This is part 3 of a 6-part series. View the entire series here.
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He Himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. – 1 John 2:1-2 NLT
What Is Propitiation?
Propitiation is one of those biblical terms you probably don’t hear in casual conversations. It’s not a commonplace word for many, but understanding the nuance of the words alongside other similar words (such as sacrifice, reconciliation, and justification), helps us better understand the problem of sin and the solution found in Jesus Christ.
Foundationally, the term propitiation refers to the act of appeasing or regaining the favor of someone or something. This can be a divine being, spirit, or person. However, in the context of the Bible, propitiation specifically refers to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross that atoned for our sins, satisfying God’s anger and making us right with Him.
Why Was (Is) God Angry?
God created everything good––reflecting His glory and establishing His power and authority over all things. Sin, or thoughts and actions that go against God’s perfect design, broke that goodness and marred God’s perfect creation. It fragmented the human condition to rely on self rather than on God, and drove us away from His presence.
This is the root of God’s anger. As the distributor of divine justice, God must punish sin or else watch it continue to bring chaos into His good creation. But the need for judgment against sin doesn’t make God happy. His plan was always for us to flourish under His watchful care in the goodness of the garden as it spread across the earth. In seeing the opposite outcome, God’s anger must be poured out to put sin to death and make things right again.
But God’s anger is not like ours. When people get angry, it is often a flippant (or at the very least responsive) emotion outside of our control. It doesn’t speak to reality; it speaks to perception––whether or not that perception is valid. If we feel wronged, we feel angry. When we feel deceived, we feel angry. When we feel cheated, we feel angry. It’s not about what is true, it’s about what we think is true.
God’s anger is not a fickle emotion. It is based on what is true. It is formed and flows from knowing what is right and wrong, good and bad. Because of this moral foundation, God’s anger is always under control and is ultimately used for the good of all creation.
Why Did Christ’s Sacrifice Appease God?
In the letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). This is because life itself flows from God. He breathed life into our lungs and was our connection to eternal life. But sin separated that connection. And as God must punish sin, He must also punish the source of sin––the sinner.
For centuries, the Jews saw the problem of sin and created safeguards to protect themselves from this punishment. They added to the law that God gave in hopes of staying as far away from evil as possible. But no one is above sin––it is part of who we are in our fallen state. Despite their best efforts, no amount of good deeds could undo the consequences of sin.
The same is true today. Christian moralism would falsely teach us that life with God is all about behavioral modification––abstaining from the bad in order to stay on God’s good side. But there is nothing we could offer to God that erase the stains on our soul created by sin.
But in His love for us and in His desire to be with us forever, God sent a perfect, holy sacrifice. A righteous, sinless Man––God the Son incarnate––who could pay the wages of sin and offer us the benefit of appeasing God’s anger and regaining His favor. In other words, Christ’s sacrifice was the propitiation to fix our broken connection to God (see Romans 5:6-11).
This was possible because Jesus was sinless, giving Him the right to stand in our place and take our sins upon Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21). When you think about it logically, an unrighteous person can only pay their own debt of death. But Jesus had no debt to pay. But by becoming our sins on the cross, Jesus willingly took God’s just punishment, satisfying Him forever.
What Does Propitiation Mean for Believers?
Christ’s sacrifice allowed God to remain just while also paving the way for Him to show us His love. This is what Paul means when He said God could be both “just and the justifier." If God ignored the need to punish sin, He would not be just. So instead of punishing us, He takes the punishment. In short, the Son becomes the Justifier by allowing the Father to remain just.
Propitiation opened the door for us to receive God’s mercy and grace while allowing God to properly punish sin in fair judgment. Our life of faith should flow from this reality. Propitiation is not only the removal of sin––it is the bridge to God’s love for us. It does not simply erase our past chapters of sin, it rewrites our story, setting us on a trajectory for beautiful life with God forever.
Experiencing this kind of affection is life changing and should spur us on to show the same kind of love to others in hopes that all would turn to Jesus as the propitiation for their sins. The work on the cross is completed (John 19:30), but Christ’s act of propitiation was only the beginning of God’s work to bring lost souls back to Him.
