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Propitiation
A Big Word To Describe A Great Accomplishment
Many professing Christians, primarily those in "free will" churches, believe
that Jesus died for everyone. But even though that may sound "OK" at
first to those who have been sitting under bad preaching for a long time, it is
a very wrong idea, based perhaps on very superficial bible study or based upon
the understanding of unsaved preachers who may be full of "knowledge" from their
apostate Bible college but in whom the Spirit of God does not dwell. If Jesus died for everyone, then nobody
*can* go to Hell. All their sins are paid for... Payment for sin and deliverance
from Hell is precisely what Christ's death
accomplished. That is the essence of propitiation. God's wrath was
appeased, divine justice was satisfied, completely, for ALL those for whom
Christ died. The Bible does not let us get away with saying "Jesus died
for everybody but some go to Hell because they did not accept Christ as their
Savior". All whom God saves WILL accept Christ as their SAVIOR.... AND as
their MEDIATOR... AND as their LORD... AND as their GOD... AND as their HIGH
PRIEST... AND as their ADVOCATE... AND as their ALL IN ALL! But God has to first
CONVERT the spiritually dead sinner before that rebel and God hater accepts
anything that is from the Spirit of Truth.
First let's take a look at how Bible dictionaries define this word:
Easton's Bible Dictionary
propitiation:
That by which God
... consistent
with his character and government [can justly] pardon and
bless the sinner. In 1 John 2:2; 4:10, Christ is called the
"propitiation for our sins." Christ is "the propitiation," because by
his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he
expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious
punishment which he endured.
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Christ cannot cover
our guilt, our sin, and yet we are still guilty
before God. Therefore, if Christ died for ALL then
none CAN go to Hell because atonement would have
been made for ALL. But such is not the case.
Jesus often told people that many will be going into
the wide gate of destruction. |
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Noah Webster's Dictionary
propitiation:
1. The
act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an
offended person.
2. Atonement or atoning sacrifice; specifically, the
influence or effects of the death of Christ in appeasing the divine
justice, and conciliating the divine favor.
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If Christ's propitiatory
sacrifice appeased the wrath of God, which is what the apostle
John is stating in 1John 2:2 (as quoted below), and if that
sacrifice met the terms of divine justice, then who can dare say
that anyone would end up in Hell if indeed the expression "the
whole world" refers to every single soul who ever lived or died.
Therefore, the expression CANNOT mean everyone. It has to
be referring to a "group of people" consisting of BOTH
the Jewish world and the Gentile world as we
will see below. |
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Here are the three places in the New Testament where the Bible references the
word propitiation:
Romans
3:25 - "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in
his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God;
1John 4:10 - "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
1John 2:2 - "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
When we look at
the last of the 3 verses above, it sure looks like Jesus died for everyone,
since 1John 2:2 says that Jesus is the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for "the
whole world". In
order to understand any phrase or expression in the Bible, we need to make sure
that our interpretation does not go against other statements and doctrines
taught in the Bible. And we must remember that the Bible is full of
figures of speech not meant to be taken 100% literally. Since a completely literal interpretation of 1John
2:2 would go against other statements in the Bible that strongly and clearly
declare that Jesus only died for His elect bride,
His sheep, His people, then we must further
investigate word meanings in verses like 1John 2:2. In this case, we
will look at the research and findings of great Bible scholars
John Gill and
Matthew Henry.
First we will investigate the research done by John Gill...
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John
Gill's Commentary Of The Bible
John Gill was no ordinary
run-of-the-mill Bible teacher. He was a Bible scholar in a class
far above the rest. Here he comments on 1John 2:2 to clarify the
expression "the whole world". As always, Mr. Gill is quite
thorough in his analysis of this passage of scripture:
1John 2, verse 2
- "And he
is the propitiation for our sins" - For the sins of us who now
believe, and are Jews:
and not for ours only; but for the sins of Old Testament saints, and of
those who shall hereafter believe in Christ, and of the Gentiles also,
signified in the next clause:
"but also for [the sins] of the whole world" - the Syriac version
renders it, "not for us only, but also for the whole world"; that is,
not for the Jews only, for John was a Jew, and so were those he wrote
unto, but for the Gentiles also. Nothing is more common in Jewish
writings than to call the Gentiles, "the world"; and "the whole world";
and "the nations of the world" ...
and stands opposed to a notion the Jews have of
the Gentiles, that "there is no propitiation for them" ...
so this phrase, "all the world," or "the whole
world," in Scripture, unless when it signifies the whole universe, or
the habitable earth, is always used in a limited sense, either for the
Roman empire, or the churches of Christ in the world, or believers, or
the present inhabitants of the world, or a part of them only. ...
And so it is in this epistle (as seen later in 1John
5:19) where "the whole world lying in wickedness" is manifestly
distinguished from the saints, who are of God, and belong not to the
world; and therefore cannot be understood of all the individuals in the
world; and the like distinction is in this text itself, for "the sins of
the whole world" are opposed to "our sins," the sins of the apostle and
others to whom he joins himself; who therefore belonged not to, nor were
a part of the whole world, for whose sins Christ is a propitiation as
for theirs:
So that this passage cannot furnish out any argument for
universal redemption; for besides these things, it may be further
observed, that for whose sins Christ is a propitiation, their sins are
atoned for and pardoned, and their persons justified from all sin, and
so shall certainly be glorified, which is not true of the whole world,
and every man and woman in it; moreover, Christ is a propitiation
through faith in his blood, the benefit of his propitiatory sacrifice is
only received and enjoyed through faith; so that in the event it appears
that Christ is a propitiation only for believers, a character which does
not agree with all mankind; add to this, that for whom Christ is a
propitiation he is also an advocate, (1John 2:1); but he is not an advocate
for every individual person in the world; yea, there is a world he will
not pray for (John 17:9), and consequently is not a propitiation for them.
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Next we will look at Matthew Henry's commentary of 1John 2:2. While not as
thorough as John Gill's, it does qualify
the term "whole world".
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary Of
The Bible
Matthew Henry
first describes propitiation:
1John 2:2 -
By the plea he has to make, the ground and basis of his advocacy: And he
is the propitiation for our sins. He is the expiatory victim,
the propitiatory sacrifice that has been offered to the Judge
for all our offences against his
majesty, and law, and government.
Next Matthew
Henry addresses the scope of that propitiation:
By the extent of
his plea, the latitude of his propitiation. It is not confined to one
nation; and not particularly to the ancient Israel of God: He is the
propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only (not only for the sins
of us Jews, us that are Abraham’s seed according to the flesh), but also
for those of the whole world (#1John 2:2); not only for the past, or us
present believers, but for the sins of all who shall hereafter
believe on him or come to God through him. The extent and intent of
the Mediator’s death reach to all tribes, nations, and countries. As he
is the only, so he is the universal atonement and propitiation for
all that are saved and brought home to God, and to his favour and
forgiveness.
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Christ's propitiatory sacrifice
is not confined to one nation; and not particularly to the
ancient Israel of God... but ...for the sins of ALL who shall
hereafter believe on Him. And that is the precise SCOPE of
Christ's atonement, but nothing further. |
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Summary
By looking deeper at what was said the 1John2:2 (or any other passage of
scripture) we find that the phrase "whole world" means what John the apostle
intended it to mean (in particular to those to whom he originally addressed his
epistle) and not what many a biased preacher wants it to mean. It means
that Christ's propitiation (his atoning sacrifice) was not just for the Jews but
for "the whole world" - meaning "every nation". John's point being that
Jesus' atonement was also for Gentiles, not just for Jews as many Jews at that
time had thought concerning the Messiah.
Why so many pastors and Bible teachers do not draw the correct conclusion about
whom Christ died for only confirms the biblical truth
regarding God's discretion as to whom He decides to reveal things to:
Matthew
11:25 - "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."
If you understand these biblical
doctrines correctly, remind yourself that is only by God grace alone that such
is the case. Amen? Ray KaneSEE ALSO:
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