So number two in your handout the terminology used to talk about the significance of Jesus’s death on the cross for salvation can be confusing it is very confusing there are so many words Redemption satisfaction and uh today we are going to focus on three words in particular atonement first one then experation and
Then propitiation okay these three words in reality are synonymous even if they have different meanings in in English uh they the three of them uh in scripture they are often used to translate the same word and the same concept uh this is what we are going to see so atonement
Which is a favorite word of mine I really love love love this word uh which is is only English uh so you don’t find this word used in other languages in Italian or in French uh is an umbrella term which covers the different uh the different meanings of uh uh of Salvation
Uh sometimes you know Redemption is translated is so so basically you have atonement and then you have um under this umbrella you have experation prop propitiation satisfaction Redemption etc etc but atonement I think is the word that better than anyone else expresses what salvation really means because
Ethologically it means at one me so there is the word one inside so it’s the making one is the reuniting is the uh um reconciliation okay so what is salvation Salvation essentially fundamentally is reconciliation between us and God and between ourselves and interestingly the word covenant means exactly the same thing
Covenant is the union between God and his people and us so Covenant reconciliation atonement or allow me to say atement are the same thing and then you have these words these curious words um I’m not very fond of I I don’t like very much uh and I’ll explain to you why uh
And other words experation and propitiation okay uh they have most specific meanings and they are usually used as if that meaning was self-evident uh the reality is that they are charged they come with um a certain um because they are used in pagan sacrifices Pagan sacrifices we saw
A little bit last time in the beginning of our lecture are used to propitiate the Divinity that is to appease the Divinity so the idea is that the Divinity may be angry with us and we have to do something to appease the Divinity so to propitiate or experation
We have done something wrong and so we have to pay the price of the wrong we have done so we have to expiate this is also typical of pagan sacrifice and now this vocabulary has been transferred onto the sacrifices of the Old Testament and uh onto the death of
Christ and has somehow altered the me the real meaning um and it is often used unfortunately in some circles uh to talk about the WTH wrath of God God is angry with us and don’t and and so the blood of Christ was necessary to exate for us sin
Or God was angry and it was necessary to appease him okay so this is why these two words are really charged and it is very important to understand why they how they crept in uh in Christianity and where they come from uh why they are used and what
Is the real meaning now in reality these words in the New Testament are all linked to one in one uh one object we’re going to see just one object uh let’s suspend let’s create a suspense for the moment the first thing let’s look at the four passages in the New Testament where
These words are used the first one is Roman 3:25 which says uh I’m still sorry the number might not have come um um under number three so God presented Jesus Jesus as propitiation it could also be translated experation by his blood and the the word in Greek is hilasterion okay and we’re
Going to see what this hilasterion is to be received by faith this was to show God’s righteousness because in his Divine forbearance he had passed over former sins then there is Hebrew 2:17 in which it is said that therefore Jesus had to be made like his brothers
In every respect effect like us so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation can be also translated to make experation and the word is elas so is the verb is the same verb but the
Root is the same Elion elas are the same come from the same root for the sins of the people and then you have two passages from the first letter of St John uh to um 21 my little children I’m 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 uh here the word used is il asmos but same same thing for sins and the same word used in 1 John 4 in this
Love uh in this is love not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent us his son to be the propitiation for us now elas MOS Elion elas they all refer to one object uh and this is a fascinating thing so um I took the
Liberty to put some few um uh pictures this time I’m sure this going to make and doubt much more uh exciting so if you go on the third page uh you have I put uh um the tent of the Covenant so when uh Moses came down from the
Mountain gave the tables of the law to the people of Israel said to them do you agree do you want to observe this law uh the people said yes he as we said last time constructed a covenant a covenant was was um sealed between God and his people uh and if you
Remember we said you know the sacrifice of the Covenant uh consisted in sprinkling the blood of a sacrificial victim partly on an altar that represented God and partly on the people so the blood was that which was used used to make the people one atment atonement
Okay uh and then um in B in the book of Exodus and Leviticus but especially here in the book of Exodus 25 God is supposed to have given instructions on how to build a tent the so-called tent of the Covenant okay uh in which the priests went to offer uh
Sacrifices to God sacrifices of food uh and and that’s related to the meal we are going to talk about next time sacrifices of incense so the incense was one of the ways in which sacrifices were offered to God and then sacrifices of blood so the sprinkling of the blood now
Um you know this is a vast topic so I don’t have time to explain to you everything but uh it is something which I want to do in in the future talk a bit more uh about this uh for the moment just want you to notice uh the structure
Of the tent so the tent you see there is the little high priest or priest outside the tent in the first image then there is a first space which is called the holy and inside the holy there was the the table of the offering the the the
Offerings of food and then there is another tent which is and near there is the little altar of incense and beyond that other tent there’s a little object inside with two bars that’s the Ark of the Covenant and we’re going to talk about this in a moment um and this Ark
Of the Covenant was in the space called the holy of holies uh so it was the innermost part of this tent uh and it was a place where only the high priest could go and only once a year so it was was considered the place where God dwelt uh the place of the
Residence of God the second picture shows you uh how I think this is more a reconstruction is more imaginative but um um even in the book of Exodus but the idea was that the tent of the Covenant was in the middle of the camp of the Israelites as they were kind of uh
Wondering in the desert for 40 years so there was this tent outside there was the um uh the place where victims were killed which is important that it should be outside the tent then there was a um um kind of a fence all over around the tent and nobody was allow you know
Only you had to be pure to uh so P of Allan cines to be able to have access inside that space and all around you have the T of the people of Israel uh and they were distributed according to tribes and each tribe had a specific
Place uh um um in which they were supposed to be around this tent now the very interesting thing if you go in the following page is that there were three successive 10 temples in the history of Jerusalem the Temple of Solomon then the Temple of zorobabel and the Temple of
Herod the Great which is the temple that Jesus knew and these temples were built exactly with the same structure exactly with the same structure so uh I have not um um I did this time I didn’t put pictures that show the inside the the the temple
But the idea is that you see outside uh the Temple of Solomon there is a little um there’s a kind of um platform with a staircase going up to it this is the place where the animals were killed uh the the the blood was collected or they were burned for the
Holocaust for the Holocaust is uh where where you know the the the victims were burned then there was a big um Basin where there was the water for purification the priests said to watch themselves before getting into the uh entering into the temple and then in the temple there
Was the same structure so there was the Holy in which you had again you know the altar of incense the altar of food and the the menoras so the um the candles the special candles and then you had the holy of holies and the Temple of er the
Great was built exactly in the same way now the thing which is and this is where I want to go I told told you that inside the holy of holies in the tent uh there was this AR of the Covenant so the Ark of the Covenant was
This box which you find in the following page uh this box which was supposed to contain uh three things the tables of the law so the tables that the law of the law that Moses got from God were put inside it then the rod of Aaron which
Had bded and had um um selected him Etc ET the whole history and then a bit of Mana the Mana of the desert a memory of the fact that God you know gave food to his people um while while they were wandering in the desert so um this was
Lost uh so unless you have seen like Indiana Jones and the Ark of the covenants you might have seen it which you know he finds the Covenant etc etc uh you know uh probably never existed probably was destroyed probably was stolen God knows where where where
This um this Arc went um but the important thing about this Ark is that more than the content and everything and so the bars on two sides were for being transported from time to time especially there are instances in in the Bible where you see that it was used when they
Wanted to instill fear in in the enemies they would bring the Ark of the covenants in A procession so we had four people you know uh like like the statues in processions you know in uh I don’t know I’ve never seen this in New York
But in in a village where I grew up in the south of Italy there were processions like you know 10 times a year with people carrying and fraternities carrying carrying the the saint and it was exactly the same structure now the interesting thing and you know I know it’s a long introduction
But the interesting thing is the cover of this AR okay the cover of this AR in which there were two carabin two stes of carabin covering it now this cover um which was called um Kapa kipa I can’t remember in in Hebrew uh is the hilasterion hilasterion is the uh uh the
Um propitiatory cover propitiation cover and it was very important for several reasons the first one is that it was considered to be the place where God put his feet so what God is like the Throne of God where is it also was also called called The Mercy Seat because uh in the
Belief of Israel of the Israelites God was symbolically uh met kind of sitting on it uh and um this was the this cover was where the high priest once a year when he went into the the Ark of the Covenant sprinkled with blood so the blood was sprinkled over this little cover okay
So hilasterion propitiation or propitiatory uh in indicates the cover and the action of sprinkling blood over this cover and there is a sense in which Jesus is called by Romans by Hebrews by the first letter of St John is called The Mercy Seat it’s called the cover of the Ark of
The of the Covenant why or hean why is called like this because there is something about uh the way in which Jesus saved us which is which can be understood only if we know what happened in the day of atonement when the high priest sprinkled blood over this um this
Seat so if you go back um few pages I uh gave you I think in the second page the passage of Leviticus that talks about the day of atonement yum kipur which is still celebrated by the people of Israel uh the day of um atonement and um it describes exactly you know the
Um the way in which the high priest went into the holy of holies so the Lord the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of his two sons of Aaron when they drew near before the Lord and died and the Lord said to Moses tell Aaron your
Brother not to come at any time inside the holy place inside the veil which is the holy of holies where the uh Ark of the Covenant was before the mercy seat so the hilarium the cover of the ark that is on on the ark so that he may not
Die for I will appear in the cloud Over The Mercy Seat so you see I will appear so I am over the mercy it God is saying I this is the place where I stay and then he says Aaron so the priest or the high priest after him shall offer the bull as
A sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself for his house then he shall take two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of the meeting and Aaron shall cast lots over the Two Goats one lot for the Lord and
The other lot for Azazel is like the demon okay and Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it for a sin offering but the goat on which the Lord fell for Azazel shall be presented alive alive before the Lord to make atonment over it that
It may be sent away in the wilderness um Into the Wilderness toel so the idea is that for the day of atonement the priest had first of all to ask forgiveness for his own sins to have his sins forgiven so because otherwise he would not be able to present the sacrifice for the
Forgiveness of the sins of the people so first of all a bull had to be offered for his own things so a bull was killed outside the tent by servants the blood was collected and the priest was sprinkled The Mercy Seat the Elion with a little bit of this
Blood for his own Saints then once he was pure he was habilitated to enabled to of the sacrifice of sin for the people and to do this there were two goats uh one of there were kind of lot so they a lot was cured and one was killed and the other
One was Left Alive the one which was killed same operation it was killed outside the blood was collected and some of this Blood was sprinkled on The Mercy Seat the other goat um the priest would impose hands over that goat would transfer symbolically the sins of the
People over that goat and that goat would be sent into the Wilderness would not be killed and that’s the scap goat H what we call the scapegoat uh and all the idea of the scapegoat is basically uh the goat on on which we transfer our sins okay
Now a lot of the interpretations that say that our sins were transferred to Christ so we should have been punished for us sins and Christ was punished uh instead of us and this sacrifice was this him being punished instead of us uh rely on a wrong inter interpretation of
The scapegoat the scapegoat was not a sacrifice was simply a symbolic act in which God basically said I will consider your sins as they never happened and to convey this message to the people he would say to them well put them on this goat and send the poor the poor the poor
Animal into the desert and um you know and will be lost uh so as the goat is lost so your sins are lost they are not considered um anymore what was a sacrifice was the first goat and in that case it was not the killing of the goat which was important
Again okay it was the fact that the blood of that animal should be taken to be used to sprinkle the hilasterion and uh to uh have uh to become you know that through which uh the people was or the sins of the people were forgiven now
Having done this I want you to go to number number number number okay I started numbering again number one the meaning of the use of the blood in the day of atonement in which I have again taken some of the ideas I already mentioned to you uh in our last um uh
Leure because I think it’s important now that we have a bit more context to understand uh or rather they help us to understand the real meaning of atonement so as I told you last time the essential Rights was not the immolation the killing of the animals but the
Sprinkling of blood performed by the priest alone either directly on The Mercy Seat on yum kipur the day of ATT tournament or IND directly on the veil okay so the sacrifice for sins was not offered only on the day of atonement was offered you know frequently uh and was offered by other
Priests when it was not the day of atonement any priest could do it and but he was not allowed to enter into the holy of holies so he would spring sprled the tent which was uh which the the kind of the curtain which which was always always drawn okay sprinkle that curtain
Which was a way of of again reaching as close as possible to the Ark of the Covenant that is to God basically it was a way even sprinkling the Elion was a way of reaching Gods how do we reach God how this Blood reaches God it reaches
God by touching the place where God is supposed to have his uh seed and blood is a sign the function of purification okay um number three the function of the blood is also that of sanctifying the Altar and the priests and here number four in particular the use of blood resembles
That of the Covenant sacrifice of the book of Exodus we talked about last time did you find the the number I mention because I’m not sure that the numbering is is is I gave you the right numbering okay do you do you find the page um I I have a different uh
Different um Imagination here but it should be the paragraph that starts by here in particular the use of blood resemble that of the Covenant sacrifice of the book of Exodus nine okay the blood empowers people to draw near to God or to use things for the worship of
God that is it unites with God Holiness in fact is one of the essential attributes of the god of Israel the first idea of Holiness in uh in the Old Testament in particular is one of Separation inaccessibility Transcendence which inspires religious fear this Holiness is communicated to that which
Approaches of God or is consecrated to him so everything that came near God not only the people but the objects the clothes everything had to be purified so washed uh the precept to change before he came closer to God um and everything had to be
Consecrated uh so it’s like had to be so used not only used only used for the worship of God but in order to be used for the worship worship of God it had to be purified and it had to be consecrated and the blood so the ways in
The ways in which things were purified and consecrated for God was through washing them in the case of people or was through uh sprinkling blood over them so the blood was that which had the power to make things acceptable In God’s Presence okay and again it is very important to know
To remember from what we said last time why the blood is given this power and that’s the essential thing for the understanding of experation the vocabulary of experation um if you go further down it’s number six in my handout um where I gave you the two translations of Leviticus 1711
So as we have seen in a previous talk there are two main ways in which uh Leviticus 1711 is translated from the Hebrew in modern in the modern Bibles there is the NIV the new international version version which is used Often by evangelicals uh and evangelicals as you
Know have this understanding of the death of Christ which is called often penal substitution which means that Christ uh to so we should have been punished for our sins to appease the wrath of God and um Christ died instead of us and he by his death appeased so propitiated God
And expiated for our sins and this Bible uh which is quite good in other ways I mean I like it and is my main Bible but you know sometimes um you can see that translations have been pushed a certain direction to validate a certain understanding of the death of Christ in
This case uh the translation is for the life of a creature is in the blood so the reason why the blood cannot be as I told you last time is sacred nobody can drink it nobody can eat it um um um and the reason why is that a life of a
Creature is in the blood and I have given it to you the blun to you to make atonement for yourself on the altar okay it is the blood that makes atonement for one life so they translated makes atonement or makes experation for one life whereas The New American studing Bible which is closer
To the original Hebrew uh translates in this way for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to on the altar to make atonement for your souls for it is the blood by reason of of the life that makes atonment and last time I tried to tell
You that the reason why blood in the sacrif in the Pagan sacrifices the reason why blood is used and is considered effective is because it’s costly okay it’s a price you pay a price so killing the animal uh deprives you of something you own uh so you have you you
It has to cost you something okay uh and you know if you really want to go all the way you know all the way into this you sacrifice a person or you sacrifice your daughter there’s a sacrifice of a king who sacrifices his daughter in in the Old Testament kills his daughter God
Has never asked sacrifice human sacrifices by the way um but you know the idea in Pagan sacrifices is that the blood is effective because it is cost the key is that in the New Testament there is a complete kind of change of of perspective the blood is effective
Because it is life the blood is effective not because we give it to God but because God gave the blood to us this is why he says the blood belongs to me the blood is life gave it to us for a purification for a sanctification to be used
Symbolically to show that he wants to uh forgive us so um I don’t want to um yes if you go further down um can I can I have just one of the handouts please thank you so much thanks um number I don’t know why the the numbers are show up differently in my
Um in my paper so the passage that starts uh The crucial point in y’s testimony in Leviticus 1711 do you find this number eight page eight yes okay so number 16 in your uh in your handout it’s very funny uh The crucial point in ye’s testimony in Leviticus
1711 is it is I who has given this Blood to you unlike what happens in primitive religions where the idea of atonement is linked to purific purificatory rights which released Powers capable of producing magical effects in Priestly legislation so in Leviticus in the Old Testament this power is attributed to
Divine will rather than an offering made to God sacrificial blood is therefore a gift made by God to people in the ancient economy rights played a role through the will of God because of the offering God removed sin the Priestly text insists on a close relationship
Between the life of the people and the state of Holiness or desecration of the holy places and the altar in particular by purifying the altar the sacrificial blood keeps the people in communion with God the atoning virtue of blood is linked to Divine Good Will excluding any magical interpretation okay so the key
Idea uh behind uh the passages of the new test Testament that talk about Christ as being propitiation or Christ being experation okay is that by by giving his life Christ has done the same thing as the blood sprinkled on the hilasterion did in the Old Testament
Which is to reunite us to God this is why the better translation is atonment atement is reconciliation is reunion and we need to and sorry I I know that I’m kind of insisting on this point but we need to have the right understanding of the sacrifices of the
Old Testament so that we do not um import ideas from Pagan sacrifices to understand the death of Christ on the cross and we get rid uh in this way of all the uh contamination that tries to understand the death of Christ as the paying of a price or as uh the appeasing
Of God’s anger okay this is this is this is why it’s so important to uh mention these things this is all very ARA I acknowledge I mean obviously you know to us the killing of animals the shedding of blood and the the use using of this
Blood you know to sprinkle the altar Etc seems like you know so remote from us but the thing as I told you also last time this is the vocabulary which is used and the imagery which is used in the New Testament and if we want to understand our liturgy our worship we
Need to know these ideas so uh if you go to number 17 the same symbolism I mentioned so far is a work in our worship each Sunday when the priest who presents us the chalice and says the blood of Christ I mean do you realize that it you know someone tells you take
Blood uh and you know we have become so accustomed to this but it’s quite shocking and even if you know we know that what we are drinking is not physical blood okay is the blood of Christ but you know we believe that the wine um you know becomes the the blood
Of Christ Etc but still we are asked to subscribe to this symbolism okay uh so when the priest presents the Char or you know the minister presents the Chalice the blood of Christ we reply amen which is I believe it I say yes to it we are no more sprinkled with the
Blood of animals but we drink the wine which Jesus gave to us as the blood of the New Covenant and he called it the blood of the New Covenant okay and incidentally and it’s quite interesting that when J Jesus uh instituted the Eucharist and called it the blood this
Is my blood the sacrifice it referred to was not the sacrifice of the day of atonement but the sacrifice of the Covenant and I told you I told you last time the reason sacrifice of the Covenant is the one the sacrifice that Moses performed when uh
Um um he gave the the tables of the law to the people and the interest of that uh sacrifice is that part of the blood was sprinkled on the people and part of the blood was sprinkled on the altar to signify the union of the people with God
Was in the day of atonement only the AL Only The Mercy Seat was sprinkled so anyway so um we are no more sprinkled with the blood of animals but we drink the wine which Jesus gave us as the blood of the New Covenant as he declares in the last
Supper the word covenant and the word atonement have as I told you exactly the same meaning to become one with God and with each other and Jesus’s blood has this power for one reason and one reason only not because it is a price but because it is the sign of his life given
Out of love for the father and for us all only love unites really to God and Only Love unites us with each other the reason why Jesus died gave his blood is because he loved us because the father loved us okay whenever blood is mentioned in connection with Jesus we should
Understand love I translate always when I hear the blood of Christ I always translate the love of Christ okay the love of God what do we say Amen to when receive the blood of Christ is Amen to the love of God a love which means that from now
On God is forever our and we are his God is forever with us and we are forever with him so whenever we hear the words propitiation or experation we should remember that in the context of scripture even if it is not quite a long elaborate way of reconstructing how in
The context of scripture they mean atement they mean reconciliation they mean Covenant they mean reunion and that the meaning of appeasing the Divinity paying a price substituting one victim um apply to Pagan or anim animous sacrifices on the contrary the sacrifices of the Old Testament uh it always refers to the way
In which God establishes and renews the Covenant that is the communion between him s and his people so did Jesus die to expiate our sins in the sense that he died to appease the wrath of God or to substitute us uh so to be punished in
Our place I would say no I would say that this is importing foreign and Pagan ideas uh into uh the death of Christ uh has Christ um died to reconcile us with the father and with each other yes because this is the meaning of the blood sacrifices the
Real meaning of the blood sacrifices in the Old Testament now this is something which we are going to develop further as we go uh as we explore uh further the meaning of sacrifice uh in the next few lectures
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