Peace Offering and Propitiation (Hwamokjemul)

Biblical Texts

In the New Korean Revised Version (NKRV), the term hwamokjemul (literally "offering of peace" or "offering of reconciliation") appears in two distinct groups of texts.

• The Old Testament peace offering: Leviticus 3 and 7:11–36 set out the procedure for presenting the peace offering (hwamokje) and the rules for dividing the offering. The peace offering is one of the Old Testament sacrifices. Peace offerings were presented at the ratification of the covenant in Exodus 24:5. They were also offered when David brought up the ark of the covenant in 2 Samuel 6:17 and when Solomon dedicated the temple in 1 Kings 8:63.
• The New Testament offering: Romans 3:25 says that God "hath set forth [Jesus] to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 4:10 call Christ "the propitiation for our sins."

Background and Original Languages

The Old Testament peace offering translates the Hebrew shelamim. The word is generally regarded as sharing a root with shalom, meaning peace or wholeness, and English Bibles render it "peace offering" or "fellowship offering."

• The offering could be a male or female animal from the herd, the sheep, or the goats (Leviticus 3:1, 6, 12).
• The fat was burned on the altar, and the breast and the right thigh became the priest's portion (Leviticus 7:31–34). The worshiper who brought the offering ate the rest.
• Leviticus 7 divides the peace offering into the thanksgiving offering, the vow offering, and the freewill offering. The thanksgiving offering was to be eaten on the day it was offered; the vow and freewill offerings could be eaten through the following day; anything remaining on the third day was to be burned (Leviticus 7:15–17).

Unlike the burnt offering, in which the entire offering was consumed by fire, the peace offering had the character of a feast in which the priest and the worshiper shared the offering before God.

The New Testament hwamokjemul translates the Greek hilastērion in Romans 3:25 and hilasmos in 1 John. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), hilastērion was used for the cover on top of the ark of the covenant, that is, the mercy seat. The NKRV likewise renders the same word in Hebrews 9:5 as "mercy seat." The mercy seat was the place where the high priest sprinkled blood on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:14–15).

Meaning in the Whole of Scripture

In Korean, both uses contain the word hwamok ("reconciliation" or "peace"). Judged by the original languages, however, the New Testament hwamokjemul stands closer to the context of the Day of Atonement and the atoning sacrifices than to the Old Testament peace offering (shelamim).

Romans 3 explains the death of Christ in light of the rite of atonement. On this basis it teaches that sin is dealt with through the blood of Jesus and that those who believe are justified. First John states that God loved first and sent His Son as the propitiation, presenting this act as evidence of God's love. Some interpreters also connect the fact that the Old Testament peace offering was a shared meal with the Lord's Supper.

Interpretations and Debates

• Turning away wrath or removing sin? In the twentieth century, C. H. Dodd argued that the hilas- family of words denotes the removal and cleansing of sin (expiation). Leon Morris and others countered that these words also include the sense of turning away God's wrath (propitiation). Reformed and evangelical theology generally emphasizes an understanding of substitutionary atonement, in which Christ bore the penalty in the place of sinners. Others, noting that in Romans 3:25 it is God Himself who sets forth the propitiation, treat the language of "appeasing God" with caution.
• Reading it as "mercy seat": Some interpreters take hilastērion in Romans 3:25 as "mercy seat," following Septuagint usage, and understand Christ as the place where God and humanity meet.
• Translation and association: Other Korean translations, such as the New Korean Standard Version, render the same verse with terms such as "atoning sacrifice." Because of the word hwamok, NKRV readers readily link the New Testament texts to the peace offering of Leviticus. For this reason, commentators often point out that the original-language words behind the two terms differ.

In the Korean Church

Romans 3:25 and 1 John 4:10 are frequently cited in Holy Week sermons and in services of the Lord's Supper as passages explaining the meaning of Christ's death.