JESUS CHRIST-DEATH-EXPIATION

The wrong that man had done to the Divine Majesty, should be expiated by none but man, and could be by none but God.

John Howe

A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 30

There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.

John Owen

A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 30.

This death of God’s Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world.

The Canons of Dort

The Second Main Point of Doctrine: Christ’s Death and Human Redemption Through It. Article 3- The Infinite Value of Christ’s Death.

The good news is that God Himself has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of His justice without condemning the whole human race. Hell is one way to settle accounts with sinners and uphold his justice. But there is another way. The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God. And what is this wisdom? The death of the Son of God for sinners!

John Piper

Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1996, p. 59, Used by Permission, www.desiringGod.org.

[Throughout the Old Testament] this was always the idea of a sin-offering – that of a perfect victim; without offense on its own account, taking the place of the offender; the transferrence of the offender’s sin to that victim, and that expiation in the person of the victim for the sin done by another.

C.H. Spurgeon

Expiation, Sermon 561, Isa. 53:10.

Expiation

A sacrifice that satisfies the legal requirements of God
Satisfies the just consequence of death for sin (justice)
Forensic satisfaction
Legal, judicial, penal, mechanical
Focuses on remedial, restitutional action of God
Death of Christ makes amends for objective guilt of man’s transgression of the Law
Correlates closely with ritual-sacrifice concept of redemption and atonement
Looks back at “redemption”
Overemphasis makes God's justice impersonal or mechanical

Propitiation

A sacrifice that satisfies what God's character requires
Satisfies the just offense and wrath of God toward the violation of His character of holiness
Personal satisfaction
Relational, personal
Focuses on restorative result of God’s action in Christ
Death of Christ removes the disfavor of God toward men because of sin
Correlates closely with relational-emancipation concept of redemption
Looks forward to “reconciliation”
Overemphasis anthropmorphizes God's personal attitudes

James Fowler

Excerpted from: Propitiation, Study Outlines, 1999, www.christinyou.net. Used by Permission.

Our sins have been put away. To use the language of the Scriptures…they are completely removed, put behind God’s back, blotted out, remembered no more, and hurled into the depths of the sea.

Jerry Bridges

Propitiation addresses the wrath of God. It is the work of Christ saving us from God’s wrath by absorbing it in His own person as our substitute. Expiation, which basically means “removal,” accompanies propitiation and speaks of the work of Christ in removing or putting away our sin. Such is the symbolism of the two goats used on the Day of Atonement. The first goat represented Christ’s work of propitiation as it was killed and its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat. The second goat represented Christ’s work of expiation in removing or blotting out the sins that were against us. The object of propitiation is the wrath of God. The object of expiation is the sin, which must be removed from His presence.

Jerry Bridges