Propitiation

After attending Bible College and Seminary for a myriad of years, I often forget what is common knowledge and what my wife would call “nerdy.” I was reminded of such an instance by Fr. Mark, when, after Holy Communion for the rehearsal of his daughter Veronica’s wedding, he jokingly told the wedding party that they would be tested on what the word “propitiation” means. Of course, that would be an odd word to hear. It is a very scriptural word and theologically rich, but you would very rarely ever hear it outside of a theology class or Church service; however, even in a Church service, it is not spelled out for you. So, what does propitiation mean?

During the Holy Communion service, we get to the Comfortable Words, which follow the Absolution. You know, when I say “Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all who truly turn to him.” The words are there to give you the assurance of the forgiveness of sins. They are there to help us take corporate confession seriously, that God truly has forgiven our sins. The last passage which I quote comes from 1 John 2:2, and I say, “Hear also what St. John saith. ‘If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the Propitiation for our sins.’”

The word used here is the Greek word “hilasmos,” which is translated as  “propitiation.” However, there is another word that closely correlates to this word, which is the Greek word “hilasterion”, meaning “expiation.” In fact, they are so often linked together that the Revised Standard Version of the Bible will use the “expiation” in place of “propitiation.” Though I think the words are different enough that this is a mistake, and they shouldn’t be confused.  In the Old Testament, the Greek translation often translates the Hebrew word “kapporet” as “hilasterion” or “expiate.” However, to make things more confusing, the root word of “kapporet” is often linked to “kaphar,” which means “propitiation.” We will look in a moment at what these words actually mean, but it should be noted that “hilasterion” is very rarely used outside of the Old Testament in Greek. Instead, the Greeks preferred the word “hilosmos.” I digress, this is not a language course.

What do the words mean, and why does it matter? The word expiation means to take away guilt. The word is formed of two Latin parts, “ex” (out) and “piare” (to atone), so the word means to remove or take away guilt by payment of a penalty. Whereas, propitiate comes from “pro” (for) “piare (to atone), that is, for the working to change the attitude of God towards us. So, in the Old Testament, the word is used in conjunction with the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, which is called the “mercy seat.” On the day of Atonement, the priest would sacrifice a bull and a goat and come into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, as a payment signifying the cleansing or taking away of their guilt.

Propitiation, on the other hand, has to do with the appeasing of the wrath of God. This is why the Greek word for propitiation is used more frequently outside of Scripture, because the Greeks often sought to appease the anger of their gods, rather than a cleansing from the stain of sin. So, when it comes to the Christian doctrine of atonement, we might say expiation is what Christ does to you, and propitiation is what he does for you. Or, in other words, the object of expiation is your sin, while the object of propitiation is God.

Properly understood, however, I think propitiation can contain the fullness of expiation, though not the other way around. What do I mean by this? There is a deficient view, in my opinion, of justification called “forensic justification,” which states the legal proclamation of a person’s righteousness. That is, justification is God’s proclamation that you are righteous. While this is absolutely true, I would also say it is not only that. We receive justification by our union with Christ, that in baptism we are joined to Christ and all that is his is made ours, and so too are we sanctified. Not only is his righteous standing before God made ours, but so is his holiness. We are made clean and set apart not by some mere proclamation apart from us but because of the work of Christ, for us and in us. The righteousness of Christ is therefore imputed (credited) to us and imparted (made manifest) in us. An issue in the Old Testament animal sacrifices was that a sacrifice was temporary and needed to be repeated (Hebrews 7 and 10). In Christ, we are joined to his once and for all sacrifice and his work is being perfected in us: “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrew 10:25). So the work of propitiation is more than a work done merely apart from us for a legal standing; it is also done to us and in us.

The English saint, the Venerable Bede, reflects on 1 John 2:2, saying, “In his humanity, Christ pleads for our sins before the Father, but in his divinity, he has propitiated them for us with the Father. Furthermore, he has not done this only for those who were alive at the time of his death but also for the whole Church, which is scattered over the full compass of the world, and it will be valid for everyone, from the very first among the elect until the last one who will be born at the end of time.” It does not matter who you are, what you have done, or what has been done to you; you are never outside of the work of Christ, given to you in baptism and grasped onto by faith. What is amazing is that propitiation is first and foremost an act of God. It is not an image of a horrible deity who seeks your destruction but of a loving God who takes your salvation upon himself and works his righteousness in you. The next time we hear those Comfortable Words, may we thank God in our hearts for his lovingkindness in forgiving our sins and putting away his wrath.

God's Peace,

Fr. Aaron