Rom 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; (25) Whom God set forth as a propitiation...
Propitiation involves two parties, one of which has wronged the other, has become indebted to the other, and must act to satisfy the demands of the other. If the offending party is to appease the offended party, he must fulfill his demands. For instance, if I wrong you or am otherwise in debt to you, a problem exists between us. Because of this problem or debt, you have a demand upon me, and unless your demand is satisfied the problem between us cannot be resolved. Thus, there is the need for propitiation. This is a matter of atonement. The word atone is composed of two words, "at" and "one." We may write the word atonement this way: at-one-ment. Atonement is at-one-ment. The meaning of atonement is to bring two parties into one. When two parties have been separated and seek to be in oneness, there is the need for propitiation. This is atonement. The action of propitiation is atonement. Propitiation means to make us one with God because there had been a separation between us and God. What was the problem that kept us from God, that made it impossible to have direct fellowship with Him? The problem was our sins. Our sins kept us away from God's presence and hindered God from coming to us. Therefore, we needed propitiation to appease God's demands. Christ accomplished this on the cross when He offered Himself as the propitiatory sacrifice. On the cross He propitiated for us and brought us back to God, making us one with God.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee. Life-study of Romans, pp. 54-55. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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