The Death of Christ: Part 8 - Propitiation, the Means of Expiation

TBC Glassboro Sermons and More · The Death Of Christ: Part 8 - Propitiation, The Means Of Expiation

There are five elements of propitiation.  First, there is an offense (i.e., sin) which needs to be removed.  Second, there is an offended party (i.e., God), who needs to be pacified.  Third, there is an offending party (i.e., humanity), who needs to acknowledge their guilt.  Fourth, there is a sacrifice (i.e., Jesus) to make atonement for the offense.  Fifth, there is a high priest (i.e., Jesus) who offers the sacrifice.


Jesus’ sacrificial death was the means of expiation by which God’s wrath is propitiated or covered.

• being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation (hilastērion) in His blood through faith. - Romans 3:24
  

Jesus is both the Propitiator and the Propitiation — High Priest and Sacrificial Lamb.  It is Jesus’ action of obedience to the death on the cross that appeases God’s wrath.

• and He Himself is the propitiation (hilasmós) for our sins;  - 1 John 2:2
  
• {God] sent His Son to be the propitiation (hilasmós) for our sins. - 1 John 4:10  

Hebrews demonstrates the doctrine of propitiation.   

• Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. - Hebrews 2:17  
  

It shows that Jesus, as a priest, represented the people, who were guilty of the offense.  It shows that Jesus, as a sacrifice, expiated or propitiated the offense or sins of the people.  Hebrews shows Jesus as both the Passover Lamb and the Sin-offering who shed His blood.  

• For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. - Hebrews 13:11