Christ is the propitiation for our sins; He is set forth by God to
be a propitiation through His blood.
Propitiation means mercy-seat, or covering. The mercy-seat covering
the ark of the covenant was called propitiation (Exod. 25:22;
Heb. 9:5.) It is that by which God covers, overlooks, and pardons
the penitent and believing sinner because of Christ's death.
Propitiation furnishes a ground on the basis of which God could
set forth His righteousness, and yet pardon sinful men, Rom. 3:25,
26; Heb. 9:15. Christ Himself is the propitiatory sacrifice, 1
John 2:2. The death of Jesus Christ is set forth as the ground on
which a righteous God can pardon a guilty and sinful race without
in any way compromising His righteousness.
3. AS A RECONCILIATION. Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18, 19; Eph. 2:16; Col.
1:20.
We are reconciled to God by the death of His Son, by His Cross, and
by the blood of His Cross--that is the message of these scriptures.
Reconciliation has two sides; active and passive. In the _active_
sense we may look upon Christ's death as removing the enmity
existing between God and man, and which had hitherto been a barrier
to fellowship (see the above quoted texts). This state of existing
enmity is set forth in such scriptures as Rom. 8:7--"Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God." Also Eph. 2:15; Jas. 4:4. In
the _passive_ sense of the word it may indicate the change of
attitude on the part of man toward God, this change being wrought
in the heart of man by a vision of the Cross of Christ; a change
from enmity to friendship thus taking place, cf. 2 Cor. 5:20. It
is probably better to state the case thus: God is propitiated, and
the sinner is reconciled (2 Cor. 5:18-20).