"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).
Two foundational concepts to the doctrine of the Atonement are propitiation and expiation. Expiation has to do with the act of removing our guilt by paying to God the penalty for sin. Propitiation has to do with bringing about a change in God’s attitude, with appeasing His righteous anger, whereby we are restored to fellowship and favor with Him.
Salvation in general has to do with placating and appeasing the wrath of a holy God. As 1 Thessalonians 1:10 teaches us, Jesus’ sacrifice turns away God’s wrath, His righteous anger that is unleashed in judgment. Many people refuse to think of God in these terms. They believe that God is loving and gentle with everyone, and that Jesus’ death on the cross had nothing to do with appeasing God’s anger. They believe that Jesus paid a ransom to Satan to set the captives free, or they believe that Jesus’ death served no other purpose than to establish a model for us to live self-sacrificially.
Such views, however, are far from the truth. For one, Jesus did not pay a ransom to Satan. The payment for redemption went to God the Father. He is the one to whom sinners are indebted. A ransom—understood in biblical terms—had to do with payment for redemption of an individual who had sold himself into slavery because of poverty or who was forced into slavery because of debts. The ransom, or the payment, was paid to the master. In this case, the ransom went to God, for He is the one to whom we owed payment, and it was Jesus who offered Himself as payment to the Father on our behalf.
The only hope we have to escape the wrath of God is to be covered by the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus. We are sinners in the hands of an angry God, and He holds us over the pit of hell as if we dangled on a slender thread that could break at any moment. The only thing that can pull us to safety is the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. God’s wrath is quenched by the propitiation of our sins, by the removal of our guilt, “by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness” (Rom. 3:24–25). He is our propitiation, sent by the Father Himself to stand in our place, to bear the wrath of God, and to set us free from the curse of the Law.
Have you ever had someone angry at you for a justifiable reason? What did it feel like? What was your relationship with that person like during that time? What was it like when that person’s anger was appeased? How do you manifest your gratitude for the mercy God has shown you in Christ? Memorize today’s verse. Meditate on it today.
