John 3:36

³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.

There is little doubt now that the Gospel writer is commenting with this final verse of chapter three. He begins with a glorious truth: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” What an amazing grace that is! And we should hold truth close to our heart forever. By believing, God does not impute our sins to our account, and thus, we are justified before Him, counted as righteous in His sight on account of Christ’s righteousness. But it’s the latter half of this final verse that I want to draw your attention to as we close: “But whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” Notice a couple things:

First, it’s not whoever fails to obey the Son; it’s not whoever sins; it’s whoever rejects the Son. Again, differing thoughts are common on this verse. Some point to it to suggest that it is only by rejecting Christ that we will experience eternal torment and separation from God in hell. That’s not the case. You see, the wrath of God does not come against those who reject Christ when they reject Him; it’s already on them!

It’s not that we are free from the wrath of God until we hear about and reject Christ. No, we are already under His wrath. The wrath of God remains on those who reject Christ. It’s there; it was there from the moment we were conceived in sinfulness. We are descendants of Adam and by nature objects of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). So we’re condemned long before we have the opportunity to reject Christ. So the wrath that remains is of critical implication here. Let’s elaborate, as we conclude, on the critical, yet nearly forgotten doctrine of Christianity: Propitiation.

To propitiate, according to Webster, means, “to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of.” Propitiation in a theological context means “wrath removal.” We are under the wrath of God and out of His favor until His wrath is propitiated. When Jesus died on the cross, He served as a propitiation for our sins. He turned aside, averted, removed the wrath of God from upon all for whom He died, for the elect, for all who believe the Gospel. Jesus regained the favor of God for us. He atoned for our sins. He reconciled us to Himself. The doctrine of propitiation is precisely this: that God loved the objects of His wrath so much that He gave His one and only Son that by His blood He should remove His wrath against the objects of His love. Christ actually accomplished this task. He did not potentially accomplish it. He couldn’t have; it was either Yes or No, not Maybe.

The argument to this view is generally addressed with one Scripture passage in particular, and it happens to be written by our author. Look at 1 John 2:2. The KJV, NKJV, ESV, and NASB say, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” The increasingly popular alternative rendering is to remove the use of the word propitiation. The NIV says, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” For whom did Jesus serve as an actual propitiation? “For the whole world.” Without the context, that seems valid. But when we grasp the context and allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, we come to a full understanding of what John means to say here. He’s speaking to Jewish Christians and/or Christians in a particular region. Jesus certainly served as propitiation, as a substitutionary atonement, for John’s audience. But he says even more than that. John says that Jesus served as propitiation, as a substitutionary atonement for all Christians everywhere, believers worldwide, all kinds of Christians. So notice the parallel passage, also by John, in his Gospel – John 11:51-52:

From the NIV, “[Caiaphas] prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.” It’s an exact parallel in meaning, and the Gospel rendering goes even further in telling us why Jesus served in this capacity – to unite us. Ephesians 2:14-16 says, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.” Jesus did not – and never intended to – remove God’s wrath or serve as a substitutionary atonement, for those who do not believe the Gospel. His sacrifice was only for the elect, only for believers – not for those who would never believe. That’s the doctrine of propitiation. For more information on propitiation, read the article by John Piper found here.

We’ve covered some tough stuff so far, and we’ll encounter more as we go. It’s good to understand and wrestle with these tough issues, because as we think less of ourselves (pride is reduced), we think more about Christ and the work of God.