirit. It is in both body and spirit that Christ suffered (D&C 19:18). As also mentioned in the Washed Model, blood can also be a symbol of genetic inheritance.
In the first sacrament, Christ broke the bread, which could symbolize His soon-to-be broken body (although practically, it would be difficult to share the bread if it were not first broken). Christ told His disciples, “This is my body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19), suggesting His body’s imminent torture. And to the Nephites, Christ said, “And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you” (3 Nephi 18:7). The body He showed them still had nail and spear marks.
However, the sacramental bread prayer (D&C 20:77) doesn’t refer to His bruised, torn, or wounded body; but just to His body. Although I usually think of His wounded body during the sacrament, bread could also symbolize His body’s physical inheritance from His Father—His Divine Sonship. And it could suggest the possibility of our jointly inheriting divine sonship or divine daughtership from God, through Christ, as we take upon ourselves Christ’s name and therefore His blessing and attributes.
We can combine several symbolisms to study the sacrament water/wine. In contrast to the bread prayer, which does not mention wounds, the water/wine sacrament prayer (D&C 20:79) refers to Christ’s shed blood (during His atonement in Gethsemane and on the cross), with its symbolisms of discarding our sins. If, as mentioned earlier, blood represents spirit and if blood can also represent inheritance, drinking the water symbolizes a spiritual inheritance—which happens during our sanctification process. (These ideas are from Richard D. Gardner, Who is the Holy Ghost, pp. 162-163.)
