Text: “Herein 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 4:10.
“And He, (Christ Jesus) is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also (sufficiently and potentially) for the sins of the whole world (i.e. every nation of the world).” 1 John 2:2.
Definition of the term: Propitiation is the appeasement or turning away of God’s Holy wrath against sinners by means of an atoning Sacrifice; the provision by God of a ‘mercy-seat’, a place of propitiation where the precious and sinless Blood of Christ Jesus can be applied, by faith, to appease, or turn away the justified wrath of our Holy Lord God from truly repentant sinners.
“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His Blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth (trusts, and continues to trust) in Jesus.” (Romans 3:24-26)
“John Owen, ‘the prince of Puritan divines’, lists four essential elements in any propitiation:
- An offence to be taken away. (1 John 1:8) (Isaiah 53:6) (Romans 3:10; 22b-23)
- A Person (God) Who has been offended who needs to be pacified. (Habbakuk 1:13) (Romans 1:18) (Matthew 3:7-8)
- An offending person (all sinful mankind); one guilty of the offence. (Psalm 14:1-3) (Psalm 11:4-7)
- A ransom payment, a full Sacrifice, or some other means of making atonement of the offence.
Propitiation proves that the atonement is objective, that it makes its primary impression on God, not man. “Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s sermon on Romans 3:25, in his first volume of studies in Romans, gives a very good exposition of propitiation and disposes of current critical views.”
(Dictionary of Theological Terms by Alan Cairns pp 282-283)
Leon Morris notes that Modernists and sceptical theologians of today “…deny that the wrath of God denotes anything more than a process of cause and effect whereby disaster inevitably follows sin.”
However, such presumptuous arguments from mere men of such sceptical and so-called Modernist persuasion can never refute the fact of ‘…the wrath of God revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…’, as found in the Spiritually inspired and, thus, inerrant Word of God. (Romans 1:17-18) (2 Timothy 3:15-17) Amen.
For the one blessed of God and given faith to believe His Word, the precious Blood of Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, makes full propitiation for all our vile sins. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“And the Blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the Blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:13)
Past, present and future sins, for the true Christian believer, are forever cleansed by Christ’s Blood of atonement; God’s Holy wrath is fully appeased and the propitiation Sacrifice has been offered to God and been accepted by Him at the Cross of Calvary.
Our sins are Eternally forgiven and can never be a cause of enduring the wrath of our Holy Lord God again. Jesus has the last word on the subject of our sin and His propitiation Sacrifice for Christian believers: “It is finished.” Hallelujah! What a Saviour we have in Jesus, the risen Christ!
Praise God for such a thorough and Eternal Propitiation Sacrifice, achieved for us by God the Son, Christ Jesus. Glory to His Name!
This is the Scriptural doctrine of Propitiation. Go forth in its assurance and teach others what Jesus has done for lost sinners. Amen.
Important Ministry support note follows:
May the Lord God bless these Scriptural doctrines to the hearts and minds and souls of all who sincerely study them in order to hide these truths in their hearts and teach them to others. This is my fervent prayer. (Psalm 119:11)
Amen! And again amen, and hallelujah to the Lord God!
May the Lord God bless you and make you strong in Christ Jesus. Amen. (Psalm 68:11)