Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 99:394 (Apr 1942)
Article: Divine Propitiation Part 1
Author: Richard Herman Seume

BSac 99:394 (Apr 42) p. 193

Divine Propitiation
Part 1

Richard Herman Seume

Introduction.

In the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is incumbent upon us to have regard to what is set forth in Scripture as to the nature of the message we are called to proclaim. If our conception of that message lacks Scriptural foundation, then our proclamation to men will be insecure and hazardous. If, on the other hand, we see running through the Sacred Word the immutable purpose of God in the demonstration of His sovereign grace to men, then the burden of our message will be transcendently certain. We have this kind of a gospel. It is for us to declare to a perishing world that God in the person of His Son has done something about their eternal salvation. This is good news indeed. God is for us, and there is not one thing that He has failed to do in making possible our salvation. Neither our sins, nor our iniquities, nor our guilt, nor our ruined nature, nor Satan, nor the world, nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Because of Him God is propitious to this world of sinners.

“Worthy! Worthy! Worthy!
Is the Lamb that was slain!”

The doctrine of divine propitiation is a grand foundation-truth of Christianity. It staggers our imagination; it transcends our reason; yet withal, it satisfies the believing heart. In pursuing what we may call the golden chain of evidence in proof of the doctrine, we propose five vital links which, when joined together, form a united witness to the truth of propitiation. In the first chapter the meaning of propitiation

BSac 99:394 (Apr 42) p. 194

will be examined. Following this, the need for such a propitiation will be demonstrated. Chapter three will endeavor to exhibit Christ as the means of propitiation. Gloriously simple and yet divinely profound is the truth that God is satisfied with the work of His Son. Chapter four will consider the object of propitiation, and chapter five, the results of that divine accomplishment.

“Sovereign grace, o’er sin abounding;
Ransomed souls the tidings swell,
‘Tis a deep that knows no sounding;
Who its length and breadth can tell?
On its glories
Let my soul forever dwell.”

The Meaning of Propitiation

The essential expression of any doctrine is dependent upon the terminology involved. This is true in the study of the doctrine of propitiation. We must examine the words used within the original text of Scripture, and from that examination derive certain vital links in the development of the doctrine. Oddly enough, our study is confined to the New Testament Canon, in which we find the root-word propitiation used but ...