What Does Propitiation Mean?
What is Propitiation?
In Romans 3:25, the Greek word “hilasterion” is translated to "propitiation” as shared in this study of Christian Theology. Concretely it specifically means the lid of The Ark of The Covenant. The only other occurrence of hilasterion in the New Testament is in Hebrews 9:5, where it is translated as "mercy seat."
There is frequent similar use of hilasterion in the Septuagint, Exodus 25:17-22. In the article, What Is The Connection Between The ‘Mercy Seat’ And ‘Yom Kippur?, it is explained that the mercy seat was sprinkled with blood on Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16:14), representing that the righteous sentence of the Law had been executed, changing a judgment seat into a mercy seat.
The Mercy Seat is the cover of the Ark of the Covenant which was made out of solid gold. In the original Hebrew, this part of the Ark was called ‘Kapporet’ {כפורת} which literally means ‘covering.’
The concept of ‘covering’ in Biblical Hebrew can be understood also in an abstract way as ‘covering sins’ – meaning ‘to grant atonement’. Precisely as the English name for the holiest day in the Jewish calendar – ‘Day of Atonement’ which in Hebrew called ‘Yom Kippur.’ {יום כיפור}
The Kapporet, also served as the manifestation of God’s physical presence on earth. It was from here that God spoke in the times of Moses.
“There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the Ark of the Testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.”
Covering: Atoning Sacrifice
“My little children, these things write I 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 for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
The question that propitiation answers is how can God be both loving and perfectly just to violators of his law. In our own judicial system if someone breaks the law it doesn’t matter how many good deeds they did before they broke the law, it doesn’t matter how much the judge likes the violator, he is still guilty. In order for that Judge to be perfectly just, he must render a guilty verdict if he is to carry out the law. Not rendering such a verdict would make him unjust.
Justice is part of God’s very nature but so is love. This leaves quite a dramatic scene. How will perfect love and perfect justice render their verdict against the guilty, against us?
God desired to show us mercy and Grace and so he did. But had he just said, “no worries you are off the hook” he would no longer be perfectly just. But God knows how to make a way when it seems there is no way.
The Biblical Meaning of Propitiation
According to Christianity.com, Christ is called the "propitiation for our sins."
Christ is "the propitiation," because by his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he endured, and created a situation by which God could both show mercy and Justice towards sin.
God had all the while been merciful, friendly, "passing over" man's sins with no apparently adequate, or just, ground for doing so. Now in the blood of Christ sin is condemned and expiated, and God is able to establish and maintain His character of righteousness, while He continues His dealing in gracious love with sinners who exercise faith in Jesus. The propitiation originates with God, not to appease Himself, but to justify Himself in His uniform kindness to men deserving the just punishment for sin which is death.
In the article, What Does Propitiation Mean? from UTG, it’s expressed that sin is a barrier between men and God.
The New Testament never teaches that man can propitiate God. On the contrary, there is nothing that human beings can do to save themselves from having to face justice. And as mentioned previously if God just overlooks sin He cannot be righteous. Justice must require propitiation but, it is only through the death of Christ a blameless man (of which we are not) that this can be righteously accomplished.
Christ Is Our SalvatioN
“And He Himself is the propitiation of our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. ”
With 663,533 Bible questions answered, the wonderful truth of the gospel is that Christians are saved from God’s wrath and reconciled to God not because,
“we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”
Christ is, by his own choice and for our sake, priest and sacrifice, mediator, and gift as written in Duncan’s essay written for The Gospel Coalition.
As he is all those things, those who reject Christ’s free offer of forgiveness will face Judgment. There is no other propitiation or sacrifice that can be made for their sins, without his covering they will face the consequences of their own sin.
In Sproul's article that he wrote for Ligonier Ministries, he shared that Jesus preached of a crisis of an impending judgment of the world.
These verses, Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:22, and 1 John 4:10, teach us that Christ is a “propitiation by His blood.” to allow for an escape of this judgment and instead be pardoned.
In summary, the biblical concept of propitiation relates to God’s perfect justice being completely satisfied by the life and death of Christ, thereby enabling Him righteously to save all of us sinners who place our faith in Christ.
It allowed him to be both Just and the Justifier and for his many perfections to co-exist namely those of Justice and Mercy.
Christ’s life was also propitiation in that it satisfied the righteous requirement of the Mosaic law. The deal went that if the people of God kept the covenant they would be blessed and if they broke the covenant they would be cursed. Christ is our high priest or representative. His perfect life in keeping the law would conveniently earn him the blessings laid out in the covenant and undo the curses of breaking the law. He can legally extend those earnings to all who he represents as high priest, to all those “In him.”