The Propitiation for Our Sins

Let’s be honest.  There are some words in the Bible that we read, and maybe that we’ve read over and over, that we do not know the meaning of.  I John 2 contains one of the more commonly over looked words, and it’s such a shame because the word carries such weight.  John is concluding a section about the continual forgiving power of Christ’s blood and he says “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.” (I John 2:1)  Then, he writes that Christ is the “propitiation…for the sins of the whole world.” (vs. 2)

The beauty and depth of this word, “propitiation,” is so profound.  The word carries the basic idea of appeasement, or satisfaction, specifically towards God. It’s the principle that Christ, by enduring the cross, satisfied God’s demands of justice for our sins.  The penalty for sin is death. (Romans 6:23)  But Jesus chose physical death SO THAT we wouldn’t have to pay for our own souls with OUR spiritual death.

Here are two things this means for followers of Christ. One, it means that JESUS already did the one thing that would appease the wrath of the Father, and nobody or nothing else is needed or acceptable in order to accomplish that.  When a person is converted to Christ (Acts 3:19), submits to His will (James 4:7), and chooses to strive to “keep His commandments” (I John 2:3), he is simply accepting the atonement that the Savior has already provided. You, nor anything that you do, can “atone” for even one single sin. 

Two, Christ as our propitiation means that God loves us. And if He loves us, we should love one another. (I John 4:9-11)  In fact, it’s our love for one another that “perfects” God’s love in us (4:12) Most of us know that the second greatest command is to love one another as we love ourselves.  This desire for us was at the pinnacle of why Christ sacrificed Himself for us.  Are you making Him proud by the way you treat others? God taught us mercy by paying for our sins Himself.  It’s our turn to reciprocate that love by loving one another.

----Darrell Powell 

The Older Son

When one who has been lost is found, there is always rejoicing...right?  If we could all love as purely and forgive as completely as our heavenly father this would be the case.  But we can't, so sometimes other feelings rob us of rejoicing over a brother's return from the "far country."  Jesus' third parable in Luke 15 is often referred to as the Prodigal Son, but it's also about the older son who was just as confused as his brother about what living in the Father's house really meant.

When the younger son left, demanding "the share of property that is coming to me," we're not told about the initial reaction his older brother had.  But if his later attitude is any indication, it may have been that he looked on judgingly and thought "Just what I thought he'd do."  He may have even been envious, thinking "Here I am slaving away, and he gets out of serving Father AND gets his inheritance early!"

To be sure, the younger brother was choosing death, as far as his relationship to the Father was concerned (v. 32), and his forgiveness would require that he leave his sinful life and come home.  This falls right in line with Paul's inspired words, "...how can we who have died to sin still LIVE in it? (Romans 6:2 emp. added).

But let's not pretend it is always easy to rejoice with others.  The older brother was angry that his little brother had wasted his inheritance, come to his senses, and returned home to live again.  His anger stemmed from jealousy. (v. 29)  But here's the problem with jealousy and selfishness: " For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice." (James 3:16)  Our heavenly father is ALWAYS happy when His children come back to Him, and He wants us to feel that same joy. Are you the prodigal who is estranged from the Father and need to come home? Or are you the elder brother who needs to realize that your faithfulness hasn't earned you an extra ounce of God's love. His love for the faithful and the lost is so great that He gave Jesus to die for us.

----Darrell Powell