1 John 2:2 - Propitiation Part 2

This is a continuation of our look at this verse and its impact on the reformed doctrine of the cross and what Christ accomplished there—in other words the meaning and extent of the atonement. At that time I proposed that there were five possible ways that this verse could be understood.

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.—1 John 2:2

This is what I proposed. Either:

(1) Jesus is the propitiation for every sin of every human being who ever lived, or

(2) Jesus is the propitiation for some of the sins of every human being who ever lived, or

(3) Jesus is the (potential) propitiation for every single sin of every human being who ever lived, or

(4) Jesus is the propitiation for every sin of not every single person who ever lived, or

(5) Jesus is the propitiation for every sin of his people and the cosmos.

What we do then is look at the verse in depth, considering each word and its usage in the over-all context of the New Testament and the history of redemption going back all the way to the proto-evangelion in Genesis 3. Then we try to answer the question I proposed in light of what we’ve learned.

Which of the five proposed meanings I land on I will let you discover on your own, but if you listen to the audio you will learn that and also why I did so. I hope you will take the time to do that. Jut click the link below. God bless you.



Click here: 1 John 2:2 - Propitiation Part 2


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1 John 2:1-2 Propitiation Part 1

The extent of the atonement is a controversial topic within the evangelical community, though not within the reformed tradition. What the reformed tradition focuses on is not so much the question of ‘for whom did Christ die,’ but rather ‘what did he do for them?’ This passage of Scripture touches on both and we make the case that the former question can only be answered properly once we obtain the answer to the latter.

What I did in this bible study is try to put into the context of the book (1 John) what John is saying in these two verses. It took two lessons to cover. In this first one we connect verse 1 to the arguments John is making at the end of chapter 1 and then we talk about such concepts as antinomianism and what John means when he says that we have an Advocate with the Father. Will we sin as Christians? Is that okay? What happens when we do? Has God made provision for this? Do we have someone to help us?



Then we begin to take a look at the word ‘propitiation,’ how it was used in the Greek language, how it was used elsewhere in the Bible, and how it is onnected to the Old Testament. We end by discussing the holy place and the day of atonement, otherwise known as Yom Kippur. How did that point to Christ and what does it have to teach us about what Christ did at the cross?

Two-thirds of the way through this study we ran into some technical difficulties with the audio so you may notice a change in background noise during a quotation from one of the Psalms. As a whole you should be fine, however, and I hope you will take the time to listen. Just click the link below.


Click here: 1 John 2:1-2 - Propitiation Part 1


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