Greetings,
may i share one explanation of the word 'propitiation' ?
as it appears in Romans 3:25 but discusses other instances and help the reader to grasp the message before them.
(please remember that this is only one verse in a chapter of one book of the Bible.
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;
Set forth (προέθετο)
Publicly, openly (πρό); correlated with to declare. He brought Him forth and put Him before the public. Bengel, "placed before the eyes of all;" unlike the ark of the covenant which was veiled and approached only by the high-priest. The word is used by Herodotus of exposing corpses (v. 8); by Thucydides of exposing the bones of the dead (ii. 34). Compare the shew-bread, the loaves of the setting-forth (τῆς προθεσέως). See on Mar 2:26. Paul refers not to preaching, but to the work of atonement itself, in which God's righteousness is displayed. Some render purposed or determined, as Rom 1:13; Eph 1:9, and according to the usual meaning of πρόθεσις purpose, in the New Testament. But the meaning adopted here is fixed by to declare.
Propitiation (ἱλαστήριον)
This word is most important, since it is the key to the conception of Christ's atoning work. In the New Testament it occurs only here and Heb 9:5; and must be studied in connection with the following kindred words: ἱλάσκομαι which occurs in the New Testament only Luk 18:13, God be merciful, and Heb 2:17, to make reconciliation. Ἱλασμός twice, Jo1 2:2; Jo1 4:10; in both cases rendered propitiation. The compound ἐξιλάσκομαι, which is not found in the New Testament, but is frequent in the Septuagint and is rendered purge, cleanse, reconcile, make atonement.
Septuagint usage. These words mostly represent the Hebrew verb kaphar to cover or conceal, and its derivatives. With only seven exceptions, out of about sixty or seventy passages in the Old Testament, where the Hebrew is translated by atone or atonement, the Septuagint employs some part or derivative of ἱλάσκομαι or ἐξιλάσκομαι or Ἱλασμός or ἐξιλασμός is the usual Septuagint translation for kippurim covering for sin, A.V., atonement. Thus sin-offerings of atonement; day of atonement; ram of the atonement. See Exo 29:36; Exo 30:10; Lev 23:27; Num 5:8, etc. They are also used for chattath sin-offering, Eze 44:27; Eze 45:19; and for selichah forgiveness. Psa 129:4; Dan 9:9.
These words are always used absolutely, without anything to mark the offense or the person propitiated.
Ἱλάσκομαι, which is comparatively rare, occurs as a translation of kipher to cover sin, Psa 65:3; Psa 78:38; Psa 79:9; A.V., purge away, forgive, pardon. Of salach, to bear away as a burden, Kg2 5:18; Psa 25:11 : A.V., forgive, pardon. It is used with the accusative (direct objective) case, marking the sin, or with the dative (indirect objective), as be conciliated to our sins.
Ἑξιλάσκομαι mostly represents kipher to cover, and is more common than the simple verb. Thus, purge the altar, Eze 43:26; cleanse the sanctuary, Eze 45:20; reconcile the house, Dan 9:24. It is found with the accusative case of that which is cleansed; with the preposition περί concerning, as "for your sin," Exo 32:30; with the preposition ὑπέρ on behalf of A.V., for, Eze 45:17; absolutely, to make an atonement, Lev 16:17; with the preposition ἀπό from, as "cleansed from the blood," Num 35:33. There are but two instances of the accusative of the person propitiated: appease him, Gen 32:20; pray before (propitiate) the Lord, Zac 7:2.
Ἱλαστηριον, A.V., propitiation, is almost always used in the Old Testament of the mercy-seat or golden cover of the ark, and this is its meaning in Heb 9:5, the only other passage of the New Testament in which it is found. In Eze 43:14, Eze 43:17, Eze 43:20, it means a ledge round a large altar, and is rendered settle in A.V.; Rev., ledge, in margin.
This term has been unduly pressed into the sense of explanatory sacrifice. In the case of the kindred verbs, the dominant Old-Testament sense is not propitiation in the sense of something offered to placate or appease anger; but atonement or reconciliation, through the covering, and so getting rid of the sin which stands between God and man. The thrust of the idea is upon the sin or uncleanness, not upon the offended party. Hence the frequent interchange with ἀγιάζω to sanctify, and καθαρίζω to cleanse. See Eze 43:26, where ἐξιλάσονται shall purge, and καθαριοῦσιν shall purify, are used coordinately. See also Exo 30:10, of the altar of incense: "Aaron shall make an atonement (ἐξιλάσεται) upon the horns of it - with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement" (καθαρισμοῦ purification). Compare Lev 16:20. The Hebrew terms are also used coordinately.
Our translators frequently render the verb kaphar by reconcile, Lev 6:30; Lev 16:20; Eze 45:20. In Lev 8:15, Moses put blood upon the horns of the altar and cleansed (ἐκαθάρισε) the altar, and sanctified (ἡγίασεν) it, to make reconciliation (τοῦ ἐξιλάσασθαι) upon it. Compare Eze 45:15, Eze 45:17; Dan 9:24.
The verb and its derivatives occur where the ordinary idea of expiation is excluded. As applied to an altar or to the walls of a house (Lev 14:48-53), this idea could have no force, because these inanimate things, though ceremonially unclean, could have no sin to be expiated. Moses, when he went up to make atonement for the idolatry at Sinai, offered no sacrifice, but only intercession. See also the case of Korah, Num 16:46; the cleansing of leprosy and of mothers after childbirth, Leviticus 14:1-20; Lev 12:7; Lev 15:30; the reformation of Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34; the fasting and confession of Ezra, Ezr 10:1-15; the offering of the Israelite army after the defeat of Midian. They brought bracelets, rings, etc., to make an atonement (ἐξιλάσασθαι) before the Lord; not expiatory, but a memorial, Num 31:50-54. The Passover was in no sense expiatory; but Paul says, "Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us; therefore purge out (ἐκκαθάρατε) the old leaven. Let us keep the feast with sincerity and truth;" Co1 5:7, Co1 5:8.
In the Old Testament the idea of sacrifice as in itself a propitiation continually recedes before that of the personal character lying back of sacrifice, and which alone gives virtue to it. See Sa1 15:22; Psa 40:6-10; Psa 50:8-14, Psa 50:23; Psa 51:16, Psa 51:17; Isa 1:11-18; Jer 7:21-23; Amo 5:21-24; Mic 6:6-8. This idea does not recede in the Old Testament to be reemphasized in the New. On the contrary, the New Testament emphasizes the recession, and lays the stress upon the cleansing and life-giving effect of the sacrifice of Christ. See Joh 1:29; Col 1:20-22; Heb 9:14; Heb 10:19-21; Pe1 2:24; Jo1 1:7; Jo1 4:10-13.
The true meaning of the offering of Christ concentrates, therefore, not upon divine justice, but upon human character; not upon the remission of penalty for a consideration, but upon the deliverance from penalty through moral transformation; not upon satisfying divine justice, but upon bringing estranged man into harmony with God. As Canon Westcott remarks: "The scripture conception of ἱλάσκεσθαι is not that of appeasing one who is angry with a personal feeling against the offender, but of altering the character of that which, from without, occasions a necessary alienation, and interposes an inevitable obstacle to fellowship" (Commentary on St. John's Epistles, p. 85).
In the light of this conception we are brought back to that rendering of ἱλαστήριον which prevails in the Septuagint, and which it has in the only other New-Testament passage where it occurs (Heb 9:5) - mercy-seat; a rendering, maintained by a large number of the earlier expositors, and by some of the ablest of the moderns. That it is the sole instance of its occurrence in this sense is a fact which has its parallel in the terms Passover, Door, Rock, Amen, Day-spring, and others, applied to Christ. To say that the metaphor is awkward counts for nothing in the light of other metaphors of Paul. To say that the concealment of the ark is inconsistent with set forth is to adduce the strongest argument in favor of this rendering. The contrast with set forth falls in perfectly with the general conception. That mercy-seat which was veiled, and which the Jew could approach only once a fear, and then through the medium of the High-Priest, is now brought out where all can draw nigh and experience its reconciling power (Heb 10:19, Heb 10:22; compare Heb 9:8). "The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory. We saw and handled" (Joh 1:14; Jo1 1:1-3). The mercy-seat was the meetingplace of God and man (Exo 25:17-22; Lev 16:2; Num 7:89); the place of mediation and manifestation. Through Christ, the antitype of the mercy-seat, the Mediator, man has access to the Father (Eph 2:18). As the golden surface covered the tables of the law, so Christ stands over the law, vindicating it as holy and just and good, and therewith vindicating the divine claim to obedience and holiness. As the blood was annually sprinkled on the golden cover by the High-Priest, so Christ is set forth "in His blood," not shed to appease God's wrath, to satisfy God's justice, nor to compensate for man's disobedience, but as the highest expression of divine love for man, taking common part with humanity even unto death, that it might reconcile it through faith and self-surrender to God.
Through faith
Connect with propitiation (mercy-seat). The sacrifice of Christ becomes effective through the faith which appropriates it. Reconciliation implies two parties. "No propitiation reaches the mark that does not on its way, reconcile or bring into faith, the subject for whom it is made. There is no God-welcome prepared which does not open the guilty heart to welcome God" (Bushnell).
In His blood
Construe with set forth, and render as Rev., by His blood; i.e., in that He caused Him to shed His blood.
To declare His righteousness (εἱς ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ)
Lit., for a shewing, etc. Rev., to shew. For practical proof or demonstration. Not, as so often explained, to shew God's righteous indignation against sin by wreaking its penalty on the innocent Christ. The shewing of the cross is primarily the shewing of God's love and yearning to be at one with man (Joh 3:14-17). The righteousness of God here is not His "judicial" or "punitive" righteousness, but His righteous character, revealing its antagonism to sin in its effort to save man from his sin, and put forward as a ground of mercy, not as an obstacle to mercy.
For the remission of sins that are past (διὰ τὴν πάρεσιν τῶν προγεγονότων ἁμαρτημάτων)
Rev., correctly, because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime. Passing over, praetermission, differs from remission (ἄφεσις). In remission guilt and punishment are sent away; in praetermission they are wholly or partially undealt with. Compare Act 14:16; Act 17:30. Ἁμάρτημα sin, is the separate and particular deed of disobedience, while ἁμαρτία includes sin in the abstract - sin regarded as sinfulness. Sins done aforetime are the collective sins of the world before Christ.
Through the forbearance of God (ἐν τῇ ἀνοχῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ)
Rev., in the forbearance. Construe with the passing by. The word ἀνοχή forbearance, from ἀνέχω to hold up, occurs in the New Testament only here and Rom 2:4. It is not found in the Septuagint proper, and is not frequent in classical Greek, where it is used of a holding back or stopping of hostilities; a truce; in later Greek, a permission.
The passage has given much trouble to expositors, largely, I think, through their insisting on the sense of forbearance with reference to sins - the toleration or refraining from punishment of sins done aforetime. But it is a fair construction of the term to apply it, in its primary sense of holding back, to the divine method of dealing with sin. It cannot be said that God passed over the sins of the world before Christ without penalty, for that is plainly contradicted by Rom 1:18-32; but He did pass them over in the sense that He did not apply, but held back the redeeming agency of God manifest in the flesh until the "fullness of time." The sacrifices were a homage rendered to God's righteousness, but they did not touch sin with the power and depth which attached to Christ's sacrifice. No demonstration of God's righteousness and consequent hatred of sin, could be given equal to that of the life and death of Jesus. Hence Paul, as I take it, says: God set forth Christ as the world's mercy-seat, for the showing forth of His righteousness, because previously He had given no such manifestation of His righteousness, but had held it back, passing over, with the temporary institution of sacrifices, the sin at the roots of which He finally struck in the sacrifice of Christ.
from: Vincent's Word Studies
Bless you ....><>
may i share one explanation of the word 'propitiation' ?
as it appears in Romans 3:25 but discusses other instances and help the reader to grasp the message before them.
(please remember that this is only one verse in a chapter of one book of the Bible.
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;
Set forth (προέθετο)
Publicly, openly (πρό); correlated with to declare. He brought Him forth and put Him before the public. Bengel, "placed before the eyes of all;" unlike the ark of the covenant which was veiled and approached only by the high-priest. The word is used by Herodotus of exposing corpses (v. 8); by Thucydides of exposing the bones of the dead (ii. 34). Compare the shew-bread, the loaves of the setting-forth (τῆς προθεσέως). See on Mar 2:26. Paul refers not to preaching, but to the work of atonement itself, in which God's righteousness is displayed. Some render purposed or determined, as Rom 1:13; Eph 1:9, and according to the usual meaning of πρόθεσις purpose, in the New Testament. But the meaning adopted here is fixed by to declare.
Propitiation (ἱλαστήριον)
This word is most important, since it is the key to the conception of Christ's atoning work. In the New Testament it occurs only here and Heb 9:5; and must be studied in connection with the following kindred words: ἱλάσκομαι which occurs in the New Testament only Luk 18:13, God be merciful, and Heb 2:17, to make reconciliation. Ἱλασμός twice, Jo1 2:2; Jo1 4:10; in both cases rendered propitiation. The compound ἐξιλάσκομαι, which is not found in the New Testament, but is frequent in the Septuagint and is rendered purge, cleanse, reconcile, make atonement.
Septuagint usage. These words mostly represent the Hebrew verb kaphar to cover or conceal, and its derivatives. With only seven exceptions, out of about sixty or seventy passages in the Old Testament, where the Hebrew is translated by atone or atonement, the Septuagint employs some part or derivative of ἱλάσκομαι or ἐξιλάσκομαι or Ἱλασμός or ἐξιλασμός is the usual Septuagint translation for kippurim covering for sin, A.V., atonement. Thus sin-offerings of atonement; day of atonement; ram of the atonement. See Exo 29:36; Exo 30:10; Lev 23:27; Num 5:8, etc. They are also used for chattath sin-offering, Eze 44:27; Eze 45:19; and for selichah forgiveness. Psa 129:4; Dan 9:9.
These words are always used absolutely, without anything to mark the offense or the person propitiated.
Ἱλάσκομαι, which is comparatively rare, occurs as a translation of kipher to cover sin, Psa 65:3; Psa 78:38; Psa 79:9; A.V., purge away, forgive, pardon. Of salach, to bear away as a burden, Kg2 5:18; Psa 25:11 : A.V., forgive, pardon. It is used with the accusative (direct objective) case, marking the sin, or with the dative (indirect objective), as be conciliated to our sins.
Ἑξιλάσκομαι mostly represents kipher to cover, and is more common than the simple verb. Thus, purge the altar, Eze 43:26; cleanse the sanctuary, Eze 45:20; reconcile the house, Dan 9:24. It is found with the accusative case of that which is cleansed; with the preposition περί concerning, as "for your sin," Exo 32:30; with the preposition ὑπέρ on behalf of A.V., for, Eze 45:17; absolutely, to make an atonement, Lev 16:17; with the preposition ἀπό from, as "cleansed from the blood," Num 35:33. There are but two instances of the accusative of the person propitiated: appease him, Gen 32:20; pray before (propitiate) the Lord, Zac 7:2.
Ἱλαστηριον, A.V., propitiation, is almost always used in the Old Testament of the mercy-seat or golden cover of the ark, and this is its meaning in Heb 9:5, the only other passage of the New Testament in which it is found. In Eze 43:14, Eze 43:17, Eze 43:20, it means a ledge round a large altar, and is rendered settle in A.V.; Rev., ledge, in margin.
This term has been unduly pressed into the sense of explanatory sacrifice. In the case of the kindred verbs, the dominant Old-Testament sense is not propitiation in the sense of something offered to placate or appease anger; but atonement or reconciliation, through the covering, and so getting rid of the sin which stands between God and man. The thrust of the idea is upon the sin or uncleanness, not upon the offended party. Hence the frequent interchange with ἀγιάζω to sanctify, and καθαρίζω to cleanse. See Eze 43:26, where ἐξιλάσονται shall purge, and καθαριοῦσιν shall purify, are used coordinately. See also Exo 30:10, of the altar of incense: "Aaron shall make an atonement (ἐξιλάσεται) upon the horns of it - with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement" (καθαρισμοῦ purification). Compare Lev 16:20. The Hebrew terms are also used coordinately.
Our translators frequently render the verb kaphar by reconcile, Lev 6:30; Lev 16:20; Eze 45:20. In Lev 8:15, Moses put blood upon the horns of the altar and cleansed (ἐκαθάρισε) the altar, and sanctified (ἡγίασεν) it, to make reconciliation (τοῦ ἐξιλάσασθαι) upon it. Compare Eze 45:15, Eze 45:17; Dan 9:24.
The verb and its derivatives occur where the ordinary idea of expiation is excluded. As applied to an altar or to the walls of a house (Lev 14:48-53), this idea could have no force, because these inanimate things, though ceremonially unclean, could have no sin to be expiated. Moses, when he went up to make atonement for the idolatry at Sinai, offered no sacrifice, but only intercession. See also the case of Korah, Num 16:46; the cleansing of leprosy and of mothers after childbirth, Leviticus 14:1-20; Lev 12:7; Lev 15:30; the reformation of Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34; the fasting and confession of Ezra, Ezr 10:1-15; the offering of the Israelite army after the defeat of Midian. They brought bracelets, rings, etc., to make an atonement (ἐξιλάσασθαι) before the Lord; not expiatory, but a memorial, Num 31:50-54. The Passover was in no sense expiatory; but Paul says, "Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us; therefore purge out (ἐκκαθάρατε) the old leaven. Let us keep the feast with sincerity and truth;" Co1 5:7, Co1 5:8.
In the Old Testament the idea of sacrifice as in itself a propitiation continually recedes before that of the personal character lying back of sacrifice, and which alone gives virtue to it. See Sa1 15:22; Psa 40:6-10; Psa 50:8-14, Psa 50:23; Psa 51:16, Psa 51:17; Isa 1:11-18; Jer 7:21-23; Amo 5:21-24; Mic 6:6-8. This idea does not recede in the Old Testament to be reemphasized in the New. On the contrary, the New Testament emphasizes the recession, and lays the stress upon the cleansing and life-giving effect of the sacrifice of Christ. See Joh 1:29; Col 1:20-22; Heb 9:14; Heb 10:19-21; Pe1 2:24; Jo1 1:7; Jo1 4:10-13.
The true meaning of the offering of Christ concentrates, therefore, not upon divine justice, but upon human character; not upon the remission of penalty for a consideration, but upon the deliverance from penalty through moral transformation; not upon satisfying divine justice, but upon bringing estranged man into harmony with God. As Canon Westcott remarks: "The scripture conception of ἱλάσκεσθαι is not that of appeasing one who is angry with a personal feeling against the offender, but of altering the character of that which, from without, occasions a necessary alienation, and interposes an inevitable obstacle to fellowship" (Commentary on St. John's Epistles, p. 85).
In the light of this conception we are brought back to that rendering of ἱλαστήριον which prevails in the Septuagint, and which it has in the only other New-Testament passage where it occurs (Heb 9:5) - mercy-seat; a rendering, maintained by a large number of the earlier expositors, and by some of the ablest of the moderns. That it is the sole instance of its occurrence in this sense is a fact which has its parallel in the terms Passover, Door, Rock, Amen, Day-spring, and others, applied to Christ. To say that the metaphor is awkward counts for nothing in the light of other metaphors of Paul. To say that the concealment of the ark is inconsistent with set forth is to adduce the strongest argument in favor of this rendering. The contrast with set forth falls in perfectly with the general conception. That mercy-seat which was veiled, and which the Jew could approach only once a fear, and then through the medium of the High-Priest, is now brought out where all can draw nigh and experience its reconciling power (Heb 10:19, Heb 10:22; compare Heb 9:8). "The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory. We saw and handled" (Joh 1:14; Jo1 1:1-3). The mercy-seat was the meetingplace of God and man (Exo 25:17-22; Lev 16:2; Num 7:89); the place of mediation and manifestation. Through Christ, the antitype of the mercy-seat, the Mediator, man has access to the Father (Eph 2:18). As the golden surface covered the tables of the law, so Christ stands over the law, vindicating it as holy and just and good, and therewith vindicating the divine claim to obedience and holiness. As the blood was annually sprinkled on the golden cover by the High-Priest, so Christ is set forth "in His blood," not shed to appease God's wrath, to satisfy God's justice, nor to compensate for man's disobedience, but as the highest expression of divine love for man, taking common part with humanity even unto death, that it might reconcile it through faith and self-surrender to God.
Through faith
Connect with propitiation (mercy-seat). The sacrifice of Christ becomes effective through the faith which appropriates it. Reconciliation implies two parties. "No propitiation reaches the mark that does not on its way, reconcile or bring into faith, the subject for whom it is made. There is no God-welcome prepared which does not open the guilty heart to welcome God" (Bushnell).
In His blood
Construe with set forth, and render as Rev., by His blood; i.e., in that He caused Him to shed His blood.
To declare His righteousness (εἱς ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ)
Lit., for a shewing, etc. Rev., to shew. For practical proof or demonstration. Not, as so often explained, to shew God's righteous indignation against sin by wreaking its penalty on the innocent Christ. The shewing of the cross is primarily the shewing of God's love and yearning to be at one with man (Joh 3:14-17). The righteousness of God here is not His "judicial" or "punitive" righteousness, but His righteous character, revealing its antagonism to sin in its effort to save man from his sin, and put forward as a ground of mercy, not as an obstacle to mercy.
For the remission of sins that are past (διὰ τὴν πάρεσιν τῶν προγεγονότων ἁμαρτημάτων)
Rev., correctly, because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime. Passing over, praetermission, differs from remission (ἄφεσις). In remission guilt and punishment are sent away; in praetermission they are wholly or partially undealt with. Compare Act 14:16; Act 17:30. Ἁμάρτημα sin, is the separate and particular deed of disobedience, while ἁμαρτία includes sin in the abstract - sin regarded as sinfulness. Sins done aforetime are the collective sins of the world before Christ.
Through the forbearance of God (ἐν τῇ ἀνοχῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ)
Rev., in the forbearance. Construe with the passing by. The word ἀνοχή forbearance, from ἀνέχω to hold up, occurs in the New Testament only here and Rom 2:4. It is not found in the Septuagint proper, and is not frequent in classical Greek, where it is used of a holding back or stopping of hostilities; a truce; in later Greek, a permission.
The passage has given much trouble to expositors, largely, I think, through their insisting on the sense of forbearance with reference to sins - the toleration or refraining from punishment of sins done aforetime. But it is a fair construction of the term to apply it, in its primary sense of holding back, to the divine method of dealing with sin. It cannot be said that God passed over the sins of the world before Christ without penalty, for that is plainly contradicted by Rom 1:18-32; but He did pass them over in the sense that He did not apply, but held back the redeeming agency of God manifest in the flesh until the "fullness of time." The sacrifices were a homage rendered to God's righteousness, but they did not touch sin with the power and depth which attached to Christ's sacrifice. No demonstration of God's righteousness and consequent hatred of sin, could be given equal to that of the life and death of Jesus. Hence Paul, as I take it, says: God set forth Christ as the world's mercy-seat, for the showing forth of His righteousness, because previously He had given no such manifestation of His righteousness, but had held it back, passing over, with the temporary institution of sacrifices, the sin at the roots of which He finally struck in the sacrifice of Christ.
from: Vincent's Word Studies
Bless you ....><>
