Some Special Words - Pt 2

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:1-6 ESV).

The second word for our consideration is “propitiation.” That’s really not a word we use in our normal daily vocabulary; yet, it is a concept we are very familiar with in our regular activity. The Greek word John uses in our reading is ἱλασμός. It is pronounced “hilasmos” and Strong’s Concordance defines it as an offering to appease or satisfy an angry, offended party. It is only used twice (1 John 2:2, 4:10) both times it is a reference to Christ’s atoning blood that appeases God's wrath, on all confessed sin. By the sacrifice of Himself, Jesus Christ provided the ultimate hilasmós ("propitiation"). Let’s see if I can illustrate with a common story. Johnny often got into trouble with his parents. He refused to stop picking on his sister. He delighted in throwing around his toys and then leaving the room. Sometimes he sassed back at his parents when they confronted him. On many days, by the time they finally got Johnny in bed they were exasperated and angry. Two things needed to be done. As well as finding a constructive way to reinforce positive behavior, Johnny’s parents had to find a way to appease their justifiable anger by consistently applying some means of punishment to their son. That is called propitiation, the process whereby anger is appeased through just punishment. We don’t use that word much anymore, but the concept is very much alive. We all get angry at wrong and need to find ways to deal with that anger. God is angry, too, at his incorrigible human race. Like Johnny, we simply do not behave as we ought, and God becomes angry (cf. Romans 1:18-21). He needed to find some means of punishment to appease his anger. The amazing thing about God’s decision is that he punished his Son as Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He is the propitiation for our sins. Look at it again. He redeemed us; bought us out of our slavery and set us free. Then, he made sure all our punishment was dealt with as Jesus stood in our place and died. Again, it becomes very easy to sing “Hallelujah! What a Savior!”