And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1 John 2:2*
Propitiation – now that’s a mouthful. The term is used four times in scripture, and yet probably not one in 100 Christians can give an understandable definition of the word. For over forty years, I’ve heard preachers try to explain what it means, but have never gotten a definition that I like. They’re either too simplified or too complicated.
As a Bible teacher, I pride myself in making the difficult easy to understand. I have for years sought to explain this word, but haven’t found an answer that is both short and to-the-point. I can make it simple, though.
In the Old Testament, many different kinds of sacrifices were used for different reasons and at different times. Once a year, a ram was sanctified on the Day of Atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel. The High Priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat, which was on top of the ark of the covenant. This atoned for the people’s sin for one year.
Actually, the term “mercy seat” is more a description of what the cover of the ark was, and not a true translation of the Hebrew word (Kapporet). A literal translation would be “propitiatory” or “place of propitiation.” Therefore, the blood of the ram was the propitiation, and the mercy seat (propitiatory) was where it was placed.
When talking sacrifice, the propitiation is where the rubber meets the road. It’s what makes a sacrifice work; it’s what actually takes away the sin. In the case of Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary for the sins of the Human race, the cross was the propitiatory, and the Savior Himself the propitiation. It’s not just the blood of Christ that saves us, but that He gave all of Himself without reserve to become the Propitiation for our sins.
*see also: Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 4:10.
September 27
