The C&MA teaches that Christ's death on the cross was an atoning sacrifice offered on behalf of all humanity. Drawing primarily from penal substitution theory, the C&MA understands Christ's death as satisfying God's justice by bearing the penalty for human sin. Through faith in Christ's substitutionary work, believers are forgiven, justified, and reconciled to God. The atonement is unlimited in scope — Christ died for all — though only those who believe appropriate its benefits.

Uniquely within evangelical theology, the C&MA emphasizes that divine healing is provided in the atonement, particularly through Isaiah 53:4-5 ("by his stripes we are healed"). While not claiming that all believers will be healed in this life or that healing is guaranteed on demand, the C&MA affirms that Christ's redemptive work addresses not only spiritual/moral sin but also the physical brokenness and disease that entered the world through sin. Healing is understood as a foretaste of the consummated redemption when Christ the Coming King will make all things new.

The cross is central to C&MA piety and mission: Christ's self-offering in love calls believers to self-denial, consecration, and sacrificial service. The atonement is simultaneously God's judgment against sin, God's mercy toward sinners, and the foundation of the sanctified life.