him loving; it only renders it consistent for him to execise his love towards
sinners.
In Romans 3:25 and Hebrews 9:5 (A.V., “mercy-seat”) the Greek word
hilasterion is used. It is the word employed by the LXX. translators in
Exodus 25:17 and elsewhere as the equivalent for the Hebrew kapporeth,
which means “covering,” and is used of the lid of the ark of the covenant
(Exodus 25:21; 30:6). This Greek word (hilasterion) came to denote not
only the mercy-seat or lid of the ark, but also propitation or reconciliation
by blood. On the great day of atonement the high priest carried the blood
of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil and sprinkled
with it the “mercy-seat,” and so made propitiation.
In 1 John 2:2; 4:10, Christ is called the “propitiation for our sins.” Here a
different Greek word is used (hilasmos). Christ is “the propitiation,”
because by his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he
expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he
endured. (Comp. Hebrews 2:17, where the expression “make
reconciliation” of the A.V. is more correctly in the R.V. “make
propitiation.”)
- PROPORTION OF FAITH (Romans 12:6). Paul says here that each one
was to exercise his gift of prophecy, i.e., of teaching, “according to the
proportion of faith.” The meaning is, that the utterances of the “prophet”
were not to fluctuate according to his own impulses or independent
thoughts, but were to be adjusted to the truth revealed to him as a beliver,
i.e., were to be in accordance with it.
In post-Reformation times this phrase was used as meaning that all
Scripture was to be interpreted with reference to all other Scripture, i.e.,
that no words or expressions were to be isolated or interpreted in a way
contrary to its general teaching. This was also called the “analogy of faith.”
- PROSELYTE is used in the LXX. for “stranger” (1 Chronicles 22:2), i.e.,
a comer to Palestine; a sojourner in the land (Exodus 12:48; 20:10; 22:21),
and in the New Testament for a convert to Judaism. There were such
converts from early times (Isaiah 56:3; Nehemiah 10:28; Esther 8:17). The
law of Moses made specific regulations regarding the admission into the
Jewish church of such as were not born Israelites (Exodus 20:10; 23:12;
12:19, 48; Deuteronomy 5:14; 16:11, 14, etc.). The Kenites, the
Gibeonites, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites were thus admitted to the