Post by Lee on Jun 17, 2014 2:53:11 GMT
“Propitiation” (hilasmos) is a term found twice in the New Testament with reference to Christ. The passages are 1 Jno. 2:2; 4:10.
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Propitiation means appeasement, conciliation; but the scriptural idea does not comprehend that of substitution or the payment of a debt, as is evident from the last-quoted passage. The wrath of God is revealed against sin, but He offers reconciliation on the basis of approach “in Christ,” through his sacrifice. Christ having died unto sin once in obedience to the divine command, is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father and given for a Saving Name to whosoever will receive the gracious invitation of God. By baptism, upon belief of the gospel and repentance, a man enters the name of Christ, who thus becomes “a propitiation for his sins.”
There is another place (Rom. 3:25), where “propitiation” is found, but the word here (hilasteerion) means rather a place of propitiation (see R.V., marg.), or “mercy-seat” as it is rendered in Heb. 9:5, the only other place in the N.T. where it occurs. But the idea is the same. In the Mosaic economy the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony was the place (divinely specified) where God met with Aaron the high priest (Ex. 30:6), concerning “all things which (said God) I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel” (Ex. 25:22). This, as Paul explains (Heb. 9.), was a figure of Christ, in whom “God commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). To such as hearken unto the divine command Christ becomes a “propitiatory” or “mercyseat,” where a repentant sinner, being in the high priest by baptism into Christ, may meet with God according to the commandment in hope of the great salvation hereafter to be revealed. Much misinterpretation has gathered round these terms in Christendom; but the truth is intelligible and beautiful. God is the author of it all, and Christ is “God with us.”
1912 Christadelphian: Volume 49. 1912 (electronic ed.) (361). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Propitiation means appeasement, conciliation; but the scriptural idea does not comprehend that of substitution or the payment of a debt, as is evident from the last-quoted passage. The wrath of God is revealed against sin, but He offers reconciliation on the basis of approach “in Christ,” through his sacrifice. Christ having died unto sin once in obedience to the divine command, is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father and given for a Saving Name to whosoever will receive the gracious invitation of God. By baptism, upon belief of the gospel and repentance, a man enters the name of Christ, who thus becomes “a propitiation for his sins.”
There is another place (Rom. 3:25), where “propitiation” is found, but the word here (hilasteerion) means rather a place of propitiation (see R.V., marg.), or “mercy-seat” as it is rendered in Heb. 9:5, the only other place in the N.T. where it occurs. But the idea is the same. In the Mosaic economy the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony was the place (divinely specified) where God met with Aaron the high priest (Ex. 30:6), concerning “all things which (said God) I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel” (Ex. 25:22). This, as Paul explains (Heb. 9.), was a figure of Christ, in whom “God commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). To such as hearken unto the divine command Christ becomes a “propitiatory” or “mercyseat,” where a repentant sinner, being in the high priest by baptism into Christ, may meet with God according to the commandment in hope of the great salvation hereafter to be revealed. Much misinterpretation has gathered round these terms in Christendom; but the truth is intelligible and beautiful. God is the author of it all, and Christ is “God with us.”
1912 Christadelphian: Volume 49. 1912 (electronic ed.) (361). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.
