In classical usage, this term denoted any means of appeasing divine wrath. In the New Testament, it carries the profound theological weight of Christ's atoning sacrifice. John uses it twice in his first epistle to describe Jesus as the one who turns away God's righteous anger against sin. The cross-linguistic evidence shows remarkable consistency: propitiation in English and Spanish, with German emphasizing atonement (Sühnung). Both occurrences in 1 John (2:2, 4:10) present Christ himself as the sacrifice that satisfies divine justice while demonstrating divine love.