Propitation

I used a big word yesterday--Propitiation.

Yes, say it with me.... prO-"pi-shE-'A-sh&n :p Anyway, I didn't say that it was a big word, pastor did. His sermon was from 1 Jn 1:5-2:2 and I was leading the Singspiration part of the Worship Service. My theme was simply this: Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins taken from the last verse of his sermon passage, 1 Jn 2:2.

"He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world".

1 Jn 2:2 (ESV)

I also meditated on Rom 3:23-26 during my preparation.
"[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

And here, I wanna give a short explanation on why I prefer to use the word 'Propitiation' (used in the ESV & NASB) instead of the one used in the NIV--'Atoning Sacrifice', or the one in the RSV--'Expiation'.

Definitions: (quoted from the Oxford Dictionary of Current English)
Atonement -- make amends (for a wrong)
Expiation -- pay the penalty for or make amends for (wrong doing)
Propitiation -- appease (an offended person)
[appease--to satisfy]

The first 2 words, 'atonement' & 'expiation' basically mean that someone has to make amends or to pay the price for something that someone did wrong. That's fine and dandy but if you notice, nothing in both words really describes well what that wrong doing was. In the NIV, 'sacrifice' is added to 'atoning' to indicate that something valuable and precious had to be given up to make ammends.

Which brings us to 'propitiation'. This word is different as compared to the other two. Simply spelt out, it speaks of mending the relationship with that someone who's angry by something you did. This brings out a new dimension that someone, somewhere is angry. And in the context of the Bible, 'propitiation' paints a clear picture that God is angry with us. Why? Sin. Sin absolutely repulses God. Sin absolutely disgraces God's holy name. In fact, from Rom 3:23 (look above), sin is to "fall short of God's glory". Therefore, angry is too... mild a word to begin describing God's attitude toward sin. Rather, the word 'Wrath' is used to describe this strong, holy, divine anger that God has toward sin.

Therefore, 'Propitiation' brings forth the point that God's wrath is against all man because of how they have desecrated his glory. And God's holiness, justice and righteousness disallows sin to be let off scot-free. (I mean, come on... if God lets sin pass by patting your knee and saying to you, "It's all right, I'm sure you won't do it the next time..." or "You didn't mean it right?", what kind of God will He be? Surely not a god that demands our total allegiance and worship) So, the wrath of God which was toward all man had to be averted. And this aversion is found in the death of Jesus Christ.

In a nutshell, this is propitiation: God averting his wrath toward man through the death of His Son.