Appeased

Romans 3:26 Appeased 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

Defined: propitiation “It is the appeasement or turning away of God’s wrath against sinners by means of an atoning sacrifice. (Charles Martin) propitiation” – Gk hiloskoma is the turning away of anger is a personal word, one “propitiates” a person. God is angry when people sin, and if they are to be forgiven, something must be done about that anger -the death of Christ is God’s means of removing His divine wrath from sinners (Leon Morris). To propitiate means to "placate," "pacify," "appease," "conciliate." And it is this idea that is applied to the atonement accomplished by Christ. (John Murry) It means to appease an offended person. Propitiation is when an offensive or upsetting matter is dealt with in a way that satisfies the offended person. The goal is to restore the relationship broken by the offense. (MacDuff) The prefix pro means “for,” so propitiation brings about a change in God’s attitude, so that He moves from being at enmity with us to being for us. Through the process of propitiation, we are restored into fellowship and favor with Him. So, propitiation has to do with God’s being appeased (Sproul) Propitiation also means to "cover." In connection with this covering there are, in particular, three things to be noted: it is in reference to sin that the covering takes place; the effect of this covering is cleansing and forgiveness; it is before the Lord that both the covering and its effect take place (Lev. 4:35; 10:17; 16:30). In Pagan worship to propitiate a god is to offer a sacrifice that turns aside the god’s wrath. Anyone who believes in a god knows that they need some way to stay on the friendly side of that god. So they give gifts to the god, or serve in the temple, or give alms. And if the god is angry with them, they pay a price, or make a sacrifice, or find some way to soothe the god’s anger: they propitiate him. In pagan propitiation, the gods need to be propitiated because they are grumpy and capricious. They don’t care much about humans except when something makes them angry; then they smite! And it’s up to humans to get busy doing the propitiating, to make up for whatever they’ve done that angered the gods. The humans find something that the gods like (sweets, or meat, or pain, or blood), and offer it as a bribe to calm down their wrathful deities. But every aspect of biblical propitiation contrasts with the pagan kind. First, God requires propitiation, not because he’s moody or easily provoked, but because he is holy and just. God responds to sin with absolute consistency in his wrath (Rom 1:18). Second, biblical propitiation is carried out: not by humans on their own initiative figuring out what God likes, but God himself declaring what kind of sacrifice he accepts, and then providing it. In the OT, God takes credit for providing the blood of animal sacrifice ( Lev 17:11, Matt 26:28). And third, the sacrifice that brings about biblical propitiation: is not a bribe or something nice to tide him over. No, God fulfills the OT symbolism by giving his own Son to die for us. (Trevin Wax) Biblical propitiation is “God himself gave himself to save us from himself.” (Stott)

Distinctions

The Offence- An offence to be taken away. Romans 1-3 is a massive indictment of both Gentiles and Jews -- all mankind. All are sinners (Rom. 3:23) and under the judgment of God, are the objects of his wrath.(Morris) Propitiation presupposes the wrath and displeasure of God, and the purpose of propitiation is the removal of this displeasure. It is that sin evokes the holy displeasure or wrath of God. (Murry) We were

all born “by nature objects of wrath” (Eph 2:3) because we all came into this world under the condemnation of Adam’s sin (Rom 5:12, 18-19). The pretty newborn baby comes into the world an object of God’s wrath---not because of their own sin, but because of their identity with Adam in his. All of us then aggravate our condition by daily adding to it our own personal sin, which by its nature would provoke God’s wrath if we were not in Christ.” (Jerry Bridges) So, sin creates a situation in relation to the Lord, a situation that makes the covering necessary. It is this Godward reference of both the sin and the covering that must be fully appreciated. It may be said that the sin, or perhaps the person who has sinned, is covered before the sight of the lord. (Murry) “God has given us every opportunity, but we have sinned. His wrath is the consequence.” (Morris) God’s wrath has been defined as His settled determination to punish sin. It is more than that; it’s a determination to punish sin with a vengeance. Unrepentant people are said to be “storing up wrath [against] themselves for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom 2:5). We know that God stores up goodness for those [the Regenerated] who fear Him (Proverbs 14:27), but the unrepentant stores up wrath for themselves. (Bridges) Ultimately, Jesus died to save us from the wrath of God. Christ’s supreme achievement on the cross is that He placated the wrath of God, which would burn against us were we not covered by the sacrifice of Christ. (1 Thess 1:10) (Sproul)

The Offended -God A person offended who needs to be pacified. Propitiation is the appeasing of the one offended by covering the cause of his anger. Propitiation speaks primarily to the effect of satisfaction upon God as the offended party. (Burridge)

The Offender - An offending person; one guilty of the offence. All mankind has offend God and deserve his just punishment (Rom 1:18, 3:19-23 ) There is no doubt that one thing and one thing only aroused God’s anger: sin. God was always angry with sin (Job 21:20, Ez. 8:17-18, 26:38, 23:25, Ex. 22:22-24, Jer. 6:11-13, and idolatry (Ex. 32:8-10; Deut. 6:14-15). God’s wrath is invariably aroused by human sin, we have offended God (Murry) Your sin has offended God. It makes you deserving of the anger and the wrath of God. That is the bad news. The good news is that Jesus was the satisfaction. He satisfied the righteous judgment of God. (Arnold)

The Offering - by his blood (Heb 9:11-18, 22 Lev 17:11) A sacrifice to atonement for the offence. God set forth in Genesis that blood is the acceptable sacrifice for sin (Gen 3:21, 4:1-5). The OT blood sacrifices were temporary and only atoned for sin partially and for a short time, hence the need to repeat the sacrifices yearly. But when Christ entered the Most Holy Place, He did so to offer His own blood once for all time, making future sacrifices unnecessary. The work of Christ for us; that is absolutely and eternally complete. "I have finished the work," (John 17:4); “It is finished," (John 19:30) (Reed). There is symbolism in the temple worship, when the High Priest would once a year enter the holy place with blood to offer propitiation for sins. The only furniture in the holy place was “the Mercy Seat”, which was a slab of pure gold covering the Ark of the Covenant that contained the tablets of God’s law. The law exposed the reality of our sins against the moral principles. The covering symbolically represented how God would cover our guilt through the promised Redeemer. When the priests of the OT offered sacrifices they were symbolically covering over sin (Lev 4:35 10:17 16:30). In this sense, propitiation is a covering over sin to hide that which is offensive to remove God’s anger as the offended party. As faithful high priest Jesus is the covering over the sins of his people (Heb 9:1-7, 11-14, 22, 24-28). He is their propitiation. He did what the priests of the OT could only symbolize. The effectiveness of the ancient sacrifices was based upon the future work of Jesus, the great Propitiator. He paid the debt by dying in place of the repentant sinner. His work covers their guilt to satisfy God’s justice (Heb 9:14) and turn away God’s wrath (Rom 5:9). That wrath was poured out on him and satisfied God’s demand for justice toward his people (1 John 2:2) (Mc Duff) Christ did His work on the cross to placate the wrath of God.(Sproul) "Jesus' blood 'propitiated' or satisfied God’s wrath (1:18), God’s righteous anger needed to be appeased before sin could be forgiven, and God in his love sent his Son (who offered himself willingly) to satisfy God’s holy anger against sin. (ESV Notes) There is no other way of being saved but by the blood of Christ. What is needed is to know that we are saved— absolutely, perfectly, eternally saved. There is no such thing as being partly saved and partly lost, partly justified and partly guilty, partly alive and partly dead, partly born of God and partly not. There are but the two states, and we must be in either the one or the other. (Ex 12) (Reed)

Applications to be received by faith.

Pure before God: We are cleansed form sin (1John 1:7-9) In daily life there is a constant temptation to ignore Christ as our God-given propitiation, and to seek other ways of cutting little deals with God (I’ll go to Church, I’ll attend a Bible Study, I’ll help the homeless, I’ll give to compassion monthly) , to curry his favor and appease his wrath, to give him something he’ll like so he’ll at least refrain from smiting us, and maybe even reward us with various blessings and goodies. Don’t do this, it is a lack of faith in the complete work of Christ in propitiation on or behalf. To lapse into pagan modes of propitiation is to take way too much onto your own shoulders (you’re not big enough or good enough to propitiate the true God) and attempt to solve it with entirely inappropriate resources (your sin isn’t small enough to be set aside by those little offerings). Everybody desires to know that they are right with God. There’s only one way of propitiation: the one that God himself put forward in the blood of Jesus, to be received by faith, the one who is his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. (Trevin Wax)

Peace with God; We have peace with God (Col 1:20, Heb 9:14) In the Passover story, the blood applied secured Israel's peace. There was nothing more required in order to enjoy settled peace, than the application of "the blood of sprinkling." God did not add anything to the blood, because nothing more was necessary to obtain salvation from the sword of judgment. He did not say, "When I see the blood and the unleavened

partly sheltered by the blood, and partly exposed to the death angel. He knew he was safe. He did not hope so. He was not praying to be so. He was perfectly safe. And why? Because God had said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you," (Exod 12:13). He simply rested upon God's testimony about the shed blood. He set to his seal that God was true. He believed that God meant what He said, and that gave him peace. He was able to take his place at Passover meal in confidence, quietness, and assurance, knowing that the destroyer could not touch him, when a spotless victim had died in his stead. If an Israelite had been asked as to his enjoyment of peace, Would he have said, "I know there is no other way of escape but by the blood of the lamb; and I know it is a divinely perfect way; and, I know that the blood has been shed and sprinkled on my door post; but somehow, I do not feel quite comfortable. I am not quite sure if I am safe. I fear I do not value the blood as I ought, nor love God as I ought?" Would such have been his answer? Assuredly not! And yet hundreds of professing Christians say this, when asked if they have peace. They put their thoughts about the blood in place of the blood itself, and thus, in result, make salvation as much dependent upon themselves as if they were to be saved by works. The Israelite was saved by the blood alone, and not by his thoughts about it. His thoughts had nothing to do with his safety. He was not saved by his thoughts or feelings, but by the blood. God did not say, "When you see the blood, I will pass over you." No; but, "When I see the blood." What gave an Israelite peace was the fact that Jehovah's eye rested on the blood. This calmed his heart. The blood was outside, and the Israelite inside, so that he could not possibly see it; but God saw it, and that was quite enough. The application of this to the question of a sinner's peace is very plain. Christ, having shed His blood as a perfect atonement for sin, has taken it into the presence of God and sprinkled it there; and God's testimony assures the believer that everything is settled on his behalf. All the claims of justice have been fully answered; sin has been perfectly put away, so that the full tide of redeeming love may roll down from the heart of God, along the channel which the sacrifice of Christ has opened for it. To this truth the Holy Ghost bears witness. He ever sets forth the fact of God's estimate of the blood of Christ. He points the sinner's eye to the accomplished work of the cross. He declares that all is done, that sin has been put far away, and righteousness is brought near (Reed)

Pronouncement by God: We are loved by God (I John 4:10, Rev 1:5) The propitiation of the divine wrath is the provision of God's eternal and unchangeable love, so that through the propitiation of his own wrath that love may realize its purpose. The wrathful God is loving. Propitiation is the fruit of the divine love that provided it.). The propitiation is the ground upon which the divine love operates and the channel through which it flows in achieving its end. It enhances the marvel of God’s love. For it shows the cost that redemptive love entails. (Murry)

Procurement from God: We live because of Christ (1 Pet 1:19-20) If you are in Christ, you live because of the blood of the Lamb of God. He is one who not only takes away our sin (John 1:29),but who turns away God’s wrath against us(1 Cor 5:7) The Israelites lived because of the blood of the lambs that were slain at Passover. If you are in Christ, you live because of the blood of the Lamb of God. In the blood of Christ, we have what we lost in Adam, namely, life. The shedding of our Savior’s blood was significant not for the blood itself but for what it represents. It represents the perfect, sinless life of Christ poured out for us (Isa. 53:12).Yet, if all that needed to happen was for Jesus to shed some blood, He could have pricked His finger and placed some blood on the cross or let it spill on the ground, then all would have been well. His precious blood signified His precious life and His precious death. Consequently, the redeemed do not receive a blood transfusion from God. We receive a life transfusion—His death for our death, His life for our life. It all is according to His precious blood, which satisfies God’s righteous requirements for life and justice. (Anthony Carter Blood Work)