The Beloved Disciple's First Letter - Pt 4

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).

 

Yesterday we looked at this passage from the Apostle John where he writes that we have an “advocate” with the Father who is Jesus Christ. If that were the only declaration of the apostle it would be incredible; however, he goes on to say that Jesus is the “propitiation” (v. 2) for our sins. The Greek word here translated as “propitiation” is ἱλασμός (hē-läs-mos'). It is a very interesting word. It is only used twice in the New Testament, both times by the Apostle John in this letter (cf. 1 John 2:2 and 4:10).

 

Strong’s Greek 2434 this word denotes “the divinely-provided means by which God’s righteous wrath against sin is averted and fellowship with Him is restored. It presupposes both the holiness of God, which cannot ignore sin, and His love, which has made a way for sinners to be reconciled without compromising His justice.” It is also important to note that it is used in the Septuagint as a cognate noun which is frequently linked to the sin-offering prescribed in Leviticus (cf. Leviticus 25:9 LXX). There are two underscoring ideas here. First, sin incurs liability before God, and, second, a God-appointed sacrifice removes that liability. Jewish writers between Malachi and Matthew adopted the term to describe the annual Day of Atonement as well as daily Temple offerings, preparing first-century readers to understand the concept as satisfaction of divine justice rather than mere appeasement of a capricious deity.

 

The Apostle John is very clear. Not only is Jesus our advocate, but He is the atoning sacrifice necessary to satisfy the just nature of God. That atonement is foundational for Christian assurance and fellowship. Early church fathers such as Athanasius highlighted propitiation to defend the incarnation’s necessity. Only God could save, yet only man must pay the debt, thus the God-man achieves hilasmos. Reformers reclaimed the term to emphasize penal substitution over the medieval view of repeated sacrificial oblations. Contemporary orthodox theology continues to affirm hilasmos as essential to the gospel, resisting both moral-influence and governmental theories that minimize substitution and wrath.

 

Jesus Christ, out of the Father’s love, voluntarily became the decisive sacrifice that satisfies divine justice and secures eternal fellowship for all who believe. This truth supplies the bedrock for Christian faith, worship, mission, and hope. What great God we have as our Savior!