In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

Holy God, Redeeming Son, Sanctifying Spirit,

How we thank you for the precious gift 

of a debt fully paid for our sins. 

Help us to understand this word “propitiation,” 

a word that’s hard to pronounce 

and even harder to understand 

in human terms.

No, Just God, 

you are not a violent, abusive father 

committing some sort of divine child abuse. 

Rather, you are a Holy God, 

justly wrathful toward sin. 

You planned, in “solidarity of mutual love,”*

with the Son and the Spirit, 

from the beginning of time, 

for the redemption of your beloved chosen people 

from our bondage to sin 

through the gift of your Son.

Jesus, you willingly submitted 

to being incarnated 

as the fully human, fully divine, 

perfectly sinless, only satisfactory 

substitute for our sins. 

Holy Spirit, it was only because you opened our eyes 

to see our helplessness 

to pay the debt of our sin 

and our hope-full gift 

in Christ’s sacrifice for us 

that we could “repent and believe” (Mark 1:15).  

Now, because of this mighty work of propitiation, 

we sing our gratitude: 

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, 

In my place condemned he stood; 

Sealed my pardon with his blood: 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!”**

In this, truly, is love!

In Jesus’ redeeming name. Amen.

Read Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 4:8-10; 1 John 2:1-2.

*Friends, if you want to read a helpful book explaining big theological words like “propitiation” and “limited atonement,” I highly recommend In My Place Condemned He Stood by J. I. Packer and Mark Dever.

**From the hymn, Man of Sorrows.