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INTRODUCTION

Propitiation is the turning away of wrath by an
offering.  Jacob appeased Esau with a present in Genesis
32:20, and King Mesha of Moab offered a sacrifice to
Chemosh in II Kings 3:26 thereby turning away wrath from
Moab.  From an evangelical view, 'propitiation' is
concerned with the turning away of divine wrath towards
man, through the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

BIBLICAL TERMINOLOGY

In the Old Testament, the principal verb rendered
as propitiation is kapher.  In the New Testament the idea
is conveyed by the use of hilaskomai (Hebrews 2:17),
hilasterion (Romans 3:25) and hilasmos (I John 2:2 and
4:10).  The hilaskesthai word group is that used also in the
Septuagint for kapher (Hebert, 1950, p. 25; Easton, s.v.
'Propitiation').

Disagreement exists, however, as to whether the
original Biblical words above do actually mean an atoning
action directed towards God - propitiation - or rather
towards the offence - expiation.

According to Morris (1984, p. 888) the word group
to which the Greek words belong unquestionably has the
significance of averting divine wrath (and hence the
appeasement of God).  In contrast, C. H. Dodd suggests
that the word group denotes expiation and not
propitiation denying that "the wrath of God" means
anything other than a process of cause and effect whereby
disaster inevitably follows sin (Morris, 1984, p. 888).

However, Scripture cannot support expiation as the
primary understanding.  It is true that the Levitical
atoning actions - the basis for Old Testament atonement -
had a direct effect on sins.  It covered them and
'blotting them out' (Leviticus 4:20-26) - but the idea of
the wrath of God is firmly rooted in the Old Testament,
with 585 references.  Further, the words of the hilaskomai
group do not denote simple forgiveness or cancellation of
sin, but that forgiveness or cancellation of sin, which
includes the turning away of God's wrath (Thayer, 1981,
p. 2417), for example, as in Lamentations 3:42-43.

Examples of expiation may be found, but to suggest
it is the sole meaning of the original language words
presented is disharmonious with Scripture and
contemporary pagan usage of the words (Morris, 1950, p.
888; Pecota, 1994, p. 345).  Such a view is not founded
on a linguistic basis but on predetermined theology.
Pecota (1994, p. 346) presents the simple solution,

If one accepts what the Bible says about God's wrath,
a possible solution presents itself.  We could see the
words as having a vertical and a horizontal reference.
When the context focuses on the Atonement in relation
to God, the words speak of propitiation.  But they
mean expiation when the focus is on us and our sin.

This solution is reasonable, and II Kings 24:3-4,
Psalm 78:38 and Romans 3:25 all provide examples of God's
anger or punishment joined with forgiveness or atoning
sacrifice.  Hence, the historical and literary context
determines whether propitiation or expiation is the
appropriate meaning for a given passage.

DIVINE WRATH

Paul explains that man's sin receives its due
reward, not because of some impersonal retribution but
because God's wrath is directed against it (Romans 1:18,
24, 26, 28).  The whole of his argument in the opening
chapters of Romans is that all men - Gentiles and Jews
alike - are sinners.  They have come justly under the
wrath and the condemnation of God.

Ultimately God Himself initiates the removal of
wrath.  Of the process of atonement by sacrifice He says,
"I have given it to you" (Leviticus 17:11).  Psalm 78:38
says, "Time after time He restrained His anger and did
not stir up His full wrath".  At no point do the
Scriptures refer to reconciliation being required of God,
rather the enmity between man and God is uniquely a
problem relating to man.  Sacrifice was given by God to
man as a means whereby He would not remember sins
committed.

North (1950, p. 213) makes the important point that
the only sins for which a sin-offering could make actual
atonement were breaches of ritual committed in ignorance.
In practice a person may well sincerely offer a sacrifice
with the expectation that known sins would thereby be
forgiven but this was an assumption with no justifiable
basis in the law.  Forgiveness was certainly a real
concept in the Old Testament, but it was not a quid pro
quid for sacrifice.  Rather it was the free gift of God,
dependent only upon repentance and confession (c.f. Psalm
32:5; Psalm 51:1, 16-17; I Samuel 15:22).

When turning to salvation, Paul thinks of Christ's
death as hilasterion (Romans 3:25) - literally a "mercy
seat" (Zodhiates, 1992, p. 923).  Christ is thus the
antitype of the cover of the Ark of the Covenant (Hebrews
9:5) and is here designated as the actual place where the
sinner deposits sin, as well as the means of removing the
divine wrath itself.  As in the Old Testament, God
Himself has provided the means of removing His own wrath.
Again, it is a free gift which can not be earned
(Ephesians 2:8-9).

THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST

The love of the Father is shown in that He "sent
His son to be the propitiation for our sins" (I John
4:10).  The purpose of Christ's coming was "to make
propitiation for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:17).
His propitiation is adequate for all people (I John 2:2).

It is not right, however, to conceive of God's
wrath as having been 'appeased' by Christ's sacrifice as
explained by transactional theories of the Atonement.  It
is God who in Christ reconciled the world to Himself,
just as He was behind the redemptive action of the
servant in Isaiah 53:10.

Genesis and Exodus provide many biographical
descriptions that have as their turning points the
building of an altar and an act of sacrifice.  Similarly,
Israel was delivered from Egypt by a method with a
symbolism attached to the Passover.  Two discernible
concepts arise; redemption and the shedding of blood are
connected, and a form of substitution exists.  These
concepts are given fuller detail in the book of Leviticus
and are extensively illustrated in the instructions for
the sacrifices and priesthood.  Christ's teaching was
consistent with such Levitical instructions and the
entire New Testament declares that His death was the
consummation and fulfilment of such teaching of
sacrifice.

An essential distinction must be made between the
sacrifices of the Old and New Testaments.  Hebrews 10:4
explains that the Levitical priest would repeatedly make
sacrifices for sins - first for himself and then for the
people.  This would occur repeatedly because "it is
impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sins".  In contrast, Christ has offered one
sacrifice for sin that is able to deal with the root
problem of indwelling sin (Hebrews 10:11-14) - expiation
of guilt was secured, effected by vicarious
substitutionary punishment.

It is important to realise that Christ's atonement
is not merely a 'covering' of sins whereby they are
treated as non-existent and the sinner as if he had not
committed them.  Sin is serious, and confession must
occur for forgiveness (I John 1:8-9).  However the
regenerate believer has been reconciled and united with
Christ as a member of His body, and hence shares in the
righteousness of Christ (Galatians 2:20; Colossians
1:21).  One is justified, not in the sense of possessing
a righteousness of one's own (Philippians 3:9) but
because one belongs to Christ.

CONCLUSION

Lean Morris (1950, p. 888) expresses the consensus
of evangelicals in saying that the consistent Biblical
view is that the sin of man has incurred the wrath of
God.  Only Christ's atoning offering averts that wrath.
From this standpoint, His saving work is properly called
propitiation.

"Reconciliation" sets forth the benefit of the
death of Christ for the sinner but propitiation indicates
both this and the manner whereby sinners are made friends
of God.  Christ both propitiates and offers Himself as
the propitiation.  He is the sacrifice and the High
Priest who sacrifices Himself (John 1:29, 36; I
Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 10:14; I Peter
1:19; Revelation 5:6, 8).

Just as the covering of the Ark in the Tabernacle
was the place where God's forgiving mercy was shown, so
now the cross of Christ is the place where His saving
mercy has been manifested.


WORKS CITED

Easton. nd. `Propitiation' in Easton's Bible Dictionary,
BibleWorks for Windows, Hermeneutika Computer Bible
Research Software, Big Fork, Montana.

Hebert, A. G. 1950. 'Atone' in A Theological Word Book of
the Bible, ed. A. Richardson, Collier Books, New
York.

Morris, L. 1984. 'Propitiation', in Evangelical
Dictionary of Theology, ed. W. A. Elwell, Marshall
Morgan & Scott Publications, Ltd., Avon.

________.1994. The Cross of Jesus, The Paternoster Press,
Carlisle, U.K.

North, C. R. 1950. 'Sacrifice', in A Theological Word
Book of the Bible, ed. A. Richardson, Collier Books,
New York.

Pecota, D. 1994. 'The Saving Work of Christ', in
Systematic Theology: A Pentecostal Perspective, ed.
S. M. Horton, Logion Press, Springfield, Missouri.

Stott, J. R. W. 1989. The Cross of Christ, 2d. ed.,
Inter-Varsity Press.

Thayer, J. H. 1981. The new Thayer's Greek-English
lexicon of the New Testament, Hendrickson
Publishers, Massachusetts.

Thiessen, H. C. 1979. Lectures in Systematic Theology,
rev. ed., Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand
Rapids, Michigan.

Vine, W. E. 1981. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and
New Testament Words, World Bible Publishers, Iowa
Falls, Iowa.

Wright, D. F. 1968. In Understanding be Men, 6th. ed,
Inter-Varsity Press.

Zodhiates, S. 1992. The Complete Word Study New
Testament, 2d. ed., AMG Publishers, Chattanooga,
Tennessee.

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