IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 291

• “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. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments“(1 John 2:1-3).
• “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:9-11)

In defining propitious we found the meanings from the 1828 and 1913 versions of Webster’s dictionary to include Convenient; auspicious; favorable; kind as in reference to outer effects and kind; gracious; merciful; helpful when said of a person or of divinity¹. The 1828 version added that propitious is Disposed to be gracious or merciful; ready to forgive sins and bestow blessings; applied to God¹.  Now in these words there is no inkling of atonement. However, when we look at the kindred word, the noun propitiation, we find an very different idea which seems to be right out of the church’s doctrine. Here we find propitiation meaning the act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious¹ and both the 1828 and the 1913 versions list a theological meaning that is much the same saying That which propitiates; atonement or atoning sacrifice; specifically, the influence or effects of the death of Christ in appeasing the divine justice, and conciliating the divine favor¹. Now it is not our intent to interject ourselves into the arena of word knowledge and interpretation of ideas that were originally presented in Greek but it is a strange arrangement here that brings this word from ideas of mercy and grace to the single understanding found in atonement and it is equally strange that the definitions of propitiation are so very much aligned with doctrine. As we said yesterday we get very little help on this word from any of the commentary except to understand that the Greek word means, according to the lexicon, an appeasing, propitiating; the means of appeasing, a propitiation² which leaves us at the mercy of the English dictionary for our understanding.

Vincent tells us this on propitiation from an the earlier verse cited above: The propitiation (iJlasmo>v). Only here and 4:10. From iJla>skomai to appease, to conciliate to one’s self, which occurs Luke 28:13; Hebrews 2:17. The noun means originally an appeasing or propitiating, and passes, through Alexandrine usage, into the sense of the means of appeasing, as here. The construction is to be particularly noted; for, in the matter of (peri> ) our sins; the genitive case of that for which propitiation is made. In Hebrews 2:17, the accusative case, also of the sins to be propitiated. In classical usage, on the other hand, the habitual construction is the accusative (direct objective case), of the person propitiated. So in Homer, of the gods. Qeo<n iJla>skesqai is to make a God propitious to one. See “Iliad,” 1, 386, 472. Of men whom one wishes to conciliate by divine honors after death. So Herodotus, of Philip of Crotona. “His beauty gained him honors at the hands of the Egestaeans which they never accorded to any one else; for they raised a hero-temple over his grave, and they still propitiate him (aujto<n iJla>skontai) with sacrifices” (5:47). Again, “The Parians, having propitiated Themistocles (Qemistokle>a iJlasa>menoi) with gifts, escaped the visits of the army” (8:112). The change from this construction shows, to quote Canon Westcott, “that the scriptural conception of the verb is not that of appeasing one who is angry, with a personal feeling, against the offender; but of altering the character of that which, from without, occasions a necessary alienation, and interposes an inevitable obstacle to fellowship. Such phrases as ‘propitiating God,’ and God ‘being reconciled’ are foreign to the language of the New Testament. Man is reconciled (2 Corinthians 5:18 sqq.; Romans 5:10 sq.). There is a propitiation in the matter of the sin or of the sinner.”⁴

Vine’s gives us this on propitiation: <B-2,Noun,2434,hilasmos> akin to hileos (“merciful, propitious”), signifies “an expiation, a means whereby sin is covered and remitted.” It is used in the NT of Christ Himself as “the propitiation,” in 1 John 2:2; 4:10, signifying that He Himself, through the expiatory sacrifice of His Death, is the Personal means by whom God shows mercy to the sinner who believes on Christ as the One thus provided. In the former passage He is described as “the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” The italicized addition in the AV, “the sins of,” gives a wrong interpretation. What is indicated is that provision is made for the whole world, so that no one is, by Divine predetermination, excluded from the scope of God’s mercy; the efficacy of the “propitiation,” however, is made actual for those who believe. In 1 John 4:10, the fact that God “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” is shown to be the great expression of God’s love toward man, and the reason why Christians should love one another. In the Sept., Lev. 25:9; Num. 5:8; 1 Chron. 28:20; Ps. 130:4; Ezek. 44:27; Amos 8:14⁶.

John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible⁸ says of propitiation as it is found in another saying from the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: Whom God had set forth to be a propitiation Redemption by Christ is here further explained, by his being “a propitiation”: which word may design either Christ the propitiator, the author of peace and reconciliation; or the propitiatory sacrifice, by which he is so; and both in allusion to the mercy seat, which was a type of him as such. The apostle here uses the same word, which the Septuagint often render (trpk) “the mercy seat”, by; and Philo the Jew calls it by the same name, and says it was a symbol, (thv ilew tou) (yeou dunamewv) “of the propitious power of God” . Christ is the propitiation to God for sin; which must be understood of his making satisfaction to divine justice, for the sins of his people; these were imputed to him, and being found on him, the law and justice of God made demands on him for them; which he answered to satisfaction, by his obedience and sacrifice; and which, as it could not be done by any other, nor in any other way, is expressed by “reconciliation”, and “atonement”: whence God may be said to be pacified, or made propitious; not but that he always loved his people, and never hated them; nor is there, nor can there be any change in God, from hatred to love, any more than from love to hatred: Christ has not, by his sacrifice and death, procured the love and favour of God, but has removed the obstructions which lay in the way of love’s appearing and breaking forth; there was, a law broken, and justice provoked, which were to be attended to, and Christ by his sacrifice has satisfied both; so that neither the wrath of God, nor any of the effects of it, can fall upon the persons Christ is the propitiation for, even according to justice itself; so that it is not love, but justice that is made propitious: for this is all owing to the grace and goodness of God, who “hath set him forth”, for this intent, in his eternal purposes and decrees; in the promises of the Old Testament, in the types, shadows, and sacrifices of the old law; by the exhibition of him in our nature, and in the ministration of the Gospel; and this is said to be⁸

Can we clearly see the path of doctrine in all of the above ideas regarding this rather essential part of the overall doctrine that was devised near the beginning and carried through the Reformation. We can get a clearer look at this from a group called CARM**, which represents how this  is presented to the masses under the theory of vicarious atonement: The word propitiation “properly signifies the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift.” Propitiation properly deals with the wrath of God. The wrath of God is due to the legal requirements of punishing the sinner. Remember, the sinner is someone who has broken the law of God; hence, the legality of punishment, and since Jesus is our propitiation and turns away the lawful wrath of God, we have further evidence that Christ’s sacrifice was to avert God’s righteous wrath against us, the sinners. Since the law of God must be met and cannot be ignored, it is proper that the law be fulfilled. Jesus is the one who fulfilled the law and never sinned (1 Pet. 2:22). But, he bore our sins in his body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24) and became sin on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21) thereby suffering the penalty of sin, which is death. In line with these ideas is the translation of the Greek word hilasmos in some other translations of the New Testament:

• Hilasmos is rendered as propitiation in the King James Version, the American Standard Version and many others.
• New International Version: This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
• Bible in Basic English: And this is love, not that we had love for God, but that he had love for us, and sent his Son to be an offering for our sins.
• Good News Translation: This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

We should remember that there are also other church theories regarding the Master’s death on the cross but it is this theory of atonement that is the most proliferated in the church to the end that most all others are regarded as heresy. 

Vincent tells us above that a variation of this word that is translated as propitiation is used in the Gospel of Luke and in the Epistle to the Hebrews and is rendered as be merciful  and make reconciliation; the lexicon portrays this word for us as: to render one’s self, to appease, conciliate to one’s self; to become propitious, be placated or appeased; to be propitious, be gracious, be merciful; to expiate, make propitiation for². Now the idea of these words is similar to what we see above but the rendering of them is very different and perhaps it is in this reality that we can better understand its use as atonement. Before we go forward here we should try to understand the origins of the ideas of atonement and how it is that this carried forward into our post Christ era. There has always been this sense of atonement, or the sacrifice of something to appease God. From the Jewish perspective, that world that brought forth the Christ and and against which world the majority of the Master’s outward teachings are directed, the idea of animal sacrifice was deep rooted even up until the time of Christ. There were, in this piece of Jewish history covered by the Old Testament and into the New Testament times, a variety of sacrifices which were, each of them, for atonement or for some other purpose seen as appeasing God or else thanking Him. Let us look here at some to the Old Testament terms used for sacrifice in the form of a chart*** taken from the various verses.

This chart is a broad outline of the listing of sacrifices that were implemented in the time of Moses which we know was more than 1400 years before the death of the Master on the Cross. In the time before Moses sacrifices were made as well but in the Moses time these were codified and restricted to the Temple; this however was not universally true as many sacrifices were done in sacrificial places that were not authorized and this is results in some of the problems of the Jews in the time of the Kings. When the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, about forty years after the crucifixion of the Lord, the era of Jewish sacrifices was essentially over. We should remember here two things:

• First, when the Master was born and ready for circumcision, we read: “And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons” (Luke 2:22-24). This was the way of the land in that day.
• Second, we read that the Master, in an outburst against the way the the idea of sacrifice had progressed, “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise” (John 2:13-16). Can we see here how the sense of religion had deteriorated and had become a matter of business and duty in place of the way of worship in which it was originally intended?

We have laid some more groundwork for the proper understanding of the doctrine of atonement by citing the varied definitions and interpretations of our keyword propitiation plus some history of the origins of the atoning sacrifice in the Jewish religion that was destined to become a cornerstone of the new Christian philosophies. We will close for today with this last thought on sacrifice.

• After the Master gives to the scribe His lesson on the Great Commandment, the scribe replies to Jesus: “And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question” (Mark 12:32-34). We should see in the word discreetly the ideas of wisely and prudently²  and the Master’s teaching on the understanding of the role of sacrifice versus the role of Love and this not only from His own lips but from the True teaching of the Jews as well. Can we glimpse the idea here that like now where doctrine is easier than Truth so it was then and that their doctrine was in their ritual and sacrifice.
• There is an Old Testament saying by one of the prophets regarding God’s desire for sacrifice that the Master repeats twice in Matthew’s Gospel and which can give us the same message we see above; it is perhaps the source of the scribes understanding. Here is the verse from the Prophet Hosea and the Masters repetitions of it:

• “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6)
• “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).
• “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:7).

Armed with these ideas we will go forward into a greater understanding of the meaning of the sacrifice and why we should not view the crucifixion of the Christ in this Light, that it was an atonement for our sins.

Note on the Quote of the Day

• ¹   Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ²   New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴   Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁶  Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1996
• ⁸  Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
• **   CARM; Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (http://carm.org/christianity/christian-doctrine/substitutionary-atonement-jesus-christ)
• ***(C)1998, 2010 Collins Hamblen Lion and Lamb Productions (http://home.earthlink.net/~lionlamb/index.htm)