The text of an excellent sermon delivered at Grace Valley Christian Center can be found here. Below is an excerpt from that sermon that discusses both expiation and propitiation:
“In the Greek, the word “to propitiate” is hilaskomai, which means to appease, to placate, to avert, to turn aside the wrath of an offended person by means of a sacrifice. Four things are involved in propitiation: First, there is an offended deity; second, an offending sinner; third, the offense committed; and fourth, the sacrifice which removes the offense and causes the offended person to be gracious to the one who offended him. Salvation, in the Christian sense of the term, requires one very definite type of sacrifice, namely, propitiation. It is directed toward God to turn away his wrath, which is revealed against our offense, that he may be gracious to us.
“For the past century and a half, the idea of a God who is wrathful and opposes sin and sinners has not been accepted by unbelieving theologians. They readily will choose the conception of God as love but want to forget about the idea that God is holy. The notion of an angry God, they say, is not Christian, but pagan. They say the God of Christianity, in their highly evolved conception of it, is always a loving, nice God. When they translate the Greek word hilasmos, as found in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10, they reject the word “propitiation,” preferring to use the word “expiation,” which has to do with the cancellation of sin, but has nothing to do with a sacrifice offered to God to turn away his wrath.
Expiation means that God has canceled our sin and now there is nothing to worry about, but it is not the same as propitiation. One scholar wrote, “Those who hold to the ‘fire and brimstone’ school of theology, who revel in ideas such as that Christ was made a sacrifice to appease an angry God, or that the cross was a legal transaction in which an innocent victim was made to pay the penalty for the crimes of others as a propitiation of a stern God, find no support in Paul. These notions came into Christian theology by way of the legalistic minds of the medieval churchmen.” We must ask: If Christ’s death on the cross was not propitiation, if this sacrifice was not offered to God to turn away his wrath that he may be gracious to us and forgive us our sins and restore us into his fellowship, if the liberals are right that God is love all the time and never angry at sinners, then what is the need for Christ’s death even as expiation? It is doing nothing to God. Why doesn’t God, being nice and loving, just forgive our sins almost automatically whenever we commit them?” Christ, Our Propitiation,1 John 2:1,2 | Sunday, January 14, 2001 By P. G. Mathew, M.A., M. Div., Th.M., Copyright © 2001 by P. G. Mathew
The Battle Cry 
thanks! this was a good explanation of both words…I have wondered what is up with that and what exactly are they getting across with those words, I have a much better understanding now. Peace Bro!
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Perhaps a more easily understood way to speak of ‘propitiation is this:
Romans 5:9-10 states.
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
“What, then, does the phrase “a propitiation. . .by his blood” express? It expresses, in the context of Paul’s argument, precisely this thought: that by his sacrificial death for our sins Christ pacified the wrath of God.” J.I. Packer – Knowing God
“The doctrine of the propitiation is precisely this: That God so loved the objects of his wrath so much that He gave His own Son to the end that He by His blood should make provision for the removal of His wrath.” ibid.
This is Dan’s paraphrase of something else he read:
“God did not hate us because of our sin and came to love us because of the death of His Son, His Son died because He SO LOVED US while we were yet objects of His wrath!
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Great explanations…I’ve wondered why most don’t like the reasoning I give (from scripture) of God’s wrath being satisfied in Christ’s sacrifice. They don’t want to come down on the side of God’s jealousy or holiness being at enmity with our sin. To admit sin against God’s holiness might actually mean they need forgiveness. *gasp*
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Those last ones were part of the message I delivered at the contemporary service yesterday morning. I don’t know how the regular attenders received it. A couple of brothers from the ‘traditional’ service on post came because I attend Bible study with them. The presiding chaplain appreciated the solid word and ‘meat’ I did have some slides, most were simply scripture with particular emphases applied. I think I broke every ‘seeker friendly’ rule for ‘doing church’.
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YAY! Break the ‘seeker’ rules cuz if they really are seeking, they need meat to chew on!
It’s good to hear the presiding pastor was appreciative. I spoke for a MOPs (Mother’s of Preschoolers) meeting once and the coordinator was thrilled for the meat, but some of the ladies weren’t expecting it. We must stay true to what the Lord is telling us to say. 😀
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Amen, Michelle.
Ours is to proclaim – put it out there, pray over it, and let God take care of the rest.
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Dan,
What a great post…!
This cuts to the heart of the whole thing…
Nicely done.
I’m surprised that nobody came here and said “you’re quenching the spirit with these cold definitions” or “I don’t worry about theology, I just love Jesus”…or some such drivel…
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I’m sure I will hear something. . .:) Scripture falls on the side of propitiation, however the impersonal ‘bridging the gulf’ that separates is today’s popular gospel. I mentioned both this last Sunday delivering the morning message in a ‘comtemporary’ military chapel. Two men from the ‘traditional’service, with whom I attend bible study received it well and the presiding Chaplain thought it a good message, the older ladies in the back were nodding their heads, but I have not received feedback from the regular younger folks.
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