Propitiation!
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:9-10 (see also 2:11)
On Saturday, Valentine’s Day, the scripture above was the verse of the day from biblegateway.com. Notice that “love” shows up four times in two sentences. And yes, this is the ἀγάπη (agape) sort of love that is used almost exclusively in the Bible.
But the word that really jumped out for me in this verse is that word near the end, translated as “propitiation.” I couldn’t pass this $10 word up, so I went deep diving.
The word ἱλασμός (hilasmos) means an atonement or sin offering to appease an anger. But wait, there is more! It also carries the grammatical weight that this gift actually originated from the One who is angry, not the one doing the angering.
So unlike a sacrifice to an dead idol or temperamental, fickle, and antagonistic god (little “g”), it is the initiative of a loving and living God. And because the atonement was provided by and through God, the only expectation is that the recipient love God back, and love all fellow human beings.
I am grateful for John’s use of the word ἱλασμός (hilasmos). It helps our understanding of God’s holiness, which cannot ignore sin, and yet it’s married with God’s love which paves a way for sinners to be reconciled without compromising the Divine justice.
Amen!
FYI – Propitiation is also used in 1 John 2:2, Romans 3:25, and Hebrews 2:17. The latter two speak to the place of the action (the cross) and the one performing the action itself (Jesus).
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