Safe Haven

I'm gonna go running willy-nilly through the theological forest for a little while, if that's alright. It all started in Greek class, looking at 1 John 2:2. If you are familiar at all with the Calvinist-Arminian controversy, this will be enthralling. If not, I'll do my very best to come up with something humorous along the way. In English, 1 John 2:2 says, "He is the propitiation/expiation for our sins, and not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world." I put both words there because big things are hanging upon which one you choose. It is, as they say, the whole point. Little note: The NIV rendering of the word in question (transcribed, 'ilasmos') as 'atoning sacrifice' sort of dodges the issue, but garden-variety definitions of atonement and propitiation are useful. (You may notice that atonement and expiation mean the same thing.) My sense in reading these is that expiation/atonement is a kind of general cleansing, while propitiation deno...