Under the Mercy

The coming of Christ is foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The Passover of the Jews looks forward to the coming of Christ, and his death and resurrection, for the salvation of the world. We in the Byzantine Church still call Easter Pascha, as the ancient Church did, to indicate that Christ is our passover. The difference is, whereas the first passover was salvation for the people of Israel only, the Passover of Christ is for all humanity.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.- Romans 3:23-26 NKJV

I prefer the New King James among modern translations because of its use of the Byzantine Text, which is the text the Church uses. But I particularly like the way the NKJV renders this passage. St. Paul says, "because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness..." The phrase, passed over, links the sacrifice of Christ with the Passover of the Jews. In the same way that the blood of the passover lamb covered the door posts of the Jewish homes in Egypt during the Exodus, Christ our Passover covers our sins. God "passes over" them just as the Angel of Death passed over the homes covered by the blood.

The word propitiation in this passage refers to the Mercy Seat where God was thought to have had his throne (Ex. 25:17-22). Once a year, on the day of Atonement, the blood of a sacrifice was sprinkled on the mercy seat for the forgiveness of sins.

Some prefer to translate this word for the mercy seat in Romans 3 as propitiation, because it indicates that an angry god is being placated.

But the New American Bible chooses the word expiation to translate the same word that the New King James has propitiation. The New American Bible explains the choice in this way: "Expiation: this rendering is preferable to "propitiation," which suggests hostility on the part of God toward sinners. As Paul will be at pains to point out (Romans 5:8-10), it is humanity that is hostile to God."

We are the ones who have chosen to alienate ourselves from God. We are not alienated from God because we sin, but we sin because we are alienated from God. The hostility is on our part, not God's.

"I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not come with terror."

- Hosea 11:9 NKJV

Instead, the blood of Christ is a gift of a merciful Savior, a merciful God.

The writer of Hebrews describes the terrifying scene of encounter in the Old Testament:

" For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”- Hebrews 12:18-21 NKJV

But in the New Covenant we find mercy and have direct access to God (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19-22). We do not approach a terryfying scene, but the family of God, the gathering of all of God's people throughout the ages known as the Church:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.- Hebrews 12:22-24 NKJV

The New American Bible comments thusly on verse 24: "Speaks more eloquently: the blood of Abel, the first human blood to be shed, is contrasted with that of Jesus. Abel's blood cried out from the earth for vengeance, but the blood of Jesus has opened the way for everyone, providing cleansing and access to God (Hebrews 10:19)."

The Orthodox Study Bible provides this commentary: "[in the Church] the blood (v. 24) cries not for vengeance and further death- as did Abel's (see 11:4; Genesis 4:10)- but for mercy, forgiveness, atonement and unending life. This is the blood of Christ given us in the Eucharist."

It is not only the former sins that are forgiven in Christ; faith in Christ and membership in His Body, the Church, provides for continual cleansing from sin, and fellowship with God:

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. - 1 John 1:7 NKJV

Come to faith in Christ; come to the Church; join the Body of Christ. Abide in Christ by abiding in His body. God's mercy and unconditional love awaits you there.