Day 5 should be a wide, heavy door on the Advent calendar because it leads to an essential gift of grace: Propitiation.
Yesterday we learned about how Christ removes our sins from us, but this would be of little value if our relationship with God were not restored. This is what we will discuss today.
Propitiation changes our standing before God so that He moves from being at enmity with us to being for us. Through propitiation, we are restored into fellowship and favour with Him.
Expiation is the act that results in the change of God‘s disposition toward us. It is what Christ did on the cross, and the result of Christ‘s work of expiation is propitiation—God‘s anger is turned away. (Source)
My favourite quote in Gifts of Grace is on day 5: “Santa Claus is a big fat legalist. He’s a Pharisee in a festive hat.” Jared Wilson explains that Santa spends the whole year spying on kids to see if they are “good” or “bad” to determine what reward they deserve for Christmas. Yet the poor children never know if they are good enough until Christmas morning. “You just have to try your hardest and hope for the best.”
Do you agree that Santa is a legalist? Do you think legalism is harmful to a Christian?
That is what legalism is: striving to achieve perfection through our good deeds and never knowing if you measure up.
The truth is: “The only perfection that exists is God himself.”
We can never achieve perfect holiness and God knows that – that is why he sent Jesus Christ to live the life we could never live and die the death we deserved, but don’t have to die. That is propitiation.
Because God the Trinity is perfectly holy, the wrath of sin had to be satisfied and Jesus satisfied it on our behalf.
Listen to this short episode where Bradley Cooper explains Propitiation on Simply Put below:
“God is not mad at you. No more hoops; no more hurdles. You don’t have to measure up or earn his favour. He’s not holding out on you. He is essentially pleased with you not because of your sacrifices but because of Christ.” – Jared C. Wilson
How does this beautiful doctrine of God’s love change how you live your life?
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If you would like to study the relationship with faith and grace a bit further, have a look at this post:
