Our Part of the Atonement

Jesus atoned for sins and completed his preparations for us. 

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

19 Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.” – D&C 19:16-19

While Jesus did his part in the atonement, it does not mean that the atonement is complete in us. Atonement means “to make at one”. It is not completed in us until we are made at one with God and man. Jesus atoned for our sins and taught us the principles required to fulfill the atonement, but Jesus did not and cannot walk the path for us. We must learn what Jesus taught and apply it in our lives to become at one with God and man. This means that the rest of the atonement is up to us to complete. The atonement remains incomplete until we have learned and accepted its lessons and become perfect through Christ.

To fulfill the atonement in us requires change. Before we were converted, we were the natural man, who like the caterpillar, couldn’t comprehend our own potential or the things of God. Once we became converted, we entered into a chrysalis and began rapid and extreme change. When the atonement is completed in our lives, we become perfected in Christ and emerge from the chrysalis as a beautiful butterfly. We emerge a new person patterned after Christ. When this happens, the atonement is completed or fulfilled in our lives and we live at one with God and man.