Bible Word of the Day

Expiatory, Expiation (Propitiation, Atonement)

Meaning
The word “expiatory” or “expiation” means to make an atonement for sin. And it refers to the forgiveness of sins, because Jesus through His sacrifice on the cross made atonement for us. In other words, Jesus paid the price for us. In God’s eyes, we have been made perfect and sinless because of what Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary. And this justification is given freely to those who place their faith in Jesus alone for salvation. The expiation of our sins was achieved by the work of Jesus on the cross. The sin of all those who place their faith in Christ was paid for by Jesus and we no longer suffer the penalty of that sin, which is eternal separation from God. Because Jesus took upon Himself the punishment for our sins, our debt was cancelled in the eyes of God. Moreover, through expiation, we are adopted into the family of God as children of God and joint heirs with Christ.

Most importantly the cancellation our our debt, which was paid by Jesus is eternal and irrevocable. And even though sin is still present in the temporal sense, we are still forgiven eternally. In other words, we through faith have been delivered from the penalty of sin. Therefore the power of sin over us has been broken by the atonement of Christ. This means expiation, which is justification before God, is a term referring to the deliverance from the penalty of sin which was paid by Jesus. This is a one-time act wherein the sinner is justified and made holy and righteous in the eyes of God who exchanged our sinful natures for the righteousness of Christ. There is nothing we can do to add to the price Jesus paid for us. There are no religious works we can perform to make ourselves more righteous in the eyes of God.