This word is used in Rom. 3:25, and is the same as that in Heb. 9:5, translated “mercy seat.” In 1 John 2:2, and 4:10 we get a similar word (used in these two places only, and meaning simply a propitiatory victim). In both cases the sacrifice of Christ is regarded rather as meeting God’s holy claims, than my need (SUBSTITUTION). It is God’s side of the atonement, that which in vindicating His glory against sin, gives Him a righteous ground on which He can offer mercy to the vilest, thus answering to the goat in Lev. 16:15, and not the goat of substitution in verse 21. It is well clearly to understand the difference between propitiation—that which satisfies the claims of a holy God and substitution—that by which my needs are met. The atonement includes both.