Definition: Propitiation is that priestly work of Christ wherein He removed God's anger and wrath by the covering over of our sins through the substitutionary sacrifice of Himself to God, thus securing our acceptance before God. . . . Christ accomplished His work of propitiation when He was consumed by God's wrath and anger as He was lifted up on the cross as the substitutionary sacrifice for the people of God. The apostle Paul viewed the propitiatory character of Christ's death as being necessitated by the justice and righteousness of God:

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (Romans 3:25-26)

[From "Studies in the Atonement," by Robert A. Morey, pages 27, 30]

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