This debate has come up
around me several times this week, and I thought I'd share a few
notes on the topic. [This document was edited on December 27th, 2012 - WRF]
All definitions below are
from either The American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd
edition, or Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, or The New
College Latin & English Dictionary, depending on the language of
the word being defined. They are abridged, and some of my own
comments are added.
Propitiate: to
conciliate, appease.
Propitiation: The act of
propitiating. Latin propitius, a disposition of favor (one can
think pro-pity, a setting forth of pity or mercy). The Greek word
translated propitiation in the New Testament is hilasmos,
which is a means of appeasing, a conciliation.
To appease: to bring
peace or calm, to satisfy or relieve.
To atone: to make amends
or reparations for an injury or wrongdoing, to expiate.
The only time we see the
word "atonement" in the popular versions of the New
Testament is at Romans 5:11, but the Greek word is katallage,
and it means reconciliation. Modern versions such as the NAS and ASV have recognized this and translate the word as reconciliation. It does not ever mean atonement, and it
cannot mean atonement. Therefore, the word atonement does not appear
in the New Testament, unless one is an advocate of "Church
Greek", which is not the Greek of our Redeemer and His apostles
who spoke and wrote Koine Greek..
Therefore the word
atonement is not found in the New Testament. Christians confuse
propitiation and atonement, however these are not the same, although
the "Church Greek" devisors would like Christians to
confuse them. The devisors of "Church Greek" want to
confuse these terms, because they strive to eliminate the idea of
Christ's propitiation as an act of conciliation between Israel and
Yahweh our God, endeavouring to destroy the racial covenants between
Israel and Yahweh. The matter of reconciliation stands in the way
of the universalism of the "Church".
Christ is not our Atonement, He is our Propitiation, and there is
a world of difference. We can never fully make our atonement, because
we cannot ever repay Yahweh for our sins, national or personal.
Therefore we need His propitiation. As Paul explained in the same
chapter of his epistle to the Romans, earlier in the same paragraph,
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.” The idea of atonement requires an
action on the part of one making an atonement, where the idea of
propitiation requires no such action.
Under the New Covenant our reconciliation with Yahweh is consciously effected upon our acceptance of the propitiation of Christ, but atonement was not on the cross. He effected our propitiation on the cross whether we are conscious of it or not. He can make a propitiation for us, but He cannot make amends for us, paying Himself back for our sins on our behalf. Our conciliation is achieved by our acceptance of His propitiation, if indeed He accepts us, and that is the only manner by which we can make atonement. Eventually all Israel will accept His propitiation!
We all have some judaeo
baggage to lose if we are ever going to come to a better knowledge of
the truth.
Praise Yahweh!
William Finck
Christogenea.org
A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is currently being presented by William Finck on Christogenea Internet Radio every Friday night at 8PM Eastern.
