Daily Bread - DEC/21/07

1 John 2:2 - And He is the means of forgiveness for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Though some traditional translations render 'hilasmos' as 'propitiation,' this involves a wrong interpretation of the term in question. Propitiation is essentially a process by which one does a favor to a person in order to make him or her favorably disposed, but in the NT God is never the object of propitiation since He is already on the side of mankind. 'Hilasmos' and 'hilasterion' denote the means of forgiveness and not propitiation, (Greek- English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains, [New York: United Bible Societies] 1988, 1989). Hilasmos occurs 2 times in the New Testament and both occurrences are in 1 John, 2:2 and 4:10. Its first occurrence in the Septuagint is in Leviticus 25:9 where it is translated from the Hebrew 'Kippurim' for "day of atonement".

An example of a similar use of 'hilasmos' is found in Psalms 130:4, "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared", KJV. Another example is found in Daniel 9:9, "To the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him." An argument can be made that this Greek word could be translated 'wiping away' because of its association with the mercy seat and Yom Kippur (The Day of Purgation). Our sins have been forgiven because they have been erased and washed away by the blood of Jesus.

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org