Commenting
on 1 John 2:2 where Jesus is said to the propitiation (ιλασμος), not just for
then-believers' sins, "but also for [the sins of] the whole world,"
Robert Sungenis noted:
“but also
for those of the whole world”: αλλα και περι ολου του κοσμου, lit., “but also concerning all the world,” without the DR’s
“those.” However, since this phrase is prefaced by “and not for ours only,”
which refers the word “ours” to “our sins,” then the propitiation applies to
the sins of the whole world. The use
of κοσμος (“world”) is identical to Jn 3:16: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten
Son…” This fact, of course, raises a theological question of how the world’s
sins can be propitiated yet most of the world is not saved. The answer comes in
the rest of Jn 3:16: “that whosoever believeth in him may not perish but may
have life everlasting.” In other words, God’s love moved him to give Christ as
a propitiation for the world so that it could attain to salvation, but in order
for salvation to be applied from the propitiation so that any individual can be
saved, the individual must believe in Christ’s propitiation and all that such belief
entails. As such, Jn 3:16 could be rewritten as: “For God so loved the world,
as to give his only begotten Son as a propitiation for its sins: that whosoever
believeth in him may not perish but have life everlasting.” This fact is also
why it is necessary to understand ιλασμος [as] “propitiation,” not “expiation.”
A propitiation appeases God’s wrath so that he can be moved to make salvation
possible, and thus the offer of salvation can be given to the whole world with
the hope that each individual in the world will accept the offer and do what is
required to have it applied. Conversely, an expiation does what is required to
take away the guilt of sin thereby making the individual worthy of salvation.
Hence if 1Jn 2:2 were referring to an expiation (“And he is the expiation for our sins: and not for ours
only, but also for those of the whole world”), it would require that the guilt
of every individual in the world had been removed and thus all would receive
salvation. But Scripture is clear that not all come to God and not all are
saved (cf. Mt 7:13-14; 2Pt 2:1). The
solution is that propitiation does not remove guilt. It only appeases God so
that he can make the removal of guilt possible. In order to remove guilt, the
individual must believe in God, and all the belief entails, in order to
appropriate the mercy of God that provides salvation (Baptism, etc.). Accordingly, John’s next section,
vrs. 3- 11 and vrs. 12-17, tells the individual what is expected of him if he
says he believes and has become saved. (Robert A. Sungenis, The Epistles of St. John and Jude
[Catholic Apologetics Study Bible XI; State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics
International Publishing, Inc., 2020], 8-9 n. 16)
On the topic
of the meaning of ιλασμος, ιλασκομαι, and other related Greek and Hebrew terms,
and the propitiation vs. expiation debate, be sure to see my article:
