Hilasterion - An Important Biblical Word

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. " (Romans 3:23-25a - ESV)

The idea that God is angry with us and for good reason is an idea that is very repugnant to fallen humanity. Sadly it is also repugnant to many of us in today’s so-called Christian churches. We forget that the most important attribute of God is that he is holy. His holiness is what he demands from us, and since no one is able to obtain holiness God is justifiably angry with us. I think this concept is the first step in truly understanding the gospel. The question is “how do I turn God’s anger away from me?” The word is hilasterion. This is a crucial word that we in evangelicalism have forgotten. This is the word that the Apostle Paul uses in Romans 3:25 when he writes about how God’s anger has been turned aside because of Christ. This is the heart of the Gospel in which many of us in the Christian community are blatantly in denial.

Sadly, hilasterion has been translated as propitiation in only about HALF of the English Bible translations on the market today. One the reason why I favor the English Standard Version is because hilasterion has been properly translated as propitiation. Propitiation is one of the most important concepts in Christian theology. We should be more diligent in study this very important biblical word. It is Paul’s main point his letter to the Romans and for some reason many English Bibles don’t want to deal with this concept. I suspect one of the reasons for this is because more liberal scholars on some of these translation committees don’t want to deal with the issue of God’s wrath. Most of the Bible translations often translate propitiation as atoning sacrifice, but that misses the point! It is not just atonement; it is the turning of God’s just wrath away from us. This is what Christ did when he went to the cross.

God’s just anger was turned away from us because Christ’s holiness bore God’s wrath because of our sins on our behalf. The good news is even better because Christ’s perfect obedience has been imputed to us so that we in Christ are now blameless before a holy God. It is such a simple concept. Many in the American paganized churches are unwilling grasped the simplicity of the gospel because they want to get the concept of God’s wrath off the radar scope. Lots of churches are in denial when it comes to our sinful condition.

The concept of propitiation is foreign to many churches in this country (and around the world). Today churches are filled with leaders (not going to name names) and members that are basically denying the concept of us as sinners worthy of God’s wrath and the need to have his wrath turned away from us. If your concept of Christianity is something other than hilasterion that the apostle Paul spells out in Romans 3 your faith is pagan!

Timotheus
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