Propitiation: Satisfaction of Wrath

Hebrews 2:17
Therefore He(Jesus) had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

1 John 2:1-2
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

God’s wrath is real. It is the just response of a Holy God to man’s utter rebellion and sinfulness. The pages of the Bible are replete with this truth. It is found in both testaments and is foundational to fully understanding the cross of Jesus Christ.

So, what can we do? Nothing. Your goodness will never be enough to satisfy the wrath that our sins deserve. You cannot go to church enough, give away enough money to charity, be kind enough to cause God to overlook your rebellion. This is a huge problem. Is there a solution? Yes, and it is a huge solution.

The cross of Jesus Christ is the solution. Jesus is the propitiation for our sin. If you are familiar with this word then you will rejoice at the reminder of it’s meaning. If it is new to you then I encourage to learn, meditate and embrace this critical truth.

Propitiation is the satisfaction of wrath. And it occurred in Jesus Christ. God could not be just and let sin go unpunished. So, the Bible teaches us that Jesus took the punishment and wrath that our sins deserved.

Romans 3:23-26
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. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Some have misunderstood this doctrine of wrath and satisfaction. It is not a bribe. Like many of the pagan religions whose gods are filled with anger and then bribed to divert that anger.

God’s anger is not capricious, it is deserved. And it is not diverted, it is satisfied. God’s righteous anger must find its full expression and complete satisfaction. Where? Not in our actions, but in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross!

The cross is absolutely amazing. It satisfies God’s just demands that call for all sin to be punished. God does not wipe our sins under the proverbial “rug”. He placed them fully on His own Son.

Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.(NIV)

The cross of Christ is not just expiation. The old RSV version translated the Greek word “hilasterion” as expiation instead of propitiation. Expiation is the removal of sin. Through the cross we can have our sins removed. This is a clear truth presented in scripture. But, the cross doesn’t just cleanse sin, it satisfies wrath as well.

Some liberal theologians over the years have had a problem with the concept of wrath. They don’t want a wrathful God so they say that the cross is only for expiation.

But Isaiah is crystal clear – Jesus suffered the punishment that we deserved. He satisfied the just wrath of a righteous God that was engendered by our sin.

This is not just a theological discussion. It is the core, the centerpiece, the truth that leads to life. We would be utterly hopeless if Jesus’ blood was not for the propitiation of our sins. We would have no opportunity for meaningful lasting life, peace with God, peace from God, true joy, or the promise of heaven.

That is extremely relevant! What an amazing God! How loving and kind! That Jesus would become my sin and take the punishment that I deserved is a truth that I will spend an eternity contemplating.
Thank You Jesus!


I have just scratched the surface in discussing the concept of propitiation. There have been volumes written on this subject by many people much more intelligent than myself.

God's Wrath

Nahum 1:2-6
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the bloom of Lebanon withers.
The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.
Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
The Holy Bible : English standard version.

Most people don’t want to acknowledge, think about, or believe that God is a God of wrath. A preacher bringing up this subject is categorized as one of those “hell-fire-brimstone” preachers from days of old.

Well, here I am bringing it up. First of all, I am not one of those old timey “hell-fire-brimstone” preachers. I am too young to fit into that category. I do believe, preach and advocate the grace and mercy of God. I do not always try to “scare” people to faith.(although there is a need for more reverence of the Lord God, I’ll save that for another blog).

But, I do believe the Bible. God has revealed Himself to us through His Word. And time and again we see the mention of His wrath. From beginning to end God is a God of Wrath just as He is a God of Grace. To ignore this truth is to make a god of our imagination, who is no god but a false idol.

So, how do we understand God’s Wrath? How can we make sense out of this truth? J.I. Packer has a great chapter in his classic book Knowing God. I am going to reproduce a couple of paragraphs that I think are excellent.


The root cause of our unhappiness seems to be a disquieting suspicion that ideas of wrath are in one way or another unworthy of God.

To some, for instance, wrath suggests a loss of self-control, an outburst of seeing red which is partly if not wholly irrational. To others it suggests the rage of conscious impotence, or wounded pride or plain bad temper. Surely, it is said, it would be wrong to ascribe to God such attitudes as these?

God’s wrath in the Bible is never capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. God is only angry when anger is called for. Even among humans, there is such a thing as righteous indignation, though it is, perhaps, rarely found. But all God’s indignation is righteous. Would a God who took as much pleasure in evil as he did in good be a good God? Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in his world be morally perfect? Surely not. But it is precisely this adverse reaction to evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, that is what the Bible has in view when it speaks of God’s wrath.

Then to others the thought of God’s wrath suggests cruelty….Does this follow? Two biblical considerations show that it does not.

In the first place, God’s wrath in the Bible is always judicial-that is, it is the wrath of the Judge, administering justice. Cruelty is always immoral, but the explicit presupposition of all that we find in the Bible on the torments of those who experience the fullness of God’s wrath is that each receives precisely what he deserves.

My note: the mistake most people make when trying to understand God’s wrath is they overestimate their own goodness and underestimate their own badness. We are not good, we have sinned and offended the holiness of God Almighty that brings on us exactly what we deserve for such sin—His punishment and wrath.

Romans 2:5-6 says that God will give to each person according to what he has done.

In the second place, God’s wrath in the Bible is something which people choose for themselves. Before hell is an experience inflicted by God, it is a state for which a person himself opts by retreating from the light which God shines in his heart to lead him to Himself.

From Knowing God by J.I. Packer pages 150-156.

Next post: Being delivered from God’s Wrath; propitiation