Since I'm preaching on propitiation tomorrow...

I thought I'd share a few quotes from John Stott's book The Cross of Christ:

“Such images [propitiation, redemption, justification, reconciliation] are indispensable aids to human understanding of doctrine. And what they convey, being God-given, is true. Yet we must not deduce from this that to have understood the images is to have exhausted the meaning of the doctrine. For beyond the images of the atonement lies the mystery of the atonement, the deep wonders of which, I guess, we shall be exploring throughout eternity.” (168)

“They [propitiation, redemption, justification, reconciliation] are not alternative explanations of the cross, providing us with a range to choose from, but complementary to one another, each contributing a vital part to the whole.” (168)

“First, the reason why a propitiation is necessary is that sin arouses the wrath of God.” (173)

“Secondly, who makes the propitiation…the initiative has been taken by God himself in his sheer mercy and grace.” (173)

Thirdly, what was the propitiatory sacrifice? It was neither an animal, nor a vegetable, nor a mineral. It was not a thing at all, it was a person. And the person God offered was not somebody else…distinct or external to himself…he was giving himself.” (174)

“So then, God himself is at the heart of our answers to all three questions about the divine propitiation. It is God himself who in his holy wrath needs to be propitiated, God himself who in holy love undertook to do the propitiating, and God himself who in the person of his Son died for the propitiation of our sins.” (175)