The small things in life often bring the most joy. One of those small things is a hot shower after playing soccer in the driving rain and freezing cold. I arrive home caked in mud, peel off my stiffening soccer kit, and watch the warm soapy water wash the dirt away. The feeling of being clean again is immensely satisfying. In a small way, this exemplifies the doctrine of expiation—God’s removal of sin.
Among evangelicals, expiation is an overlooked doctrine. This is largely due to some scholars outside evangelicalism advocating for it over against propitiation—the satisfaction of God’s wrath against sin. For some, the concept of the Son appeasing the Father’s wrath is difficult to square with a God of love. They argue the Bible doesn’t propose a doctrine of propitiation but of expiation.
But we don’t have to choose between expiation and propitiation. Both are true. Christ’s death is multifaceted. Here are three biblical images that show us the glory of expiation—the goat, the globe, and the grave.
Goat
Leviticus 16:20–22 documents the events of ancient Israel’s Day of Atonement. There’s a lot of pageantry, blood, and sacrifice, and a vivid and glorious image of expiation.
We don’t have to choose between expiation and propitiation. Both are true. Christ’s death is multifaceted.
Aaron, the high priest, conducts the ceremonies. After purifying the tabernacle, he presents a live goat (v. 20). In a symbol-laden action, he places his hands on the goat’s head and confesses Israel’s sin—all their sins and transgressions are thereby placed symbolically on the goat’s head (v. 21). This goat is then driven into the wilderness and viewed as bearing the people’s sins away into a desolate place (v. 22). This is expiation: the removal of sin. It’s taken away from us. Gone.
The goat teaches us that God in his grace places our sin on another and takes it away. How glorious to think that our sin is removed from us. Yet the Bible says more.
Globe
Psalm 103 blesses Yahweh for all his benefits (v. 2). Primary among these are forgiveness and redemption (vv. 3–4). Salvation unlocks every spiritual blessing available (Eph. 1:3), and expiation is one key spiritual blessing present in Psalm 103.
In verse 11, the psalmist reaffirms God’s steadfast love; as far as you can strain your neck and focus your eyes into the sky, even higher is God’s permanent, covenant love. Then, in verse 12, David moves from the heavens to the compass. As far as the east is from the west, he says, so too is the distance between us and our sins. East and west never meet. They’re perpetually separated. This is expiation. Our sin is removed from us. According to David, the globe stands between us and our sin. The distance between us and sin is insurmountable.
The globe teaches us not only that our sin has been taken away but that it’s far away. It’s not stuffed into a closet, waiting to burst out. It’s in a distant land, never to return. In the ancient world, the world was as big as anyone could fathom. An apt contemporary image might be the galaxy. As far as Upsilon Andromedae b is from Earth—44 light years or 259 trillion miles in case you’re wondering—so far has God removed our sin from us. Yet the Bible says even more.
Grave
In Micah 7:19, the prophet praises God, who promises to cast his people’s sins into “the depths of the sea.” This is equivalent to the grave. Recall Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2:2–3—the prophet makes “the heart of the seas” parallel to “the belly of Sheol.” By that logic, Micah says our sin is sent to the grave.
Consider then the interest given to Jesus’s burial in the Gospels. All of them pay careful attention to the fact that Jesus was buried (Matt. 27:57–61; Mark 15:42–47; Luke 23:50–56; John 19:38–42). They all give details about the method and location of burial (Matt. 27:60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:53; John 19:41). Each Gospel notes that Jesus had a grave. Our Savior was buried.
Perhaps we overlook the significance of this for our salvation because we first think of employing these details as apologetic evidence for Jesus’s death and resurrection. But in Romans 6:4, Paul alludes to the burial of our sin. He writes about Christians being buried with Christ in baptism. Also in 1 Corinthians 15:4, he’s careful to include burial as part of the core gospel message. In Colossians 2:12, the picture of burial reappears again. We rightly sing, “Buried, he carried my sins far away.” Glorious day!
Jesus took our sin to the grave and left it there. Buried forever. Gone and never to return. This is the glory of expiation.
Washed Clean
No matter the sin caked to us, Jesus washes it clean. It clings no longer. It’s removed. He has taken it into a desolate place, far away, never to return. Just as the hot soapy water of the shower removes the mud caked on my knees, smudged up my arm, and lodged under my fingernails, so too glorious gospel grace removes sin. As Paul assured Titus, “He saved us . . . by the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5).
We rightly sing, ‘Buried, he carried my sins far away.’ Glorious day!
Expiation is no more glorious than propitiation, justification, reconciliation, Christ’s victory, Christ’s example, or the many other facets of his death. But it’s no less glorious. It doesn’t deserve to be overlooked like it has. The same sacrifice both expiates sin and propitiates God’s wrath. As Donald Macleod observes, “Sin is expiated, God is propitiated and . . . these cannot be separated. God can be propitiated only if sin is expiated; and sin is expiated only in order that God may be propitiated.” The glory of expiation is that Christ’s people have been washed clean because of Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, nothing we’ve done can cling to us if Jesus has washed us. Its stench doesn’t linger. Nothing others have inflicted on us can survive the cleansing Christ brings. The scars heal eventually—even if we must await eternity. Nothing hidden and nothing public persists when we’re purified by our Savior. The stigma dissipates. Sin is eradicated. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
The Gospel Coalition