Has the word propitiation any place in your Christianity? In the faith of the New Testament it is central. The love of God, the taking of human form by the Son, the meaning of the cross, Christ's heavenly intercession, the way of salvation - all are to be explained in terms of it, as the passages quoted below demonstrate, any explanation from which the thought of propitiation is missing will be incomplete, and actually misleading by New Testament standards.
- 1 John 4:8-10 - 8He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- 1 John 2:1-2 - 1My 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. 2He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Definition Of Propitiation
1. The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious.
2. (Theological) 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 favor.
Appeasing the wrath of a perfect God (based on his righteous anger toward man's sin) only can accomplished in one way - that of accepting Jesus Christ as ones' Lord and Savior. Works, although honorable when they are an outflow of this acceptance of Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior, cannot be in any way shape or form be considered as something that in and of themselves can save one from the wrath of God. If God was not angry at man in his sinful state, he would cease to be fully righteous and his love would degenerate into sentimentality.
In saying this, we swim against the stream of much modern teaching and condemn at a stroke the views of a great number of church leaders today, but we cannot help that. Paul wrote, "even if we or an angel from heaven" - let alone a minister, bishop, college lecturer, university professor or noted author - "should preach a gospel other than the one preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!". And a gospel without propitiation at its heart is another gospel than that which Paul preached. The implications of this must not be evaded. (Galatians 1:8)
- Romans 5:9 - 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
God's Wrath is as personal and as potent as is God's Love. If we do not preach the complete Gospel - the gospel with propitiation at its core - we run the risk of not only misleading others, but also of being subject to eternal condemnation ourselves.
Portions taken from Knowing God (J I Packer) and The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
