About the book
The book follows the order of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. It begins with why God’s dwelling needed cleansing and why blood cleanses, moves to the risen Christ as high priest in heaven, then to the live goat that carried Israel’s sins away, and from there to how Christ’s death took away the devil’s power of death. The last chapters turn to how a person receives atonement and set the book’s account beside penal substitution.
Contents
Starting points
What atonement means, and how Christians have explained it.
- Chapter 1What Do We Mean by Atonement?
- Chapter 2How Christians Have Explained Atonement
Blood, cleansing and the Day of Atonement
Why God’s dwelling needed cleansing, why the life is in the blood, and the lid of the Ark.
- Chapter 3Why God’s Dwelling Needed Cleansing
- Chapter 4The Life Is in the Blood
- Chapter 5Blood That Cleanses
- Chapter 6The Day of Atonement
- Chapter 7The Lid of the Ark
The risen high priest
Why forgiveness depends on the risen Christ, his priesthood in heaven, and reconciliation.
- Chapter 8If Christ Has Not Been Raised
- Chapter 9Our High Priest in Heaven
- Chapter 10Reconciled to God
The scapegoat and the sin-bearer
The goat for Azazel, Christ as the sin-bearer, and his descent to the dead.
- Chapter 11The Goat for Azazel
- Chapter 12The Sin-Bearer
- Chapter 13Christ’s Descent to the Dead
The defeat of death and the devil
How Christ defeated death, the nature of Satan’s power, and how forgiveness disarms the accuser.
- Chapter 14How Did Jesus Defeat Death?
- Chapter 15The Nature of Satan’s Power
- Chapter 16How Forgiveness Disarms the Accuser
- Chapter 17Why Did Satan Seek the Death That Defeated Him?
Receiving atonement
Faith as allegiance, the problems with penal substitution, and the conclusion.
- Chapter 18Faith as Allegiance in Atonement
- Chapter 19The Problems with Penal Substitution
- Chapter 20Conclusion: How Atonement Works
Appendix
- AppendixImputed Righteousness and Union with Christ
Questions answered from the book
40 short pages on this site each take one common question about the atonement and answer it from the book, with the main Bible passages and the chapters where the question is treated more fully.
- The Day of Atonement and the scapegoat (7)
- Blood, sacrifice and forgiveness (7)
- Views of the atonement (6)
- Christ our high priest (5)
- The cross and the defeat of the devil (6)
- Death, Hades and the descent (5)
- Satan, sin and temptation today (4)
Read it chapter by chapter
Chris is posting the book on Vine Abiders on Substack, one chapter every Sunday morning, from November 15, 2026 through April 4, 2027. Subscribers receive each chapter by email.
About the author
Chris White is an author, independent theological researcher, and documentary filmmaker. Through Chris White Ministries, he publishes books, open-access theological papers, films, and teaching resources intended to make serious biblical questions understandable to ordinary readers.
His paper The Scapegoat and Atonement treats the live goat of Leviticus 16, and Imputed Righteousness and Union with Christ covers the subject of the book’s appendix.