Romans 3:21-26, Hilastērion

The Culmination of Redemption in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ (v. 25a)

“As the means of expiation” is a phrase with imagery that is directly tied in to this idea of sacrifice, and a proper understanding of it is crucial to this passage. Paul uses a Greek word here ἱλαστήριον (hilastērion) whose translation is somewhat debated. The word is used only one other time in the New Testament, in Hebrews 9:5, and there it points directly to its Old Testament referent the “mercy seat,” or in other words the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. In the Old Testament this is where blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement, a yearly ritual performed by the Priest to forgive the sins of the people. The question of this passage is does Paul intend hilastērion to refer to the sacrifice itself, or the place/means of expiation (in other words, Christ as the anti-type of the Old Testament mercy seat)?

The idea of “place/means” is preferable in this context, and probably more specifically “means.” Similar to our reasoning above between “purposed” and “displayed publicly,” to side with “place/means” does not discount that Christ is indeed the sacrifice that was offered, it simply attempts to bring out more the effects which humanity receives rather than the sacrifice which Christ gave. God is shown righteous by providing a means of atonement that is consistent with His righteous wrath against sin. “What it means that God purposed Christ as a propitiatory victim (or as we have interpreted it ‘the means of expiation’) is that because of his mercy he willed to forgive sinful man and forgive them righteously. Purposing to direct against His very self in the person of His son the full weight of that righteous wrath which they deserved” (Cranfield, 1:217, parenthesis added).

The phrases “in His blood” (ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι) and “through faith” (διὰ [τῆς] πίστεως) each modify hilastērion, “the means of expiation.” It was by means of the shedding of his blood that Christ was to be hilastērion. Blood means life, and the penalty of sin was death. For God to be righteous in His actions He must uphold the punishment. Here Paul indicates beyond a shadow of a doubt that just as the sacrifices of the Old Testament, Christ shed His blood, giving His life as the perfect and ultimate and eternal sacrifice, so that He alone would be the means by which sins were forgiven.[1]

The prepositional phrase “through faith” here modifies the noun in such a way that it forms a complete noun phrase and could be written as singular idea with the word “accessible” added (NET Bible note, see also Romans 1:4). So then we have the phrase “the-means-of-expiation-accessible-through-faith.”

Having dealt now with the translation and grammatical issues, let us unpack what Paul is saying. Coming to this verse Paul had two main issues to address: how this act of the crucifixion served as a demonstration of God’s righteousness (v. 22) and how it provided redemption for those who believe (v. 24). It demonstrates His righteousness by providing a means of expiation for sins that is consistent with His revelation in the Old Testament sacrificial system that required blood (life) as the penalty for sins, satisfying His just wrath. It provides redemption in a manner reminiscent of the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement, where the sacrifice was presented as a substitution for the guilty party who placed their faith in God to accept it.

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[1] For a concept of blood seen as sacrifice (see Leviticus 17:11 where cognate is used twice); 1 Corinthians 11:25; Matthew 26:28 = Mark 14:24 = Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:11ff, 10:19, 29, 13:12, 20; 1 Peter 1:2, 19; 1 John 1:7, 5:6 (Cranfield, 1:210).