Whom God had set forth to be a propitiation
Redemption by Christ is here further explained, by his being "a
propitiation": which word may design either Christ the
propitiator, the author of peace and reconciliation; or the
propitiatory sacrifice, by which he is so; and both in allusion
to the mercy seat, which was a type of him as such. The apostle
here uses the same word, which the Septuagint often render
(trpk) "the mercy seat",
by; and Philo the Jew calls it by the same name, and says it was
a symbol, (thv ilew tou)
(yeou dunamewv) "of the
propitious power of God" F2. Christ is the propitiation to God
for sin; which must be understood of his making satisfaction to
divine justice, for the sins of his people; these were imputed to
him, and being found on him, the law and justice of God made
demands on him for them; which he answered to satisfaction, by
his obedience and sacrifice; and which, as it could not be done
by any other, nor in any other way, is expressed by
"reconciliation", and "atonement": whence God may be said to be
pacified, or made propitious; not but that he always loved his
people, and never hated them; nor is there, nor can there be any
change in God, from hatred to love, any more than from love to
hatred: Christ has not, by his sacrifice and death, procured the
love and favour of God, but has removed the obstructions which
lay in the way of love's appearing and breaking forth; there was,
a law broken, and justice provoked, which were to be attended to,
and Christ by his sacrifice has satisfied both; so that neither
the wrath of God, nor any of the effects of it, can fall upon the
persons Christ is the propitiation for, even according to justice
itself; so that it is not love, but justice that is made
propitious: for this is all owing to the grace and goodness of
God, who "hath set him forth", for this intent, in his eternal
purposes and decrees; in the promises of the Old Testament, in
the types, shadows, and sacrifices of the old law; by the
exhibition of him in our nature, and in the ministration of the
Gospel; and this is said to be
through faith in his blood.
The "blood" of Christ is that, by which Christ is the
propitiation; for without the shedding of that blood, there is no
redemption, no peace, no reconciliation, or remission of sin; and
"faith" in his blood is the means by which persons become
partakers of the benefits of his propitiation; such as peace,
pardon, atonement, justification, and adoption: and the end of
Christ's being set forth as a propitiation, on the part of God's
people, is,
for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of
God:
by "sins that are past", are meant, not sins before baptism, nor
the sins of a man's life only, but the sins of Old Testament
saints, who lived before the incarnation of Christ, and the
oblation of his sacrifice; and though this is not to be
restrained to them only, for Christ's blood was shed for the
remission of all his people's sins, past, present, and to come;
yet the sins of the saints before the coming of Christ, seem to
be particularly designed; which shows the insufficiency of legal
sacrifices, sets forth the efficacy of Christ's blood and
sacrifice, demonstrates him to be a perfect Saviour, and gives us
reason under the present dispensation to hope for pardon, since
reconciliation is completely made: "remission" of sin does not
design that weakness which sin has brought upon, and left in
human nature, whereby it is so enfeebled, that it cannot help
itself, and therefore Christ was set forth, and sent forth, to be
a propitiation; but rather God's passing by, or overlooking sin,
and not punishing for it, under the former dispensation; or else
the forgiveness of it now, and redemption from it by the blood of
Christ, "through the forbearance of God"; in deferring the
execution of justice, till he sent his Son, and in expecting
satisfaction of his Son; which shows the grace and goodness of
God to his people, and the trust and confidence he put in his
Son: the other end on the part of God, in setting forth Christ to
be a propitiation, was
to declare his righteousness
( Psalms
22:31 ) ; meaning either the righteousness of Christ, which
was before hid, but now manifested; or rather the righteousness
of God the Father, his faithfulness in his promises relating to
Christ, his grace and goodness in the mission of his Son, the
holiness and purity of his nature, and his vindictive justice, in
avenging sin in his own Son, as the surety of his people: the
execution of this was threatened from the beginning; the types
and sacrifices of the old law prefigured it; the prophecies of
the Old Testament express it; and the sufferings and death of
Christ openly declare it, since God spared not his own Son, but
sheathed the sword of justice in him.