Propitiation of Christ

Christ’s death was a propitiation of Divine justice for all sins, past, present, and potential. By propitiation, it is meant a “satisfaction.” We should not equate this to "remission of sins” or “justification” or “regeneration.” "Propitiation” is what Christ accomplished on the cross for all people. 

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2.2

It is necessary to understand the meaning of propitiation, for if Christ died for all, then shouldn't all be saved?

Propitiation is not the same as remission of sins. Propitiation is the basis for this. Because of propitiation, it is then possible for remission of sins, justification, and regeneration. 

(Propitiation was the first step: it was the hard thing; it was the satisfaction of the wage.  It is not salvation, but the provision--the cause for it.

Remission of sins is the release or dismissal of the wage of sin (Romans 6.23). 

I believe the word “remission” is better than forgiveness.  It is the easy thing based upon the hard thing.  It is the effect.  Remission is conditional, though based upon propitiation.  Faith is the condition: Acts 10:43: “whoever believes in Him shall receive remission of sins.”)

No one is immediately saved by the death of Christ. The death of Christ makes one savable but doesn’t change one’s position or condition without further Divine activity.

Propitiation is the satisfaction of Divine justice for the sinner, not a mystical transferal of sinful actions from one person to another. This is important in seeing why the death of Christ in itself didn’t automatically release the sinner from the penalty of sin when Christ died.

John MacArthur writes: "The express idea of Christ's bearing our sins is stated only in 1 Peter 2:24 and Hebrews 9:28. When Peter said that Christ "bore our sins" (v. 24), he meant that Christ bore the penalty for our sins. He endured physical and spiritual death. When Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46), His was the cry of spiritual death. That was the penalty for bearing our sins."

Since Christ died for someone, must that someone be saved? Salvation is more than the death of Christ for someone. The death of Christ is the satisfaction of Divine justice, yet that satisfaction only made salvation possible yet not actual. If it made it actual, then everyone for whom Christ died should be saved without further Divine activity.

The reason not everyone is saved is because not everyone has had faith in Christ. The salvation of all people is not guarantee. It only makes all people savable and guarantees the salvation of all who will believe.

Salvation then depends on a human response, being faith in Christ.

Satan knows this very well: Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. Luke 8.12

Even Jesus confirms... Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace." Luke 7.48-49

Salvation is conditional; it is conditioned upon believing the Word of God concerning the promise of salvation through faith in Christ.

(Unlimited propitiation is supported by the contrast between “our” and the “whole world.”  See 1 John 5.19: “whole” makes it clear, meaning all or completely.  The provision is for all.

Some believe in a “limited atonement”…whatever the word atonement actually means, they make propitiation and remission of sins the same thing.  If one does that, then one either believes all for who Christ died are saved even before they are born, or remission is not salvation.  Those limited atonement people who believe one is not saved until they believe or are regenerated make a distinction between the satisfaction and its effect, being remission or justification.

I believe propitiation is true for all, but remission is not; and remission is salvation, for whom God has remitted sin, He has justified and regenerated.

I prefer remission over forgiveness.  The later seems to include the idea of hard feelings.  The death of Christ was to satisfy divine justice.  Remission speaks of being released from an obligation.  

Charles Hodge says a judicial satisfaction does not by the fact of itself liberate the one for whom it was made, but a condition can be required. 

Acts 10:43  "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive  remission  of sins.")

This understanding of propitiation for all and yet salvation by faith is consistent with free will.
To bear sin is to bear the obligation of sin, but remission of sin (often called “forgiveness”) is being released from the obligation to sin.

This distinction can be found in the Old Testament sacrifices between making satisfaction (propitiation) for sin and forgiveness (remission) of sin; the former being the animal dying for the sin of the sinner, and the latter being the benefit applied to the sinner, which was release from the sin's obligation, being cut off from the land of Israel.

Leviticus 6.7: The priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any one of these things that he may have done in which he trespasses.

The Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament, has for “atonement” the Greek word “hilasmos” which means “propitiation”; this word means “satisfaction.” For the word “forgiven,” it has the Greek word “aphesis,” which means “forgiveness” or “remission.”

(The word “Atonement” probably means the same thing as propitiation, but it could have a broader meaning that includes remission of sins.  The word itself has an origin of meaning “at-one-ment,” which speaks more of reconciliation.  Reconciliation speaks more of a restoration of relationship.)

It is clear in the book of Hebrews that the animal sacrifices were only a shadow or type of the Sacrifice of Christ, and they only provided for sin with a temporal benefit, not for an everlasting, once-and-for-all benefit.

Hebrews 10:11-13: And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man [Jesus Christ], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

The animal sacrifices could not result in remission of sin (take away sin), once for all, but they foreshadowed the one who would take away sin. It could be said that they couldn't really bear sin either, considering the true nature of the obligation, being separation from God, nevertheless, their physical death portrayed the obligation of sin—their blood upon the alter representing their death for sin; and by it the sinner would be forgiven of the obligation of his sin from the temporal consequence, being cut off from the land of Israel.

Jesus bore the obligation of sin for all which means He accomplished a satsifaction (propitiation) of Divine justice for the sins of the world, as John the Apostle says: And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (1 John 2.2)

With reference to Jesus bearing sin, I do not believe it is necessary to think that God gathered together all acts of sin, past, present, and future--those not yet committed--and placed those acts on Christ. It is sufficient to see that Christ bore the sins of the world by bearing the obligation of the sins of the world.

The problem with sin is that God's righteousness must be satisfied against sin. Jesus died on the cross to bear the righteous demands against sin to God's satisfaction. God laying on Jesus the iniquities of us all was the laying on Him the obligation of the iniquities of us all. The transfer of the sinful act is not the satisfaction of Divine justice. What Jesus bore on the cross was the satisfaction of Divine justice. When Jesus bore the sins of all, He bore the obligation of those sins--to bear sins and to die are the same thing.

Remission of sins is taking the obligation away from the sinner--which is possible because someone already bore the obligation.

When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles. Acts 18.5-6 When Paul said to the Jews, Your blood be upon your own heads, he was saying that he was released from accountability for their impending calamity. That calamity may be temporal, as in the coming AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem--in which many Jews perished, or it speaks of their eternal peril. With that latter idea, blood speaks of death that can go beyond the physical to spiritual. But consider that Paul didn't have in mind actual physical blood on top of their heads, but he had in mind peril of which the whole fault rested on those who were informed.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5.21 Jesus was made to be sin for us. Jesus was not turned into a sinful act--like a lustful thought. It simply means that God executed His judgment on Jesus for our sins. Jesus suffered in our stead for what our sins required.

When a person is convicted of a crime and is sentenced to prison, he is bearing his crime. Consider the situation when Ezekiel was to bear their iniquity (Israel's or Judah's) when he laid on his side for a day for each year of Israel's sin. He bore their sin, yet in this case it was in a representative way. He bore their sin by bearing the consequence of their sin but in a representative way. Ezekiel 4.4-6. Jesus actually bore the consequence of all sin.

(Death is the consequence for sin: Rom 6.23: wages of sin is death.

James Denny:  “The death of Christ”:  To die and to bear sin is the same thing:  death being the consequence of sin.  To bear sin and to bear its consequence is the same thing.

Israel bore their sin for 40 years in the wilderness, a year for a day the spies were in the land, Nu 14.34.    Ezekiel bore Israel’s sin by lying on his side a day for each year of their sins, though in a  representative way, Ez 4.4-6.)

Jesus bore the obligation of sin for all the world for all time while on the cross. And this is what John spoke: And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2.2 He bore the obligation of sin for all for all time, and yet, this satisfaction of Divine justice by the fact of itself does not liberate someone. There is a condition that God requires before the propitiation of the cross results in remission of sins: To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. Acts 10.43

The remission of sins is based upon the propitiation, and it is secured for those who will believe--only those who believe will receive it. Those who don't believe will not receive the remission of their sins. These will die in their sins, though Jesus satisfied every demand of God against those sins: Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8.24

I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. 1 John 2.12 Every believer is released from the eternal obligation to his sin. If you are released, then you are accepted of God (justified) and born of God (regenerated). You will not taste the second death (the lake of fire).
Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1.29

The words "takes away" (the Greek “airo”) could mean either "takes away," "take up" or to "bear."  If it means the taking-up-of, it  means Jesus bore sin as the Lamb of God. As Peter said: who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, 1 Peter 2.24.

The world is not exclusive but inclusive as to the world of men:  Jesus said, "For the Son of Man did not come to  destroy  men's  lives  but to save [them]." Luke 9:56  This interpretation is fitting with the understanding that Christ did bear the sins of all on the cross in the sense of providing satisfaction of Divine justice for all (1 John 2.2).
However, it is possible that this statement looks to the completed cosmic outcome of Christ’s sacrifice: he takes away the sin (singular) of the world.  The sin of Adam affected the whole creation, but by the death of Christ, the effects of sin will some day be removed from all creation. 
Christ is the lamb of God, who took upon himself the requirement of sin, being death, and by that satisfaction, all people are made savable and the effects of sin will someday be completely removed from creation.