Propitiation

Now we’re going to look at the word propitiation.  What does it mean, how and where is it used in the Bible, how does it relate to the Cross, and what does that mean for us?

First, let’s talk about what the word actually means….

There are three words translated as propitiation in the Bible.

The Hebrew word kapporeth is translated as the “mercy seat”.   It was the lid of the ark of the covenant.  The word has come to mean “cover / covering” because of this double service…..It was the literal lid of the ark and it was the place where the sacrificial blood symbolically “covered” the sins of the people.

Exodus 25:17-22 kapporeth
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

The greek words hilasterion and hilasmos.

Romans 3:22-25 hilasterion
For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

1 John 2:2 hilasmos
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

When we’re looking at these passages it’s important to understand the nature of the word.  

Easton’s Bible Dictionary
That by which it becomes consistent with his (God’s) character and government to pardon and bless the sinner.
The propitiation does not procure his love or make him loving; it only renders it consistent for him to exercise his love towards sinners.

This is not a word or idea that is unique to the Hebrew or Christian faith.  The notion of “propitiation” is seen in the worship of false gods throughout the Bible, in modern religions, and in pop culture.  

Leviticus 20:1-2
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death.

2 Chronicles 28:1-3
Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

2 Chronicles 33:1-6
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 

There’s an important distinction to make here between propitiation and expiation.

Propitiation is the placating of God’s wrath that our sin has caused.

Expiation carries the idea of cleansing us from sin or removing the guilt of sin.

Both of those things occurred with the crucifixion of Christ, but they are two different things.  

Even in the Old Testament blood sacrifice was not always for the removal of guilt.  Look at the Passover, full of imagery that relates directly to the sacrifice of Christ.

Exodus 12:12-14
For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

So why the confusion?  It’s primarily a misunderstanding of who God is and what makes up his character.  Expiation has to do with our sin.  Propitiation has to do with God’s reaction to our sin.  

If we only acknowledge the loving, merciful aspect of God’s character and refuse to acknowledge the potential for his wrath and anger, then propitiation (placating that anger) won’t make any sense.

Propitiation is translated “Sacrifice of Atonement” in the New International Version and Revised Standard Version.  By removing the idea of propitiation, we’ve removed a part of God’s character.

Oxford Companion to the Bible
…while some translate it as “propitiation”, this suggests appeasing or placating an angry deity–a notion hardly compatible with biblical thought and rarely occurring in that sense in the Hebrew Bible.

Exodus 32:9-10
And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

Jeremiah 7:16-20
“As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. Is it I whom they provoke? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.”

Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 5:6-9
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Revelation 6:15-17
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Romans 3:5-6
But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world?

A key difference between the gospel view of propitiation and the pagan view of propitiation is that the wrath of God towards man’s sin should not be seen as arbitrary or capricious.  It should be seen as a a manifestation of God’s holiness.

God is our creator and our sin is a rebellion against him.  

And not only that, but sin causes harm (spiritually and physically) to the creation that God loves.  God isn’t angry with an abusive husband just because the husband sins, but because of the harm he inflicts on his family.  

Because of our sin we could not stand before God’s holiness.  Evil cannot dwell with him (Psalm 5).  God abhors and destroys those who sin.

A sacrifice was needed to appease that wrath.  And the gospel difference is that God provided the sacrifice for us.

Romans 3:20-26
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

1-The law couldn’t save us because the law is what we were unable to keep.
2-Since the law couldn’t save us, God provided a sacrifice outside of the law.
3-God offered Jesus as the propitiation.>>>>>> WHY?
4-To show his RIGHTEOUSNESS.  God’s justice, his holiness, can be maintained AND we can be justified.
5-God’s holiness and his mercy are both manifested in the fact that he is JUST and THE JUSTIFIER.

1 John 2:1-2
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Jesus is….
1-The person who goes to God on our behalf.
2-Able to do this because he was righteous.
3-Effective in this because he is the propitiation.  He appeased God’s wrath and can now intercede for us.
1 John 4:9-10

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God does not love us because Jesus died.  

Jesus died because God loves us.

Psalm 5:1-7 ties propitiation directly to our theme of God’s plan of redemption and being reunited with mankind.
Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.