Reference: Propitiation
Easton
that by which God is rendered propitious, i.e., by which it becomes consistent with his character and government to pardon and bless the sinner. The propitiation does not procure his love or make him loving; it only renders it consistent for him to execise his love towards sinners.
In Ro 3:25; Heb 9:5 (A.V., "mercy-seat") the Greek word hilasterion is used. It is the word employed by the LXX. translators in Ex 25:17 and elsewhere as the equivalent for the Hebrew kapporeth, which means "covering," and is used of the lid of the ark of the covenant (Ex 25:21; 30:6). This Greek word (hilasterion) came to denote not only the mercy-seat or lid of the ark, but also propitation or reconciliation by blood. On the great day of atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil and sprinkled with it the "mercy-seat," and so made propitiation.
In 1Jo 2:2; 4:10, Christ is called the "propitiation for our sins." Here a different Greek word is used (hilasmos). Christ is "the propitiation," because by his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he endured. (Comp. Heb 2:17, where the expression "make reconciliation" of the A.V. is more correctly in the R.V. "make propitiation.")
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And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.
And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.
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;
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
And over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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.
Fausets
Ro 3:25, hilastrion, "the propitiatory" or mercy seat, the bloodsprinkled lid of the ark, the meeting place between God and His people represented by the priest (1Jo 2:2; 4:10).HIlasmos, abstract for concrete noun. He is all that is needed for propitiation in behalf of our sins, the propitiatory sacrifice provided by the Father's love removing the estrangement, appearing God's righteous wrath against the sinner. A father may be offended with a son, yet all the while love him. It answers in Septuagint to Hebrew kaphar, kippurim to effect an atonement or reconciliation with God (Nu 5:8; Heb 2:17), "to make reconciliation for ... sins," literally, to expiate the sins, eeilaskesteeai. Ps 32:1, "blessed is he whose sin is covered." (See ATONEMENT; RECONCILIATION.)
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But if the man shall have no kinsman to recompense the trespass to, let the trespass be recompensed to the LORD, even to the priest; besides the ram of the atonement, by which an atonement shall be made for him.
A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
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;
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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.
Hastings
The idea of propitiation is borrowed from the sacrificial ritual of the OT, and the term is used in the English Version of the NT in three instances (Ro 3:25; 1Jo 2:2; 4:10) of Christ as offering the sacrifice for sin which renders God propitious, or merciful, to the sinner. In the first of these passages the word is strictly 'propitiatory' (answering to the OT 'mercy-seat'), and Revised Version margin renders 'whom God set forth to be propitiatory,' without, however, essential change of meaning. In the two Johannine passages the noun is directly applied to Christ: 'He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world' (1Jo 2:2); 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins' (1Jo 4:10). In one other passage. Heb 2:17, the RV renders 'to make propitiation for the sins of the people,' instead of, as in AV, 'to make reconciliation.'
1. In the OT.
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And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said to the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up to the LORD; it may be I shall make an atonement for your sin.
And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
And he shall take away all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace-offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
And the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: and the remnant shall be the priest's, as a meat-offering.
And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass-offering to the priest; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and knew it not, and it shall be forgiven him.
And no sin-offering, of which any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to make reconciliation in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.
And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to-night of the children of Israel, to search out the country.
For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.
The same came for a witness, to bear testimony of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say to thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus answered and said to her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked him, and he would have given thee living water.
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;
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;
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctify to the purifying of the flesh:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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.
Morish
The word ??????? is from the verb 'to be propitious.' Propitiation represents in scripture that aspect of the death of Christ in which has been vindicated the holy and righteous character of God, and in virtue of which He is enabled to be propitious, or merciful, to the whole world. 1Jo 2:2; 4:10. A kindred word (the verb) occurs in Heb 2:17, where, instead of 'to make reconciliation,' should be read "to make 'propitiation' for the sins of the people." In '/Romans/3/25/type/wbs'>Ro 3:25, 'propitiation' (??????????) should be 'mercy seat,' as the same word is, and must be, translated in Heb 9:5. See ATONEMENT.
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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;
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
And over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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.
Watsons
PROPITIATION. To propitiate is to appease, to atone, to turn away the wrath of an offended person. In the case before us, the wrath turned away is the wrath of God; the person making the propitiation is Christ; the propitiating offering or sacrifice is his blood. All this is expressed in most explicit terms in the following passages: "And he is the propitiation for our sins," 1Jo 2:2. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins," 1Jo 4:10. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood," Ro 3:25. The word used in the two former passages is ???????; in the last ??????????. Both are from the verb ??????, so often used by Greek writers to express the action of a person who, in some appointed way, turned away the wrath of a deity; and therefore cannot bear the sense which Socinus would put upon it,
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But if the man shall have no kinsman to recompense the trespass to, let the trespass be recompensed to the LORD, even to the priest; besides the ram of the atonement, by which an atonement shall be made for him.
And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, to the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord GOD.
And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court.
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;
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;
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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.