God is love. But the supreme object of that love is himself. And because he loves himself supremely he cannot suffer what belongs to the integrity of his character and glory to be compromised or curtailed. That is the reason for the propitiation.Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 28
Sacrifice views the atonement from the perspective of guilt, propitiation from that of wrath, reconciliation from that of alienation. Redemption has in view the bondage to which sin has consigned us, and it views the work of Christ not simply as deliverance from bondage but in terms of ransom.
propitiation does not detract from the love and mercy of God; it rather enhances the marvel of his love. For it shows the cost that redemptive love entails.Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 28
propitiation is not a turning of the wrath of God into love. The propitiation of the divine wrath, effected in the expiatory work of Christ, is the provision of God's eternal and unchangeable love, so that through the propitiation of his own wrath that love may realize its purpose in a way that is consonant with and to the glory of the dictates of his holiness.Redemption Accomplished & Applied, 27
Propitiation presupposes the wrath of God and displeasure of God, and the purpose of propitiation is the removal of this displeasure. Very simply stated the doctrine of propitiation means that Christ propitiated the wrath of God and rendered God propitious to his people
The curse of the law is its penal sanction. This is essentially the wrath or curse of God, the displeasure which rests upon every infraction of the law's demand.Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 41
To suppose that we are delivered from the law in the sense of such obligation would bring contradiction into the design of Christ's work. It would contradict the very nature of God to think that any person can ever be relieved of the necessity to love God with the whole heart and to obey his commandments. When Scripture relates redemption to the law of God it uses terms that are more specific.Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 41
Propitiation presupposed the wrath and displeasure of God, and the purpose of propitiation is the removal of this displeasure.Redemption Accomplished & Applied, 26
But what does propitiation mean? In the Hebrew of the Old Testament it is expressed by a word which means to "cover." In connection with this covering there are in particular three things to be noted: (1) It is in reference to sin that the covering takes place; (2) the effect of this covering is in cleansing and forgiveness; (3) it is before the Lord that both the covering and its effect take placeRedemption Accomplished & Applied, 26
It is in virtue of his priestly office and in pursuance of his priest function that he makes atonement for sin. He indeed was the lamb slain, but he was also the priest that offered himself as the lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
Obedience, therefore, is not something that may be conceived of artificially or abstractedly. It is obedience that enlisted all the resources of his perfect humanity, obedience that resided in his person, and obedience of which he is ever the perfect embodiment. It is obedience that finds its permanent efficacy and virtue in him. And we become the beneficiaries of it, indeed the partakers of it, by union with him.Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 19
he took care of the guilt of sin and perfectly fulfilled the demands of righteousness. He perfectly met both the penal and the preceptive requirements of God's law. The passive obedience refers to the former and the active obedience to the latter.Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 17
We may find a great deal of emphasis upon the undesirability of sin, the unfortunateness, the odiousness, ugliness, disgustingness, even filthiness of sin, without any truly Christian assessment of sin as lawlessness, pollution and guilt.Collected Writings, Vol2 op.cit p 81
Many sincere believers are too introspective. They look too exclusively within, so that their hope is graduated by the degree of evidence of regeneration which they find in their own experience. This, except in rare cases, can never lead to the assurance of hope. We may examine our hearts with all the microscopic care prescribed by President Edwards in his work on The Religious Affections, and never be satisfied that we have eliminated every ground of misgiving and doubt. The grounds of assurance are not so much within, as without us. Systematic Theology (London, 1873), 3:107
Many... draw their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience... Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others. The Dynamics of Spiritual Life (212)