What is Propitiation?

Over the years, I’ve heard many professing Christians wrongfully tell other Christians that the word propitiation in the Bible is not important to tell others about, nor to expound on. I’ve even been told by a few that I should never preach on propitiation while heralding the Gospel in the streets (as I did here). I don’t believe it’s necessary to say the word “propitiation” while evangelizing, but propitiation is a top-shelf doctrine, and the doctrine of propitiation is an important part of the atoning sacrifice, which is an essential part of the Gospel. Frankly, if your sins have not been propitiated and expiated, you are surely hellbound.

So, if someone were to ask me to give an impromptu definition of propitiation, my response would be at least this.

In summary¹, propitiation is when Christ fully appeases, satisfies, or placates the wrath of an angry God on behalf of His elect, as He atones for their sins and reconciles them to the Father. Christ paid their sin debt and the penalty that was due. He pardons them, setting them free from sin.

OK, I have defined the word propitiation, so you could stop right here. Or, if you choose to dive deeper, for a more technical definition of propitiation, then go with me further.    

Propitiation is seen in many places in the Scriptures. Below are a few of many verses, along with their English translations from the Greek. Take note, there is much exclusivity in Christ’s propitiatory and expiatory work, as His atonement was limited to His elect only.

Luke 18:13, “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”

This “be merciful” is the Greek word Hilaskomai, Strong’s #2433: This means to conciliate, i.e. (transitively) to atone for (sin), or (intransitively) be propitious: To be merciful, to make reconciliation for. To render propitious, to expiate, to make an atonement or expiation for (Heb. 2:17). To be gracious, to show mercy, to pardon. Also, from Strong’s #2436 & #2661.

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;”

This “to be a propitiation” is the Greek word Hilastērion, Strong’s #2435: This is a means for propitiation or a place for expiation. An expiatory (place or thing), an appeasing or expiating, having placating or expiating force, a means of appeasing or expiating, an atoning victim or sacrifice, or (specially) the lid of the Ark (in the Temple). A -mercy seat, or a propitiation (also a derivative of #2433).

1 John 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.

This “to be the propitiation” is the Greek word Hilasmos, Strong’s #2434: This means an appeasement necessitated by sin, expiation. An instrument for appeasing, a sacrifice to atone, a sin-offering. An atonement, i.e., an expiator for propitiation (also from #2662 & #2434).

Below are some excellent published definitions of propitiation, from men much smarter than I.

“Propitiation. That by which God is rendered propitious, i.e., by which it becomes consistent with his character and government to pardon and bless the sinner. The propitiation does not procure his love or make him loving; it only renders it consistent for him to exercise his love towards sinners.

In Rom. 3:25 and Heb. 9:5 (A.V., “mercy-seat”) the Greek word hilasterion is used. It is the word employed by the LXX. translators in Ex. 25:17 and elsewhere as the equivalent for the Hebrew kapporeth, which means “covering,” and is used of the lid of the ark of the covenant (Ex. 25:21; 30:6). This Greek word (hilasterion) came to denote not only the mercy-seat or lid of the ark, but also propitiation or reconciliation by blood. On the great day of atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil and sprinkled with it the “mercy-seat,” and so made propitiation.

In 1 John 2:2; 4:10, Christ is called the “propitiation for our sins.” Here, a different Greek word is used (hilasmos). 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. (Comp. Heb. 2:17, where the expression “make reconciliation” of the A.V. is more correctly in the R.V. “make propitiation.”)”

M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 563.

“Propitiation. The satisfaction of God’s just wrath toward sinners, accomplished through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Many Reformed theologians consider this *doctrine to be a necessary element for understanding how the *atonement, as *penal substitution, makes possible Christ’s propitiation for sins by dying in the place of sinners. This view is not intended to portray God the Father as full of wrath, in contrast to the loving Son who pacifies his angry Father; rather, it is because of God’s love for the world that the Father sent his Son to be the propitiation for *sin. By this means, God is both “just and the justifier,” preserving his holiness and love without compromising his character.”

Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 91.

I have more dictionary definitions in comments below.

This post is part of a What Is series I’m working on.

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1. My summarized definition of propitiation was gleaned from research of various dictionaries, encyclopedias, lexicons, as well as various academic writings. Including but not limited to.
    
   William D. Mounce, Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 1173.
    
   Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
    
   Alexander Souter, A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917), 115–116.
    
   M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 563.
    
   Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).
    
   Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 2 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 325–326.
    
   Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1999), 96.
    
   Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).
    
   Gregg R. Allison, “Propitiation,” in The Baker Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016), 174.
    
   Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 91.
    
   J. D. Douglas, Peter Toon, and Walter A. Elwell, eds., “Propitiation,” in The Concise Dictionary of the Christian Tradition: Doctrine, Liturgy, History (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2023), 308.
    
   C. H. Dodd, The Bible and the Greeks, 1935; R. Nicole, WTJ 17, 1954–5, pp. 117–157; Leon Morris, NTS 2, 1955–6, pp. 33–43; idem, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross2, 1965; H.-G. Link, C. Brown, H. Vorländer, NIDNTT 3, pp. 145–176.
    
   L. L. Morris, “Propitiation,” in New Bible Dictionary, ed. D. R. W. Wood et al. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 975–976.
    
   Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 493–494.
    
   Jeremiah H. Russell, “Expiation, Propitiation,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. Chad Brand et al. (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 533–534.
    
   The Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), 63. ↩︎