Advent 2019 - Week 4 Notes: Atoning Sacrifice
Sermon Add-ons
INTRO
Themes:
what is real
Illustration:
WORDS
‘reformation’ -
διόρθωσις denotes the “making straight of what has shifted from its true position”;
also the repairing and restoring of what is shattered:
until the time of the true order.
ἱλάσκομαι (propitiation, expiation, mercy seat)
Propitiation
The idea that God cannot be angry is found neither in the OT nor the NT. It is neither Jewish nor Christian. It is an idea that comes from the Greek philosophers.
His anger is the settled opposition of his holy nature to everything that is evil
If God’s anger is real, then it must be taken into account in the way that sin, which caused that wrath, is dealt with. When the NT says “propitiation,” then, it means that Jesus’ death on the cross for the sins of mankind put away God’s wrath against his people once and for all.
Expiation speaks of the process by which sins are nullified or covered. Propitiation, taking a personal object, speaks of the appeasement of an offended party—specifically the Christian God—from wrath or anger. Expiation falls under the concept of propitiation. In Scripture it cannot exist without propitiation.
Hebrews 2:17 has tas harmartias (the sins) as the direct object of hilaskomai, which might cause one to think the best translation would be “expiation.” However, this passage, while speaking of the atonement washing away our sins, does not negate the notion that God’s wrath is under consideration and even mentions of a “merciful high priest,” which indicates placation of righteous anger
The effect of the atonement is directly linked to God’s wrath. If God has no wrath or anger towards sinners, there is no need for propitiation. Mere expiation will do. If there is expiation without propitiation, God is both indifferent to sin and therefore unjust. Propitiation is the only way God can offer mercy and forgiveness to sinners and, at the same time, be just. “He presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26 HCSB).
Another attribute of God which some scholars believe is incompatible with God’s wrath is love, but the two attributes are shown to be compatible through the atonement, “in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8 HCSB; cp. Exod. 34:7).
Expiation
Atonement, purification, or removal of sin or its guilt.
The Hebrew family of words translated by “expiation” speaks fundamentally of a solution for sin, and the most common association is with the idea of atonement. Expiation has to do with the blot of sin, and hence the term is related to such words as “forgive,” “purge,” “cleanse,” or “atone.”
All NT references to expiation have to do with the sacrifice of Christ for human sin. In the Bible both expiation and propitiation are part of God’s atoning work. Christ’s sacrifice both propitiates (turns away) the wrath of God and expiates (covers) human sin. God’s redemptive work is both personal, or relational, and objective. When a biblical context concentrates on God’s wrath, propitiation is involved; when human sin is the focus, then redemption provides expiation.
That expiation means “removal of sin” underscores a fundamental dimension of redemption: “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12).
mercy seat:
The Septuagint uses the word hilasterion 28 times, all of which refer to the Mercy Seat, except Amos 9:1. This rendering of hilasterion as “mercy seat” in the NT carries a certain ambiguity, however, since Christ was the personal incarnation of Deity and the means of atonement, not an impersonal place of atonement. It is best not to translate the word as “mercy seat.”
DAY OF ATONEMENT
The ceremony began with the sacrifice of a young bull as a sin offering for the priest and his family (Lev. 16:3, 6). After burning incense before the mercy seat in the inner sanctuary, the high priest sprinkled the blood from the bull on and in front of the mercy seat (16:14). The priest cast lots over two goats. One was offered as a sin offering. The other was presented alive as a scapegoat (16:5, 7–10, 20–22). The blood of the goat used as the sin offering was sprinkled like that of the bull to make atonement for the sanctuary (16:15). The mixed blood of the bull and goat were applied to the horns of the altar to make atonement for it (16:18). The high priest confessed all of the people’s sins over the head of the live goat which was led away and then released in the wilderness (16:21–22).
The basic idea of atonement is a “covering” of sin; the purpose is to accomplish reconciliation between man and God.
He killed one of the goats as a sin offering for the nation, taking the blood inside the veil and sprinkling it as before, thus atoning even for the Holy Place. He confessed the sins of the nation over the live goat as he placed his hands on its head. Finally he sent the live goat, called the scapegoat (KJV, i.e., the escape goat), into the wilderness. Symbolically it carried away the sins of the people
Atonement. In Christian thought, the act by which God and man are brought together in personal relationship. The term is derived from Anglo-Saxon words meaning “making at one,” hence “at-one-ment.” It presupposes a separation or alienation that needs to be overcome if human beings are to know God and have fellowship with him. As a term expressing relationship, atonement is tied closely to such terms as reconciliation and forgiveness.
The basic idea of atonement is a “covering” of sin; the purpose is to accomplish reconciliation between man and God.