What Is Propitiation?

It is popular nowadays to conceive of all people as children of God. However, the Bible says that those without Christ are actually “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), “children of the devil” (I John 3:10), and “sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). As wicked sinners, we are far from being beloved children of God, and in fact, God is constantly burning with anger against those who transgress His law (Psalms 7:11).

This puts everyone in a terrible predicament, because all people transgress God’s law (Romans 3:23). Yet because God is loving as well as just, He has provided a way of escape. The way of escape is “propitiation.”

Last month, I started a series on the wonderful theological words associated with Christ’s death on the Cross (begin that series here). My last devotional was on Christ’s “atonement,” a word that means God can forgive our sin because Christ has replaced us and taken God’s wrath on Himself. Propitiation is closely related to atonement.

As with atonement, being familiar with Old Testament symbolism is helpful for understanding New Testament actualities such as propitiation. As Hebrews says, the Old Testament sacrificial system was a shadow of the better, more complete reality of Christ (Hebrews 8:5; 10:1). To understand propitiation, we must look back to the pictures God has given us in the Old Testament.

The word “propitiation” is used to describe Christ’s sacrifice in several New Testament passages (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; I John 2:2; 4:10), and its Greek underpinning is the same word used for the “Mercy Seat” in the Old Testament. The Mercy Seat was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant—an ornate box that was kept in the Most Holy Place of the Old Testament tabernacle, and later the Temple (Exodus 25:17-22). The box symbolized God’s presence with His people, and its lid, the Mercy Seat, was designed to mirror God’s real throne in Heaven (compare Ezekiel 10).

As we learned last week, the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle once a year to make atonement for the people’s sin as well as his own. He would sacrifice an animal and bring the blood into the Most Holy Place. God would look upon the shed blood of the animal, which was a shadow of Christ’s later atoning blood, and forgive the people’s sin. The animal took the place of the sinner, who deserved to die. (Click here to read more about the Day of Atonement. Read Leviticus 16 for additional details.)

How can a holy, just God grant mercy to guilty sinners and forgive their sin? Because of propitiation! Today, God can forgive your sin because of propitiation.

Propitiation is a sacrifice that satisfies God’s anger against sin! (Yarbrough 2431). Just as through the shed blood of an animal people could find mercy at the Mercy Seat of the tabernacle, so also, on Judgment Day, you can find mercy at God’s real throne because Christ took your punishment and satisfied God’s anger against your sin. Because Jesus took your punishment on the Cross, God’s wrath has been satisfied, for justice has been served! The requirement for the forgiveness of sin has been fulfilled (Hebrews 9:22). You deserve to fulfill the requirement yourself by suffering eternal death in Hell (Romans 6:23), but Christ has fulfilled it for you!

In atonement, God says, “I require your death as your just sentence for crimes against my law, but Jesus has taken your punishment, and you are therefore no longer guilty.” In propitiation, God says “I am no longer angry with you, because Jesus has paid your fine.” As Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!”

Are you “in Christ Jesus?” God grants the gift of mercy to all who lay hold of Christ’s propitiatory work in faith and repentance.

If you are in Christ Jesus, what effect should propitiation have on your life? Do you know anyone who doesn’t understand this glorious word?

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

Definition of "propitiation" is taken from Robert W. Yarbrough’s note on I John 2:2 in The ESV Study Bible, Crossway, 2008, p. 2431.

Photo by Jenny Venturo