Christ: the Propitiation for the Sins of the World

 

“...And He Himself
is the Propitiation for our sins;
And not for ours only,
But also for those of the whole world.”
1 Jn 2:2

 

It is hardly appropriate to put together an issue of Christian Chronicles on the crucifixion without specifying what the significance of that deed was. And is. The central event in human history involves no less than the complete execution of God’s judgment on sin for all time. The sin question was settled at Calvary. Today, we have a faith issue instead of a sin issue.

We often think of the cross of Christ as a display of the love and mercy of God, and it is just that, and infinitely so. Yet, in the cross is also displayed the righteousness and justice of God. His provision of a Substitute for the sinner demonstrated God’s mercy because of His love; His righteous judgment of sin upon His Son, our Substitute, demonstrated God’s justice because of His righteousness. The Law demands death for sin; Christ was our death, even as He is our life.

In Leviticus 16, we read of the high priest entering the Holy of Holies once a year with the blood of a goat and sprinkling the mercy seat, which was covered by two cherubim that symbolized both the justice and righteousness of God. Jesus Christ, our High Priest, offered a sacrifice to God and was Himself the sacrifice He offered. Dr. George Meisinger writes, “The Cross, in effect, was the ultimate mercy seat and Christ's shed blood (death) was the sacrifice that satisfied God. As a sacrificed animal in Israel's dispensation temporarily satisfied God's requirement for a payment for sin, so Christ's sacrifice once-and-for-all has forever satisfied the Father.” (Cp: Heb 10:12) Because of that perfect sacrifice, He is the propitiation for the sins of the world.

God’s righteousness demands that He remain wrathful toward the sinner until the penalty of sin has been paid. Therefore, it could never be said that God simply overlooks our sin, but rather all sin was judged in Another who offered Himself to God as a propitiation. Because of the perfection of that sacrifice, God has been rendered propitious. Propitiation is then the satisfaction of God’s wrath toward the sinner and the foundation of that sacrifice is the crucifixion of Christ, who is Himself our propitiation.

Because of Christ’s propitiation, God’s wrath toward man’s sin is satisfied. The way is now open for Him to justly receive the sinner, having satisfied the demands of His holy wrath Himself by pouring out that wrath on His own Son, who gathered the wages of the sinners’ sins in Himself on the cross. Lewis Sperry Chafer writes, “Attention should be called to the fact that God saves a sinner or restores a saint without striking a blow or even offering a word of criticism. It is too often supposed that human repentance and sorrow soften the heart of God and render Him propitious. It is the legal fact that Christ has borne all sin which renders God propitious. (emphasis added) The most determining truth to which all gospel preaching should be harmonized is that God is propitious; thus all the burden is taken off sinner or Christian, only leaving him to believe that through Christ's bearing his sin God is propitious.”

Thus, now exhorting a lost soul to “ask God for forgiveness” is wholly inappropriate in light of the fact that, that which is requested has already been done, and that, to infinity. He must only believe it to be so. True, not all avail themselves of this gift through faith but instead reject it in unbelief. Yet, this in no way diminishes the perfect work which God has accomplished through His Son. The lost soul is not condemned for his sins for they have been paid for, and God stands propitious toward the sinner. Even so,  that lost soul “has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jn. 3:18b).

In light of Christ being our propitiation and, consequently, God being propitious toward us, there is no reason whatsoever to ask God for something He has already given, or seek to perform any work to appease Him who is already said to be satisfied by the infinitely perfect sacrifice of His own beloved Son. The view of some, especially those who hold to a Lordship Salvation, that God is somehow reluctant to save, needing first to be placated by our remorse for sin and promises to do better, is foreign to the doctrine of propitiation as presented in the Scriptures. Dr. Chafer sums up well, saying,

“This fact of propitiation existing is to be believed. Certainly the adjustment is not to be asked for if it has already been accomplished. The flood-gates of divine mercy are open, the flow coming however only through that channel which Christ as Propitiator is.”