Category:Propitiation

Pro*pi`ti*a"tion, n. Etym: [l. propitiatio: cf. F. propitiation.]

1. The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an Offended person; the act of making propitious.

2. (theol.)

Defn: that which propitiates; atonement or atoning sacrifice; Specifically, the influence or effects of the death of christ in Appeasing the divine justice, and conciliating the divine favor. He [jesus christ] is the propitiation for our sins. 1 john ii. 2.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Propitiation - That by which God is rendered propitious, i.e., by which it becomes consistent with his character and government to pardon and bless the sinner. The propitiation does not procure his love or make him loving; it only renders it consistent for him to exercise his love towards sinners. In Romans 3:25 and Hebrews 9:5 (A.V., "mercy-seat") the Greek word hilasterion is used. It is the word employed by the LXX. translators in Exodus 25:17 and elsewhere as the equivalent for the Hebrew kapporeth, which means "covering," and is used of the lid of the ark of the covenant (Exodus 25:21; Exodus 30:6). This Greek word ( hilasterion ) came to denote not only the mercy-seat or lid of the ark, but also propitiation or reconciliation by blood. On the great day of atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil and sprinkled with it the "mercy-seat," and so made propitiation. In 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10, Christ is called the "propitiation for our sins." Here a different Greek word is used ( hilasmos ). Christ is "the propitiation," because by his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he endured. (Compare Hebrews 2:17, where the expression "make reconciliation" of the A.V. is more correctly in the R.V. "make propitiation.")