{"id":2865,"date":"2023-01-14T11:17:32","date_gmt":"2023-01-14T18:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/?p=2865"},"modified":"2023-01-14T11:17:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-14T18:17:32","slug":"propitiation-a-greek-word-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Propitiation: A Greek Word Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

When looking at a passage of scripture it is helpful to look at words within the passage for clues to meaning.\u00a0 This is important because, though a word may seem straightforward in English, in the original language it may have a multitude of meanings.\u00a0 The words that will be studied is contained within Romans which states, \u201cwhom God\u00a0put forward as\u00a0a propitiation\u00a0by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God\u2019s righteousness, because in\u00a0his divine forbearance he had passed over\u00a0former sins\u201d (Romans 3:25 ESV).\u00a0 The word to be studied is \u1f31\u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd<\/em> (hilasterion), which is translated as \u201cpropitiation\u201d in the passage.<\/p>\n

\"Good<\/p>\n

Propitiation And The Septuigant<\/h3>\n

The word is very fascinating and there is no shortage of debate as to what the Apostle Paul was trying to convey.\u00a0 What is clear is that the word occurs only one other time in the New Testament.\u00a0 In that passage of scripture, the inspired author writes, \u201cAbove it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat<\/em>. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail\u201d (Hebrews 9:5 ESV).\u00a0 When looking into the Old Testament, the LXX or Septuagint, was used since it was written in Greek.\u00a0 The word is utilized thirteen times is eleven verses. Though according to the LALS cite twenty-eight times when the root is taken into consideration. It is fascinating to note that out of these only two occur outside of the Pentateuch<\/em> with those being seen in Ezekiel 43:14, 20.\u00a0 The rest occur in Exodus chapter 25, Exodus 37:8, Leviticus 16, and Numbers 7:89.<\/p>\n

In apocryphal works the word appears in 4 Maccabees 17:22 to speak of the \u201cdevout ones\u201d death as an atoning sacrifice.\u00a0 The word also occurs in some works outside of the Bible with the works of Josephus and Philo among the most popular.\u00a0 It also appeared in the orations of the Greek Philosopher Dio Chrysostom according to BDAG.\u00a0 Among the three non-biblical writers the word is used in the context of atonement.\u00a0 In the Latin Vulgate Jerome translated the word as propitiatorium <\/em>from which we get the English word propitiation.<\/p>\n

Propitiation And The Old Testament<\/h3>\n

When used the in the Old Testament<\/a>, particularly in the decalogue<\/em>, it is used as \u201cmercy seat\u201d.\u00a0 The mercy seat was the lid placed on the Ark of the Covenant and it was sprinkled with blood on the day of atonement.\u00a0 Thus, a majority of uses in the Old Testament are in relation to rituals involving atonement for sin and ritual sacrifices.\u00a0 In the context of Romans 3:25 Christ is the sacrifice for our sins and Hebrews 9:5 (the occurrence of the word in the New Testament) describes Christ as high priest being the once for all sacrifice of the New Covenant and the angels of the mercy seat.\u00a0 Therefore, the word in Romans is a good representation of what Paul was conveying.\u00a0 Christ is the one sacrifice and atones for the sins of those who accept him in faith.<\/p>\n

Other Sources For Study<\/h3>\n

Many sources give several meanings of \u1f31\u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd.\u00a0 <\/em>The Lexham Theological Workbook<\/em> gives the meanings of atone, expiate, and propitiate.\u00a0 BDAG<\/em> seems to prefer expiation.\u00a0 Wuest\u2019s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament <\/em>gives the translation of \u201cplace of satisfaction\u201d, and Strong\u2019s lists the best meaning as expiation.\u00a0 Historically, at least in Greek mythology, propitiation was something to appease the gods.\u00a0 In Romans expiation appears to fit better because it conveys the concept of Christ being the satisfaction for sins. The RSV and NAB are two translations that translate it as such.\u00a0 The ESV, CSB, and NASB use propitiation.\u00a0 The NIV and NRSV use atonement. However, expiation and propitiation, though different seem to be synonymous with each other.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When looking at a passage of scripture it is helpful to look at words within the passage for clues to meaning.\u00a0 This is important because, though a word may seem straightforward in English, in the original language it may have a multitude of meanings.\u00a0 The words that will be studied is contained within Romans which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4296,"featured_media":1814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPropitiation: A Greek Word Study<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When looking at a passage of scripture it is helpful to look at words within the passage for clues to meaning.\u00a0 This is important because, though a word\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Propitiation: A Greek Word Study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When looking at a passage of scripture it is helpful to look at words within the passage for clues to meaning.\u00a0 This is important because, though a word\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Pursuit of Holiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/williamhemsworthauthor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-14T18:17:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1278\/2021\/02\/good-friday-2264164_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"574\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"William Hemsworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@w_hemsworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"William Hemsworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/\",\"name\":\"Propitiation: A Greek Word Study\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-14T18:17:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-14T18:17:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/5604e1670ca722f23378e469efcf43d4\"},\"description\":\"When looking at a passage of scripture it is helpful to look at words within the passage for clues to meaning.\u00a0 This is important because, though a word\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Propitiation: A Greek Word Study\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/\",\"name\":\"The Pursuit of Holiness\",\"description\":\"To Become a Saint is the Ultimate Goal\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/5604e1670ca722f23378e469efcf43d4\",\"name\":\"William Hemsworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f85b7354bae694ccf31c6b821a2d21?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f85b7354bae694ccf31c6b821a2d21?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"William Hemsworth\"},\"description\":\"I am a Catholic convert and my goal is to spread the truth of Christ and His church. This column aims to aid you in your pursuit of holiness. This is done by looking at scripture and the lives of the saints. It is my prayer that it helps in some small way.\",\"sameAs\":[\"www.facebook.com\/williamhemsworthauthor\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/w_hemsworth\",\"brandygrenier\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/author\/whemsworth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Propitiation: A Greek Word Study","description":"When looking at a passage of scripture it is helpful to look at words within the passage for clues to meaning.\u00a0 This is important because, though a word","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Propitiation: A Greek Word Study","og_description":"When looking at a passage of scripture it is helpful to look at words within the passage for clues to meaning.\u00a0 This is important because, though a word","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/","og_site_name":"The Pursuit of Holiness","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/williamhemsworthauthor","article_published_time":"2023-01-14T18:17:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":574,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1278\/2021\/02\/good-friday-2264164_1280.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"William Hemsworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@w_hemsworth","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"William Hemsworth","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/","name":"Propitiation: A Greek Word Study","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-01-14T18:17:32+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-14T18:17:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/5604e1670ca722f23378e469efcf43d4"},"description":"When looking at a passage of scripture it is helpful to look at words within the passage for clues to meaning.\u00a0 This is important because, though a word","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2023\/01\/propitiation-a-greek-word-study\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Propitiation: A Greek Word Study"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/","name":"The Pursuit of Holiness","description":"To Become a Saint is the Ultimate Goal","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/5604e1670ca722f23378e469efcf43d4","name":"William Hemsworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f85b7354bae694ccf31c6b821a2d21?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f85b7354bae694ccf31c6b821a2d21?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"William Hemsworth"},"description":"I am a Catholic convert and my goal is to spread the truth of Christ and His church. This column aims to aid you in your pursuit of holiness. This is done by looking at scripture and the lives of the saints. It is my prayer that it helps in some small way.","sameAs":["www.facebook.com\/williamhemsworthauthor","https:\/\/twitter.com\/w_hemsworth","brandygrenier"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/author\/whemsworth\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}