Jesus Christ's Infinite Atonement

Atonement: Infinity vs Finite

In preparatory times of the Old Testament, the practice of atonement was finite—meaning it had an end. It was a symbolic forecast of the definitiveAtonement of Jesus the Christ. His Atonement is infinite—without an end. It was also infinite in that all humankind would be saved from never-ending death. It was infinite in terms of His immense suffering. It was infinite in time, putting an end to the preceding prototype of animal sacrifice. It was infinite in scope—it was to be done once for all. And the mercy of the Atonement extends not only to an infinite number of people, but also to an infinite number of worlds created by Him. It was infinite beyond any human scale of measurement or mortal comprehension.

Jesus was the only one who could offer such an infinite atonement, since He was born of a mortal mother and an immortal Father. Because of that unique birthright, Jesus was an infinite Being.

Creation-Fall-Atonement
The Atonement, October 1996 General Conference, Elder Russell M. Nelson

Christ's Atonement: at-one-ment

The literal meaning of the English word Atonement is self-evident: at-one-ment, the bringing together of things that have been separated or estranged. The Atonement of Jesus Christ was indispensable because of the separating transgression, or Fall, of Adam, which brought two kinds of death into the world when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Physical death brought the separation of the spirit from the body, and spiritual death brought the estrangement of both the spirit and the body from God. As a result of the Fall, all persons born into mortality would suffer these two kinds of death. But we must remember the Fall was an essential part of Heavenly Father’s divine plan. Without it no mortal children would have been born to Adam and Eve, and there would have been no human family to experience opposition and growth, moral agency, and the joy of resurrection, redemption, and eternal life.

Read the entire document "The Atonement of Jesus Christ" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

JESUS CHRIST: THE INFINITE ATONEMENT

Jesus Brought Redemption from the Fall of Adam

And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

--2 Nephi 2:26

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came in the Meridian of time to be our Redeemer, our Savior, to redeem us all from the fall of Adam. Adam fell so that man may come to the earth and partake upon their spirits a physical body. As a result of Christ’s atonement, man is free to act for himself, to make his own choices. If we choose the right, we enjoy freedom and liberty. If we choose the wrong, we will be acted upon in the form of punishment or our conscience making us feel guilty. Jesus made it possible to be free from sin to the highest extent possible. Our duty is to obey His laws and commandments with exactness.

"Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25)