In the August 1878 issue of Herald of the Morning, Barbour wrote an article in which he brushed aside such scriptures as 1 Peter 3:18 and Isaiah 53:5, 6, also Hebrews 9:22, and declared that the whole idea that Christ died to atone for our sins was obnoxious. Russell later wrote: “To our painful surprise, Mr. Barbour . . . wrote an article for the Herald denying the doctrine of the atonement—denying that the death of Christ was the ransom-price of Adam and his race, saying that Christ’s death was no more a settlement of the penalty of man’s sins than would the sticking of a pin through the body of a fly and causing it suffering and death be considered by an earthly parent as a just settlement for misdemeanor in his child.”a

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A major test of faith involved recognition of the sin-atoning value of Jesus’ sacrifice