Propitiation and the Mercy Seat

Chapter 3 of Romans continues to explain that Jews do still have an advantage in that "they were entrusted with God's Law . . . they were the race through whom the Messiah came to earth . . . they were the beneficiaries of covenants with God himself . . .But theses privileges did not make them better than anyone else. In fact, because of them the Jews were even more responsible to live up to God's requirements." (Taken From Life Application Study Bible) Paul's point is that the Lord's redemption was available to everyone and everyone was in need of the salvation because we are all equally sinners regardless of background, race, etc. Another interesting point was raised in regards to what Paul has covered so far in regards to the excuses people give for not getting saved seen in chapters 1 and 2 and commented on by the Life Application Study Bible:

Paul has dismantled the common excuses of people who refuse to admit they are sinners: 1. 'There is no God' or 'I will follow my conscience' . . . 2. 'I'm not as bad as other people' . . . 3. 'I'm a church member' or 'I'm a religious person.' . . . . Some may think they don't have to worry about sin because 1. it's God's job to forgive; 2. God is so loving, he won't judge us; 3. sin isn't so bad-it teaches valuable lessons; or 4. we need to stay in touch with the culture around us. It is far too easy to take God's grace for granted. But God cannot overlook sin. Sinners, no matter how many excuses the make, will have to answer to God for their sin.

The point I would like to focus on is when Paul turns to salvation. v. 23- 26
²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

I have highlighted words of prominence which I will now define except for propitiation which I will form a discussion about.

Justified: to be declared not guilty (note the words "justified freely- Life Application Study Bible)
Redemption: Christ setting sinners free from slavery to sin (Life Application)
Remission: active release from sin and indicateds that forgiveness is more than a passive act on God's part- God has taken the initiative to break the grip of sin and set people free for a new way of life in God's spirit (take from Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary)

Now on to propitiation: this means "sacrifice or atonement. . . . Christ's death is the appropriate, designated sacrifice for our sin. He stands in our place, having paid the penalty of death for our sin, and he completely satisfies God's demands. His sacrifice brings pardon, deliverance, and freedom. (Life Application) The Bible Background Commentary brough another interesting point to light about this word in the original Greek language.

. . . the word (original Greek: hilasterion which is seen as propitiation in KJV) is also used in the Old Testament in a more specific sense, where it referes to the 'mercy seat', the place on the altar where blood was placed and atonment took place . . . that it virtually takes on the meaning place of atonment . . . The cross of Christ, Paul asserts, is now the place, in this new covenant age, where God deals with the sins of his people. No longer behind a veil, God's atoning work is now displayed for all to see. Since the atoning work includes (in both the Old Testament sacrificial system and in the New Testament portrayal of Christ's death) the turning away of God's wrath, we are also justified in concluding that his atoning work includes the notion of propitiation.

I found more support in some online articles. According to Zane Hodges in his article :"Jesus is the Propitiation for all, but only the Mercy Seat for Believers," he states,:

Christ in His own Person is the propitiation for all human sin. Now, in the light of our understanding of Rom 3:25, we can add a further observation. As a result of His becoming the living embodiment before God of a perfect and universal propitiation for all sin (1 John 2:2), in His own Person He is also a living “mercy seat.” That is to say, He has also become an infinitely sufficient “meeting place” between a Holy God and a sinful man, but only for believers. As Paul indicates here, “God has set [Him] forth” as a mercy seat “through faith”! . . . .  The point we are about to make is obscured by the English translations which render both hilasterion here (Rom 3:25) and also hilasmos in 1 John 2:2 as propitiation. First John 2:2, however, is an unqualified assertion that the Son of God is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. There is no qualification that He is this only if and when there is faith. The whole world is covered by His grand propitiatory work, regardless of how many believe it. . . . In Greek the words that immediately follow the phrase through faith are the words by His blood. These words therefore give the basis on which our Lord Jesus Christ can be a mercy seat through faith. He can do so by virtue of His shed blood. In other words He can become the hilasterion through faith as a result of the fact that He is the hilasmos for the sins of all humanity. . . . .

Perhaps we might illustrate the saving transaction as follows (although so sublime an experience is really beyond our capacity to describe since it is experientially instantaneous). The believing sinner comes to God through faith in Jesus. Jesus in His role as Mediator bestows eternal life on the believer thus introducing Him to God. God in response accepts the believing sinner and pronounces him justified.

What has happened to the believer? He has met God in the Person of God’s living mercy seat, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And, what has God done? He has behaved righteously and graciously in response to His Son. Thus He has been “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:26).

Another article, by Kyle Pope entitled "Christ: Our Mercy Seat" states:

 The mercy seat functioned in four ways: 1. God promised to “meet with” them there (Exodus 25:22); 2. God promised to instruct them there (Exodus 25:22); 3. In some sense He would “appear” to them in the cloud there (Leviticus 16:2); and 4. There, He would grant them mercy and propitiation. These functions are seen in the history of Israel. God spoke to Moses from the mercy seat (Numbers 7:89). Joshua prayed to God towards the mercy seat, and may have received an answer from the mercy seat (Joshua 7:6,10). When Solomon constructed the temple the ark with the mercy seat was placed inside the temple (I Chronicles 28:10-12). . . . .    How is Jesus our mercy seat? First, in Jesus we meet with God. Jesus declared:“...I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Second, God appears to us in Jesus. Jesus declared:“...He who has seen Me has seen the Father...” (John 14:9). Third, God speaks to us through Jesus. The Hebrew writer says that God:“has in these last days spoken to us by His Son...” (Hebrews 1:2). Finally, in Christ is the place where mercy is granted. Just before Paul speaks of Jesus as our mercy seat, he declares:“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). What the material item was to Israel, Christ is to us spiritually.

So what wonderful things have we learned?
Christ is our literal mercy seat because he is the mediator between the Christian and God. He is the mediator because he was the sacrifice that covered our sins and made us acceptable to God making the physical mercy seat unneccessary. We can literally meet with God in Jesus, and this occurs because of faith in Him, and only then. Jesus' sacrifice covered everyone's sin, but only those who put their faith in Him experience Jesus as the mercy seat. Jesus' blood was the final and ultimate sacrifice to remove God's wrath toward us and grant us all unlimited access to a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for his ultimate sacrifice!

One more note: why is the law still important to us today? It brings to us the knowledge that we are sinners and gives us a guide to know how to hold up God's moral standards (Life Application)

 

Circumcision

I knew that circumcision was an important defining mark of the Old Testament Jew, and was required as part of the covenant between God and the Jews. However, this became a struggling point in the New Testament Church when both Jews and Gentiles were part of God's chosen. The importance of circumcision is seen in Gen. 17:11-14. The following is taken from Life Application Study Bible:

Why did God require circumcision? 1. As a sign of obedience to him in all matters. 2. As a sign of belonging to his covenant people. Once circumcised, the man would be identified as one of God's chosen people (eventually the Jews) forever. 3. As a symbol of "cutting off" the old life of sin, purifying one's heart, and dedicating oneself to God. 4. Possibly as a health measure. 

Circumcision more than any other practice separated God's people from their heathen neighbors. In Abraham's day, this was essential to develop the pure worship of the one true God.

This brings me to the scripture I read today. Chapter 2 of Romans focuses heavily on the fact that even though chapter 1 hit heavily on Gentiles and sins that were prolific in their culture such as homosexuality, etc., Jews are just as guilty as Gentiles. This was a slap in the face to Jews because they considered themselves guaranteed a spot in heaven due to their circumcision and them having the OT law and knowing it. However, Paul calls them out as equally guilty as Gentiles and accuses them of hypocrisy as seen in the following verses: vv. 17-29

"  17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. 25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

So what is the whole point of this passage? A true Jew has nothing to do with nationality or knowledge of the law, meaning it has nothing to do with outward symbols such as circumcision. Being a Jew, or the heir of God, means inward obedience and righteousness. He states hear explicitly that circumcision means nothing when someone does not follow the laws of God and have pure heart and motives. However, a Gentile is considered circumcised in the fact that he has a pure heart and is a new creation. Therefore, in the new church, circumcision is a symbol not a literal thing to be accomplished on the body. Even in the OT when circumcision is a physical requirement, in JEr. 4:4 it says " Circumcise yourselves to The Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah. and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. " So, as previously stated, circumcision was necessary for the Jews in the OT because it was a symbol of holiness as the Jews mission was to reach the world with the gospel. However, now the church as a whole is to fulfill that mission- Jews and Gentiles alike. 

In closing, our circumcision or ability to be set apart as holy by salvation was accomplished in the circumcision of Christ as seen in Col. 2:11-12 " in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Our discussion is neatly summarized by the notes on these verses seen in Life Application Study Bible:

Jewish males were circumcised as a sign of the Jews covenant with God. With the death of Christ, circumcision was no longer necessary. Now our commitment to God is written on our souls, not our bodies. Christ sets us free from our evil desires by a spiritual operation, not a bodily one. In baptism, we let God operate on our souls to remove the old nature and give us a new nature. 

 Therefore, Jew or Gentile, Christ has paid the debt and given us the ability to believe on the LORD and be saved to a life of holiness and separateness and be part of God's inheritance. We must in turn be obedient to God in a pure heart with pure motives and complete dedication to God.

Faith and Other Issues

I've turned my attention to Romans now, however, the first chapter has immediately tied me back to Ephesians for an issue requiring thorough study and leading of the Spirit. The issue is that of faith. Let's first hit the highlights of this chapter. In the first chapter of Romans, Paul sets out to explain our depravity and need for salvation with a quick discussion about the gospel. In Rom. 1:16 he says " For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Indeed he is not ashamed as in his introduction to the book he states,

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,² (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
³ Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
⁴ And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
⁵ By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

But first, we must understand our absolute depravity or sin nature so that we may understand our need for salvation. He points out that no one is without excuse in v. 19-20 and the Life Application Study Bible states:

What kind of God does nature reveal? Nature shows us a God of might, intelligence, and intricate detail: a God of order and beauty: a God who controls powerful forces. That is general revelation.  

He then goes on to explain our depravity and how the Lord does not force Himself upon us, but allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin. Among the list of sins that He mentions, He gives great emphasis to the sin of homosexuality- somewhere no one wants to go to discuss. There's no arguing here- homosexuality is a sin. We can't take that out even if we do want to please society so that our churches grow in numbers. You can not deny this fact. The Scripture states, "and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."  Simply put, homosexuality is not the natural way man is to be and the consequences suffered from this sin are a result of the sin and what that sin produces. He then states, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind..."  Life Application Study Bible puts it this way with which I agree:

God is willing to receive anyone who comes to him in faith, and Christians should always love and accept others. Yet, homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Scripture. . . Society does not set the standard for God's law. Many homosexuals believe that their desires are normal and that they have a right to express them. God does not encourage us to fulfill all of our desires. Desires that violate his laws must be controlled.

Let's point out here that God does not just bring to light homosexuality. You can look at the list for yourself. Also, let's not assume that homosexuality is some awful sin compared to others. Your lying problem or pride problem is an equal amount of sin. Some people have a problem with homosexuality, some have a problem with pride. We all have our own areas of downfall. Don't ever consider yourself above others because you don't struggle with the same form of sin. God never said to hate homosexuals or slander or treat them less than human. Remember: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Matt. 7:3  The last verse of the chapter states, "who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. " All sin, regardless of the kind results in spiritual death and so slavery to sin. We serve our sin and have pleasure in it because that's the best we can get without God.

Now, onto the issue of faith. Since Paul is going to discuss in detail about salvation, it is imperative that we understand what faith is. I came to an interesting discussion with different schools of thought. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." The discussion here is about the phrase "the gift of God." Is the gift referring to our salvation or is faith purely a gift from God? My original thinking was that faith was something I had to do on my own, but this is incorrect. The reason for this is that faith can mean different things depending on the context. In this context, we are referring to saving faith. Faith simply put can mean "an intellectual agreement to a truth [as] is illustrated in James 2:19, where even demons are said to believe that there is one God. Obviously, however, they are not saved by this type of belief." (Taken from Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary) What does this mean?

Faith does not always mean saving faith. Saving faith is very specific.

So, I read about 5 different articles on the internet which came from both schools of learning. The idea that faith is a pure gift from God alone came from the Calvinist camp, while the idea that faith is something that we must do to become saved came from the opposing side, referred to as the Armenian school of thought. They both had good reasons for their assumptions. According to John
Piper (Calvinist thought) in his article "God Has Allotted to Each a Measure of Faith," he believes:

That's how important humility is in God's eyes. This is exactly the same aim of God mentioned in Ephesians 2:8-9 where Paul stresses that saving faith is a gift: "By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one may boast" (emphasis added). Faith is a gift from God, so that no one may boast. Or, as Romans 12:3 says, so that we will not think too highly of ourselves. The last bastion of pride is the belief that we are the originators of our faith . . . .He said to the Philippians, "To you it has been given for Christ's sake, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (Philippians 1:29, emphasis added). This is why he thanked God and not human resourcefulness for the faith he saw in his churches: "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, bretheren, as is fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged" (2 Thessalonians 1:3, emphasis added). We thanks God for the enlargement of faith because "God has allotted to each [his own] measure of faith" (Romans 12:3, emphasis added).

 Here is a corresponding article of the Armenian thought by Eric Lyons, M. Min entitled "Is Faith A Gift from God?"

Those who believe that faith is a gift (i.e., miraculous imposition) from God, often point out that in this verse “faith” is the nearest antecedent of “that” (“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”). However, when one examines Ephesians 2:8 in the language in which it was written originally (Greek), he finds that the pronoun that (touto) is neuter in gender, while the word faith (pistis) is feminine. Since the general rule in Greek grammar is for the gender and number of a relative pronoun to be the same as its antecedent (Mounce, 1993, p. 111), then some extenuating linguistic circumstance, special idiomatic use, or other mitigating factor would need to be demonstrated to justify linking “that” to “faith.” If such reasonable justification cannot be made, then one is compelled to continue studying the passage in order to know assuredly what “that” gift of God is . . . . The overall context of the first three chapters of Ephesians is man’s salvation found in Christ.

• “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (1:7).
• The heavenly “inheritance” is found in Christ (1:11).
• After believing in the good news of salvation through Christ, the Ephesians were “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (1:13).
• Sinners are made “alive with Christ” and saved “by grace” (2:5).
• Sinners are brought near to God “by the blood of Christ” (2:13).
• Paul became a servant of Christ “according to the gift of the grace of God…by the effective working of His power” (3:7).

Not only is the theme of salvation the overall context of the first three chapters of Ephesians, but the immediate context of Ephesians 2:8-9 is of salvation, not of faith. These two verses thoroughly document how a person is saved, not how a person believes.

• Salvation is by grace.
• Salvation is through faith.
• Salvation is not of yourselves.
• Salvation is the gift of God.
• Salvation is not of works.

Paul was not giving an exposition on faith in his letter to the Ephesians. Salvation was his focus. Faith is mentioned as the mode by which salvation is accepted. Salvation is through faith. Just as water is received into a house in twenty-first-century America through a pipeline, a sinner receives salvation through obedient faith. The main focus of Paul’s message in Ephesians 2:8-9 was salvation (the living “water that springs up into everlasting life”—cf. John 4:14), not the mode of salvation.

Faith is not a direct gift from God given to some but not others. Rather, as Paul wrote to the church at Rome, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Faith in Christ as the Son of God is only found in those who have first heard the Word of God, and then believed (cf. John 20:31).

 What is my answer? They're both right. I take my answer from 2 different sources. First, the Life Application Study Bible states:

Faith is a word with many meanings. We must be very careful to understand faith as Paul uses the word because he ties faith so closely to salvation. It is not something we must do in order to earn salvation-if that were true, then faith would be just one more deed . . . . Instead faith is a gift God gives us because he is saving us. It is God's grace, not our faith that saves us. In his mercy, however, when he saves us, he gives us faith-a relationship with his Son that helps us become like him . . . . we must accept his gracious offer with thanksgiving and allow him to plant the seed of faith within us.

What about our part in salvation? What is the gospel? Acts 16:31" And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," What is this "believe on? There is something for us as humans to note here in relation to salvation. I found the answer in the Expositor's Bible Commentary:

Faith, however is not a quality, a virtue, or a faculty. It is not something man can produce. It is simply a trustful response that is itself evoked by the Holy Spirit. Lest faith should be in any way misinterpreted as man's contribution to his own salvation. Paul immediately adds a rider to explain that nothing is of our own doing but everything is in the gift of God . . . . The whole process comes from nothing that we have done or could do. The element of "givenness" applies to faith as well as to grace, for faith is a direct outcome of hearing the saving message (Rom. 10:17).

So it seems clear to me that there will always be a sort of mystery around how faith is used in different instances or the timing of it. However, through this study I've found some things that the Spirit has revealed to me.

1. Faith can mean to believe on which is something that is a result of the Holy Spirit's conviction for the unsaved person. So, faith does come before salvation because we are responding to the Holy Spirit by saying we believe on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as needed and acknowledge God as our Lord.

2. Faith is something that is planted and enlarged by God in our lives when we become Christians, and only God can help us to develop this further.

So the conclusion is that the answer to faith is a both/and answer, not an either/or. Also, let's remember that God has chosen not to reveal everything to us. Let's just know that faith is an essential part of our salvation and should be something cultivated daily in our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit.