Why Call Christ The Propitiation?

I trust that you prayed the LORD's prayer again this day. The fifth petition (Matt. 6:12) speaks about forgiveness. Most of us still pray it in its old English form:

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. 

But search as you will and you will not find that prayer anywhere in any of the translations of the Bible. So where'd we get that anyway? All the major translations (ESV,ASV,NASV,NRSV,KJV, NJ) read: our debts . . . our debtors. Not a single one has the word trespasses. How then did we get started with trespasses rather than debts? The answer: The Tyndale Bible (1526), a translation followed by the Book of Common Prayer (1549).  But all the English translations from the King James Version (1611) onward followed the Greek text to translate this petition as Forgive us our debts.

Let's take a look at the idea of debt and forgiveness of debts. 

In the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans we read about the insurmountable debt we all have piled up before God. Quoting Psalm 14:1-3, Paul writes,

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." - Rom 3:10-12 ESV

I recently counseled with a lady who said that she owed something like $40,000 in credit card debt. She said she was trying to pay it off, but did not have the means. Because of the insurmountable interest, reaching as high as 29%, her debt keeps growing and growing each month even though she tries to pay it down as best she can. This frightening reality has trapped many who rely upon credit cards. It is the dreadful manner by which the banks behind those cards make so much. And it is all quite legal.

This compares to what the Bible points toward. We simply cannot and never will be able to pay our debts to God. Our accounts are not and cannot be reconciled. The debt continues to mount daily.

But here comes Jesus Christ to redeem us. The image is that of paying a ransom to set hostages or prisoners free. Paul also calls him the propitiation.

(we) are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. - Rom 3:24-25 ESV

No one ever uses that strange word propitiation any longer and it cannot be understood without some background from the Old Testament.

God commanded His people to create the Ark of the Covenant during the time of the Exodus from Egypt to the Holy Land (Exodus 25:10-28). Within the Ark they placed the golden pot of manna, Aaron’s almond rod, and the tables of stone inscribed with the ten commandments. The lid on top of the ark was called the “Mercy-seat” (propitiation). The ark was placed in that inner room of the traveling tabernacle, called the “Holy of holies.”

Symbolically, the Mercy-seat (propitiation) concealed  from the Lord’s view the commandments of the law. Looking down upon the Mercy-seat He could not see, if you will, the commandments the people had broken. Each year, on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34; 23:23-32), the high priest entered the Holy of holies and sprinkled blood on the Mercy-seat. The blood of the sacrifice covered over their sins and indicated that mercy and forgiveness were available because of the death of the animal.

The Ark of the Covenant 

The writer to the Hebrews explains what this ritual pointed forward to. He points out that the way to the holy places, into the presence of God, was blocked. That is a symbol or a parable, a picture-story, for this present age. According to this parable all the sacrifices and gifts ultimately did not and could not pay the debt we and all men owe to God (Hebrews 9:1-10). They only pointed forward.

But now Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, has come as both the high priest and the sacrifice. He is the unblemished (Deut. 17:1) Lamb of God (John 1:29) whose blood was shed once and for all mankind (Romans 6:10). So the time of sacrifices came to an end and Christ has become the Mercy-seat (propitiation) for all as Paul said. 

Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. - Rom 3:25 ESV

 So we may confidently pray in faith, "Forgive us our debts . . . " 

But what follows from that? More on that tomorrow.

Defining Faith

In the past two posts I have invited you to struggle alongside Thomas the Apostle. I stated that doubting is actually part of the process of arriving at a mature faith. Remember the quote from Barclay?

To believe in Jesus Christ is not simply to accept what he says as true; it is to commit ourselves into his hands, for time and for eternity.

But, having said that, I've not emphasized the fact that the Holy Spirit teaches that faith itself is always God's gift to us. Here is what the Apostle Paul writes.

But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. - Rom 10:8-17 ESV

Note the emphasis upon the word, the word of faith, the Scripture, preaching, good news, gospel, the word of Christ. 

Paul is talking about righteousness, the righteousness of God. To be righteous is to be like God, to live, think and act in full accord with Him and His commands. Who lives like that? Who can? Nobody.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So what hope does Paul offer?

. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. - Rom 3:23-26 ESV

He's talking about God's righteousness again. God demonstrates or shows His righteousness in a most peculiar manner. Instead of condemning us sinners, He sent Christ Jesus, His Son, into the world. He put forward His Son as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Wait, what's that all about? We need to return to the Old Testament and the Old Covenant Tabernacle or later the Temple. The Greek translation of the Hebrew (The Septuagint) has the word Paul uses here in Exodus 25. The word is hilasteyrion. This is the word for the cover or mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Covenant.

You shall 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 you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. - Exd 25:17-18 ESV

The Ark was kept in the most sacred part of the temple, the Holy of holies. No one other than the high priest was ever allowed in that room. And he entered it but one time each year on the Day of Atonement. On that most sacred day the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrificed bull and goat on the mercy seat or atonement plate. The writer to the Hebrews explains how this relates to the sacrificial death of Christ. He tells us that Christ offered himself and his blood once and for all to "purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Hebrews 9:11-15). He thus became the propitiation or hilasteyrion that Paul writes about in Romans 3.

This is the Good News, the Gospel, the Word of Christ. As this Word is proclaimed, preached and taught God does what He always has. He creates. In our case He creates faith in our hearts. As Paul said, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17).

This is why the church has always emphasized the grace of God, that free and undeserved mercy and forgiveness God gives to us in Christ Jesus. This is why we stress the truth that we are saved from judgment and declared righteous in God's eyes by virtue of His grace. We receive and welcome this good news in our hearts by putting our trust and hope in Jesus Christ. This is why we stress that we are saved by faith. This is the message of the Scriptures from one end to the other. This is why we stress that we have no other source and authority for the message, the good news, other than Scripture alone.