Romans 3:25 “God set forth Jesus to be a propitiation by His blood through faith…”

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” (CS Lewis). The significance of Good Friday – the Christian celebration Christ’s death on the Cross – is often overlooked because of the event it precedes – the Easter celebration of His Resurrection.

But it is His death on the Cross that accomplishes His personal mission given to Him by His Father: to be the only way by which God forgives us the debt we owe to Him. It is the Cross of Christ that paves the way for the Father’s unmerited mercy and grace to be made available to sin-ladened people.

One of the best illustrations of God’s mercy towards sinners is from the Apostle Paul to the mostly Gentile church in Rome, based on the Israelite’s historical sacrificial system: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a PROPITIATION by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate God’s righteousness…” (Romans 3:23-25). But how is the blood of Jesus Christ made a “propitiation” by God?

To answer this, we must first understand this word “propitiation,” and how the Greek-based Gentiles would understand it in contrast to Paul’s definition in the Jewish Day of Atonement and payment for sin debt.

To the Greeks, “propitiate” means to “appease” their gods by earning their favor through good works (in Greek literature, the natural attitude of their gods was not one of goodwill towards them).

But to the Jews, “propitiation” was never used for any action by man that would earn God’s grace and goodwill. Instead, Paul points to the mercy seat – the lid on the arc of the covenant – in Romans 3:23-25.

How does this work? Why is it crucial to go back to the Old Testament to understand Paul’s message on God’s mercy being made available in the death of Jesus on the Cross? Remember, when Paul wrote this to the church in Rome, there was no New Testament. Paul was pointing to the Old Testament.

In Exodus 25:17-22, God told the Israelites to “make a MERCY SEAT of pure gold; 2-1/2 cubits shall be its length and 1-1/2 its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the 2 ends of the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. There I WILL MEET WITH YOU, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat…”

The Old Testament word for mercy seat is “kapporeth,” meaning “lid of the ark of the Covenant.” The New Testament word is “hilasterion,” meaning “propitiatory.” On the lid on the arc is where the High Priest poured out the blood of an unblemished animal to atone for the sins of Israel. Above the lid is where the Shekinah glory – God Himself – would show up to then meet with His people. Notice what is inside the arc: the law – Ten Commandments. Picture it – we have the blood-covered lid between God and His broken law!

Then, there are 2 cherubim, one at each end of the lid, bent over it with their wings outstretched and faces looking down upon it. Why? Genesis 3:24 tells us the purpose of cherubim is to guard God’s holiness. But now, because of the blood on the lid, they no longer need to do their job. They are in a position of submission because the blood on the mercy seat satisfies God’s holiness and allows God to meet with us.

The Bible, unlike Greek philosophy, teaches that the perfect blood upon God’s mercy seat, and not my good works, is what makes propitiation for my soul. God’s Old Testament sacrifices pointed to His spotless Lamb, who gives me access behind the 2nd veil by His blood as payment for my debt (Matthew 27:50-51).

Christ’s achievement on the Cross cancels sin’s power to separate me from a holy God. Because God is kind and merciful, He promises that if I trust in Christ for the forgiveness of my sin, my debt to God is paid. In Christ, God Himself has so dealt with sin that He can show mercy to the believing sinner by removing their guilt and dismissing (passing over) their sins (the individual person is now the object of His mercy).

As Hebrews 2:17 confirms Paul’s message to the Romans: “In all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, to make PROPITIATION for the sins of the people.” This is why Christians call Christ’s death on the Cross “Good Friday.”
“The Evidence of Faith’s Substance” _ Article #597