PROPITIATION

My little children, these things I wrote unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not or ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
I John 2:1-2

This is a word that we theologian types like to throw out to show our ‘superior biblical learning’. But it shouldn’t be, because it is the absolute foundation of WHY Christ died on the cross. It is a word that really should be won our minds day and night, whether we are a ‘theological giant’ or a ‘babe in the woods of belief’.  But first, the word itself.

A basic definition would be ‘averting the wrath of God by offering a gift’. The Old Testament books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy are very explicit in the gifts (sacrifices) that needed to be offered to avoid the wrath of a holy God. But that is Old Testament. The Greek word used that we translate ‘propitiation’ is ‘hilasterion’. But ‘hilasterion’ isn’t a verb, it is a noun. It refers to the lid of the ark of the covenant, what we today would call the ‘mercy seat’. That is where the blood sacrifice was placed before God, who sits ABOVE the mercy seat and looks down on the sacrifice. So. Old Testament but figures very heavily into the New Covenant Believers (that’s us, by the way).

Now that might sound convoluted, but lets think carefully through this…we know that ALL have sinned and fallen short of a Holy God (Romans 3:23). We are also told to ‘be holy for I AM holy (1 Peter 1:16). But these two statements cannot exist together. For if we have sinned, we cannot be holy. So. We need help.

If you have been around me for any length of time and read much of what I have written, you probably know I emphasize two things: Bob was the author of Hebrews (said in jest, as we really don’t know WHO wrote it, so Bob is as good as a guess as any) and someone has to die (said NOT in jest as it says: the wage of sin (the outcome or cost of sinning) is death. (Romans 6:23). And we put this together with the Old Testament to see how. Because to understand fully the NEW Testament, we must see it through the lens of the OLD Testament, the Law which explains WHY we need Christ. 

While the ‘law’ in application might have changed, the spirit did not. Sin is still sin, it still requires a sacrifice and that sacrifice calls for someone to die. For that is what a holy and just God demands. If it was all “oh, that’s OK, I forgive you even though there is no punishment’ isn’t justice, it isn’t right and the whole of a complete universe would cry out at the UNJUSTNESS of a god that would just randomly pick and choose what to ‘forgive and forget’. That is no being holy, set apart. Order and justice demands fairness. And fairness demands a price paid for wrongdoing. If you don’t believe this, try and explain that you are ‘sorry’ for speeding and won’t be paying a fine because…well…you are sorry and really mean it so you shouldn’t have to be punished because…well…you really really realllllly feel sorry… Just isn’t going to work.

So, during the sacrificial time of scripture, animals took the place. But they really weren’t sufficient-you had to keep doing it else there was no forgiveness and you could not have fellowship with God. The sacrifice wasn’t perfect and only worked until the next time you sinned. Because we needed a PERFET sacrifice that would cover once and for all. What a blow it must have been when the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. to think: no more sacrifices. No more communing with God. Complete separation. That is bad.

But that’s where this wonderful word ‘propitiation’ comes in. As both a noun AND a verb. For Christ came, the perfect sacrifice and laid Himself out on the ‘hilasterion’-in fact by His sacrifice and mercy He BECOMES the ‘mercy seat’ where our atonement-our gift-our blood sacrifice lies once and for all time. That is why we don’t need to continually offer sacrifice-the perfect one did it and was it and IS it. 

A ‘big word’? Yes. But one that just screams ‘Here! Here! Look at ME! Someone had to die and they did. Come, look and LIVE!’

John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. For He did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that Him all the world should be saved.