Intro: The concept of propitiation is the providing of a sacrifice or payment to appease God for having violated His law – to satisfy the Divine sense of justice and God’s wrath. A propitiation then is what enables sinful humans to have peace with God (and each other). Since man could not provide such a sacrifice, God provided it Himself as an expression of His grace and love. Synonyms of propitiation are to provide “atonement” or to “expiate.”
I) The Old Testament Roots of Propitiation and Atonement
A) The primary Hebrew word translated as "atonement" in the Old Testament is kapha, a verb meaning to cover, purge, reconcile, or make atonement.
1) It is found 102 times in the Old Testament
2) It is used to describe sacrifices offered to cover sin or defilement.
B) The noun form is kippur is used in Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), which is the fullest expression of Atonement in the OT Law.
1) The rituals and sacrifices of bulls and goats for the Day of Atonement are detailed in Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16:14-15 He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. 15 "Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.
2) In these Sacrifices, the priest “shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly” (Leviticus 16:33).
3) Kaphar refers to these actions that appease, forgive, or cleanse, by a blood sacrifice: Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.'
C) The Hebrew concept of Kaphar (atonement) was translated into Greek in the Septuagint (LXX) which primarily translates the Hebrew verb kaphar (to atone, cover, or purge) using the Greek verb (hilaskomai) in sacrificial contexts, which means to make atonement or propitiation.
1)(hilaskomai) Thayer Definition: 1) to render one’s self, to appease, conciliate to one’s self. 1a) to become propitious, be placated or appeased 1b) to be propitious, be gracious, be merciful 2) to expiate, make propitiation for
2) The noun form (hilasterion) is used to refer to the place where the blood was offered and atonement was made. Hebrews 9:5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
(a) 1) relating to an appeasing or expiating, having placating or expiating force, expiatory; a means of appeasing or expiating, a propitiation
(b) used of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, which was sprinkled with the blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement, hence the lid of expiation, the propitiatory 1b) an expiatory sacrifice
II) God provides the Propitiation for Us
A) ILLUS: We cannot provide the payment that would atone for our sins against God. Consider Tom and Sally. They meet at work and date. Tom is a bit wild. He takes Sally to a party where there is drinking and Tom gets himself plastered. He insists on driving Sally home. On the way, he veers off the road into a ditch, the car rolls several times, and Sally is paralyzed from the waist down. She is rightfully angry with Tom. She retains a lawyer. Tom does too. The lawyers get together to decide one question: What would it take to satisfy Sally? Paralyzing Tom? 10 million dollars? Making Tom be Sally’s slave? Actually, there is NOTHING Tom can do to satisfy Sally. No amount of money or pain or prison or humiliation he endures will suffice to make up for what he has done to her.
B) The Old Testament atonement was not sufficient to assuage God’s wrath. Hebrews 10:3-4 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
C) God provides the true propitiation in Christ.
1) Romans 3:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
2) “In Christ Alone” the wrath of God is satisfied! (Not “the Love of God is Magnified” as one Presbyterian Hymnal committee wanted it to be.)
3) Christ is the propitiation for us all! 1 John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
D) Christ lived as a human to qualify as our priest. Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
E) We have peace with God because of Christ’s atoning Sacrifice
1) Romans 5:1–11: States that having been justified by faith, we have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," and were "reconciled to God by the death of his Son". “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
2) God was pleased to do what was necessary to make peace. Colossians 1:19-23 God was pleased to reconcile all things to Himself, "making peace through his blood, shed on the cross". “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
III) Propitiation Produces Peace.
A) Peace with God
1) Ephesians 2:14-16 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
2) 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
B) Peace with others is base on Christ’s propitiation
1) We must love each other with the love God loved us with – a love that is willing to sacrifice itself to be at peace with those who have committed wrongs against us (1 John 4:7-11).
(a) Especially note 1 John 4:10-11, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
(b) hilasmos N-NSM Thayer Definition:1) an appeasing, propitiating 2) the means of appeasing, a propitiation
2) Peace with others flows from propitiation: Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Conclusion: We can have peace because Christ is the propitiation for both of us. My sins are forgiven through His sacrifice, and if you are my brother, so are yours. If God’s wrath has been appeased, how can I hold on to mine? After all, how can we allow petty offenses against one another to stand between us when our loving God set forth His only Son to remove the enormous mountain of offenses we had committed against Him?
