Propitiation Series: Introduction
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One of the results of our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross is that He propitiated the Father’s holiness, which demanded that sin and sinners be judged by Him.
Propitiation is the Godward side of salvation whereby the voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the holy demands of a holy God that sin and sinners be judged by Him.
“Propitiation” refers to that aspect of Christ’s finished work on the cross-that “satisfied” the holiness of God and is appropriated through the non-meritorious decision to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Jesus Christ’s voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross “satisfied” or “propitiated” the holy demands of God which required that the sins of every person in human history-past, present and future be judged.
They propitiated the Father in the sense that they paid the penalty for the sins of the entire world.
Propitiation is one of the three major doctrines of Soteriology: (1) Redemption: inward (2) Reconciliation: manward (3) Propitiation: Godward.
Leviticus 1:4 “And he (sinner) shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering (picturing the imputation of our sins to Christ), that it may be accepted for him to make atonement (propitiation) on his behalf. (NASB95)
Romans 3:21 But now, independently of seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law, the righteousness originating from God is being manifested at the present time while simultaneously being attested to by the Law and the Prophets. 22 Namely, the righteousness originating from God through faith in Jesus who is the Christ for the benefit of each and every person who does believe for there is, as an eternal spiritual truth, absolutely no distinction. 23 For each and every person has sinned consequently they are always failing to measure up to the glory originating from God 24 with the result that they might, as an eternal spiritual truth, be undeservedly justified based upon His grace by means of the redemption, which is by means of the spiritual death of Christ who is Jesus 25 whom God the Father offered publicly as a propitiatory gift through faith by means of His blood in order to demonstrate His righteousness because of the deliberate and temporary suspension of judgment of the sins, which have taken place in the past on the basis of the tolerance originating from the character and nature of God the Father. 26 Correspondingly, in relation to the demonstration of His righteousness during this present distinct period of history, that He Himself is, as an eternal spiritual truth, inherently righteous, even while justifying anyone by means of faith in Jesus. (Lecturer’s translation)
Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, He (the Lord Jesus Christ) had to be made like His brethren (humanity) in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (NASB95)
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I am presently writing these things for the benefit of each of you in order that each of you would not enter into committing a sin. However, if anyone enters into committing a sin, we possess an advocate with the Father, namely, Jesus, who is the Christ, who is a righteous person. 2 For you see, He Himself is the propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. Indeed, by no means for ours only, but in fact also for the entire world. (Lecturer’s translation)
1 John 4:10 Love is defined by means of this: By no means that we are loving God (the Father) but rather that He Himself in contrast to us loved each and every one of us. Specifically, He dispatched with authority His Son to be the propitiatory sacrifice for each and every one of our sins. (Lecturer’s translation)
Vocabulary
Old Testament Terms: (1) Kaphar (verb), “To cover sin, to make atonement for sin, to propitiate, to make reconciliation, to atone by offering a substitute”
It should be distinguished from the kaphar used in Genesis 6:14 where it means, “to smear with pitch” and was used primarily in connection with the removal of sin or defilement and denoted the priestly ritual of sprinkling the sacrificial blood of the animal.
It was used 49 times in the book of Leviticus alone and denoted the act of propitiating God through the animal blood sacrifice and the act symbolized innocent life given for guilty life.
It was used primarily in the Piel stem, which denotes the intensification of the action of the verb, i.e., the intensity of Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths.
The Greek equivalent is the verb hilaskomai.
(2) Kippur (noun) (singular), Kippurim (in the plural), “Atonement” and it was derived from kaphar as used in the Piel stem and was used in the name of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, “Day of Atonement” (Lev. 25:9).
Yom Kippur was the 10th day of the seventh month, Tishri.
Israel fasted on this day and it was celebrated by a special sin offering for the whole nation.
The high priest would enter within the inner veil bearing the blood of the sin offering (Heb. 9:7) and a second goat was released as an escape goat to symbolize the total removal of sin.
Kippur denoted God’s act of removing the guilt of Israel’s sin.
The Greek equivalent is the noun hilasmos.
(3) Kapporeth (noun), “Mercy seat, place of atonement” and was used 27 times in the Old Testament and it refers to the golden cover of the sacred chest in the shrine of the Tabernacle or temple.
The mercy seat covered the emblems of Israel’s sin inside the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 25:17-22; 37:6-9).
Two cherubs, representing God’s righteousness and justice, gazed upon the sacrificial blood sprinkled on the mercy seat.
The blood covering the emblems of sin pictured the ceremonial satisfaction of God’s righteousness and justice.
Christ is our “mercy seat or place of propitiation” (Rom. 3:25).
The Greek equivalent is the noun hilasterion.
Greek New Testament Terms: (1) Hilaskomai (verb), “To make propitiate for, to make satisfaction for” and was used only twice in the NT (Luke 18:13; Heb. 2:17) and refers to the “act” of propitiation.
In classical Greek it means, “to please the gods, to obtain their favor and goodwill.”
The Greeks used the word in a perverted sense with man as the subject, and the object a deity and the Jews in the LXX always used the verb with Yahweh as the subject.
Yahweh takes the initiative in being propitious to man, not the other way around.
The Greeks used the word of man trying to gain the favor of the gods.
The New Testament writers always used the word with God as the subject and it was used of God’s action in providing the necessary sacrifice (Christ) who would perform the act of propitiation or satisfying the justice of God.
(2) Hilasmos (noun), “Propitiation, propitiatory sacrifice, the means of appeasing, the atonement, sin offering, one who makes propitiation.”
The Greeks used with reference to the sacrifice (human or animal), which appeased the wrath of the angered gods and thus repairs the relationship.
The Greek usage was not just of reconciliation but expiating guilt and cleansing men and cultic objects and was used twice in the New Testament (1 John 2:2; 4:10).
The word in these two passages refers to Christ Himself who is the propitiatory sacrifice, the sin offering, the atoning sacrifice.
Christ is the sacrifice, He is the One God the Father has provided to be the propitiatory sacrifice, or the Sacrifice that “satisfied” the righteousness and justice of God the Father.
(3) Hileos (adjective), “Propitious, merciful.”
The word meant “cheerful,” or “happy” in classical Greek.
Plato used it to mean “cheerful, joyous” (Plato, Laws 1, 649a) and Xenophon used it with reference to being “kindly, gracious, benevolent (Xen. Cyr. 1, 6, 2) and it was used mainly to describe rulers or gods.
The Greeks believed that making the gods happy by propitiating them through sacrifice would result in their benevolence toward men.
It was employed in the LXX to translate the Hebrew word salach, “to forgive” and it was used in the LXX to describe a sentiment that God Himself possesses (Num.14:19, 20; 2 Chron. 6:25-26), and as a greeting (Gen. 43:23).
It occurs 35 times in the LXX particularly in the phrase hileos einai meaning “to be propitious” and appears 2 times in the NT (Matt. 16:22; Heb. 8:12).
Matthew 16:22 literally says “propitious to You, Lord,” or “God be favorable to You, Lord” and Hebrews 8:12, “for I will be propitious to their unrighteousness.”
(4) Hilasterion (adjective), “Place of propitiation, mercy seat.”
In classical Greek, it refers to “a gift to the gods, which procures atonement.”
The LXX uses the word 22 times for the Hebrew kapporet, “mercy seat” and was used twice in the NT (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 9:5). Christ is depicted in Rom. 3:25 as our “mercy seat.”
It functions as a technical term for the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant in both the LXX and NT.
The mercy seat was the golden lid of the Ark of the Covenant and Jesus Christ Himself is the literal fulfillment of the hilasterion in the Old Testament since He is the site at which atonement takes place through faith. Christ is the place of satisfaction.