Odd Contrast

One of the most intriguing passages in the Old Testament is Num 14:18.

The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but he by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.

The first half of this verse describes amazing love. God is abundant in mercy, and forgives iniquity and transgression. However, the second half of the verse seems to contradict what went before. It seems it be saying that God forgives iniquity, but then judges grandchildren and great grandchildren for it. That is illogical. If God has forgiven the person who sins, he is not going to punish their descendants.

I believe that there is something wrong with the standard translation. First of all the word “guilty” does not exist in the Hebrew, but is added by the translators. That is why it is in italics. Secondly, the expression “he by no means clears” is a very expansive translation of a couple of Hebrew words. Literally, the Hebrew says something like “to acquit not he will acquit”. I am not sure what this strange expression means, but I doubt that it means what the English translators say it means.

I presume the second half of the verse is talking about what the spiritual powers of evil want to do, in contrast to God. God is full lovingkindness, so he forgives transgressions. The powers of evil want to punish transgression to the fourth generation.

Maybe the verse should read like this.

The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression and making pure, not visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation (like the spiritual power of evil).

Propitiate Who?

Commentators have argued about how Romans 3:25 how should be translated. Some translators use the work propitiation

Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood (NKJV).

Others have used the word expiation.

Whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood (RSV).

Some modern translations use the neutral but meaningless expression, “atoning sacrifice”.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement (NIV).

The Greek word is “hilasterion”. In Hebrews 9:5, it is used to describe the cover of ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle. Our problem is that none of these words mean much to modern readers.

The word propitiate is directed towards a person. Someone is offended and they must be satisfied. Others do not like the word, because they thing it means that God is angry and hard to please.

Those who argue for propitiate are correct that Romans 3:25 describes Jesus as satisfying or appeasing “someone”, but they are wrong about who that person is. They assume that it is God the one who needs to be propitiated. That is wrong. God is gracious and great in love, mercy and patience, so he does not need to be propitiated.

Everyone who sins is a slave of the spiritual powers of evil. They demand the implementation of the curse of the law against everyone who sins, so we need to be ransomed from their power. They need to be propitiated, because they are operating according to the letter of the law and demanding retribution on all sinners.

Romans 3:25 says that Jesus has satisfied the powers of evil and redeemed us from their power. His death fulfilled the requirements of the law, cancelling out the demands of our accusers. It nullified the curse of the law that was against us.

If we trust in Jesus, we died with him and rose with him. That means our old life is dead. A prosecutor cannot bring charges against someone who is dead. The powers of evil have no rights over our lives.

They cannot object to that because they have already agreed that Adam’s sin gives them authority over all his descendants, ie everyone sinned in Adam. They have used that principle for all it is worth, so they cannot disagree with the parallel truth that all who believe in Jesus died with him and rose with him to a new life. They want us to share in Adam’s sin and loss of authority, so they cannot object to us sharing in what Jesus established as the head of the new covenant.

Propitiation and Redemption

The sacrifices and rules of separation specified in the law of Moses provided spiritual protection for the children of Israel. The cost of this protection was that it allowed the accuser to demand the implementation of the curses against the disobedient.

The Old Testament sacrifices satisfied God (because he knew that they would be supplemented in the future by Jesus death on the cross). The powers of evil were not satisfied with the sacrifices. They liked the covenant, because it gave them the ability to enforce the curses on sin, but they did not like the sacrifices, because they felt that people were getting off to light.

God was willing to forgive sin. It was the powers of evil who wanted it to be punished.

God is judge over everything.

God is the judge of all the earth (Gen 18:25).

However, he is not the prosecutor. He does not bring a case against humans. The accuser/prosecutor is Satan. If he is silenced, there is no prosecutor, therefore no case for the judge to hear.

The Holy Spirit is our defence attorney/counsel (paraclete). Jesus also defends us before God the judge.

But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One (1 John 2:1).

The righteousness of God means that he is not caught up in false accusations of the spiritual powers of evil. He does the right thing by his covenant, and declares us to be righteous. He silences the spiritual powers of evil and the accuser who want to bring charges against us.

The enemy’s greatest trick is to deceive the world and Christians into believing that God demanded death and hell for sinners, when it was actually the spiritual powers of evil themselves who demanded it. They have tricked us into believing that God is full of wrath and vengeance, when it is really them. God is gracious and forgiving, whereas the spiritual powers of evil are harsh and cruel, but they have tricked the world into believing the opposite.

God wants to restore people. The powers of evil want to punish. It is sad that many Christians seem to be on the side of the latter.

Some Christians believe that we need to preach God’s wrath as part of the gospel. They fall into the trap that Paul exposed.

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance (Rom 2:4).

The kindness of God leads us to repentance, when we realise that he gave his son to rescue us from the spiritual powers of evil, while we were still alienated from him. That is the good news we should proclaim.