RECONCILIATION

 Be reconciled to God    2 Corinthians 5: 20 

The word Reconciliation conveys the thought of conflict which has to be settled. Conflict breeds enmity. It could be between individuals, groups, organizations, nations, or even of people towards God. The latter is the mother of all enmity but reconciliation is possible..
  Many who go to church today do so to solve a particular problem. They may be sick in body for which they seek healing, or believe themselves harassed by evil powers for which they seek deliverance. They may be looking for employment or admission to school, or they desire to raise a family. They may seek success or prosperity in business, or other life endeavours. Many go to church expecting sermons that would address these problems. They feel disappointed with those churches that do not make these their priority. To such people, the church that offers solution to these is their delight. Churches now have slogans as ‘Solution Ground’, ‘Victory Centre’, ‘Overcomers’ Arena’, ‘Dominion Chapel’, etc, all in an effort to identify with the yearnings of the people. We believe the church must be relevant in its ministry to the society. We believe these problems are real and the desire to overcome them justified.

But we believe that in trying to solve these problems the church has left off giving attention to people’s most important need, namely, the need for reconciliation. The need for peace between God and humans is so important if there is to be any value in our Christian service. It is important if in fact we are to see God at all (Matt. 5: 23 – 24;  Heb. 12: 14). This is why the topic has to be stressed. But how regrettable that many have thrown this to the backburner and are chasing shadows! As part of the catalogue of Salvation Doctrines, Reconciliation sets the pace for peace and harmony in this life and in the hereafter.

THE BIBLE MEANING OF RECONCILIATION

Ordinarily, reconciliation means ‘to bring to terms’ or ‘to make to agree’. When financial accounts are reconciled, they are made to balance or agree. When people at enmity are reconciled, they are made to agree or be at peace with themselves.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word kaphar means ‘to cover over’ or ‘to take away from view’ so that it is no longer there. It is translated:

‘To make atonement or reconciliation’ for people or things, as in Leviticus 6. 30;   8. 15;   16. 20;   Ezekiel 45. 15, 17, 20;   and in Daniel 9. 24.

‘To appease or pacify’, used in Genesis 32. 20 of Jacob preparing to meet his offended brother Esau, and in Proverbs 16. 14, of a wise man appeasing or pacifying the wrath of a king.

‘To cleanse’, used in Numbers 35. 33, with reference to an Old Testament pattern of cleansing the land.

‘To disannul’, used in Isaiah 28. 18, in cancelling the covenant with death.

‘To forgive’, used in Jeremiah 18. 23, though in the opposite sense. In Deuteronomy 21. 8, kaphar is used twice, and, in the newer versions of the Bible, is translated ‘to forgive’; but in King James Version (KJV) the same word is translated ‘to be merciful’ and ‘to forgive’ ’.

‘To pardon’, used in 2^nd Chronicles 30. 18, in King Hezekiah’s prayer, and lastly

‘To purge’, as found in 1^st Samuel 3. 14;   Psalms 65. 3;   79.9;   Isaiah 6. 7;   22. 14;   27. 9;   Ezekiel 43. 20, 26.

Another Hebrew word chata used in 2^nd Chronicles 29. 24 gives the impression that a defect or sin is present somewhere hence the necessity of purification or atonement. We may therefore conclude that in Old Testament context, the word reconciliation is understood to acknowledge the fact of sin and the need to atone for it.

In the New Testament, the Greek noun katallage means to adjust or restore to (divine) favour or standard. The idea here is that God initiates the move to adjust (or reconcile) humans to His standard. This idea is strongly stated in 2^nd Corinthians 5. 18 – 19:

All this is from GOD, WHO RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ GOD WAS RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. (Capitals mine)

Two verbs derive from katallage. They are katallasso and apokatallasso.

 Katallasso implies a change effected on or by the parties involved in the reconciliation. For example, when two persons are at enmity and they are reconciled, both have got to change from that state of enmity to one of friendliness toward each other. An example is given in 1^st Corinthians 7. 11 of a man and his wife. Both, as imperfect beings, have got to adjust in marriage relationship for peace to reign. Note that it is both parties that have to adjust, not just one. The matter is very different when it involves God and us. In our natural, fallen, unsaved, and unregenerated state, we are enemies of God (Romans 5. 10;   8. 7;   Colossians 1. 21;   James 4. 4), though God is not an enemy to us. However, our enmity towards God invites God’s wrath on us. God’s wrath on sin and on human sinfulness vindicates His righteousness as a holy God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. God’s wrath on sinful humanity does not make Him an enemy to us as though God has fallen short of the moral standard of love and tolerance. In fact the Bible says it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation (or wrath) to those who trouble His church (2^nd Thessalonians 1. 6). God does not need to be reconciled to us because He is the standard to which we must adjust (that is, be reconciled to). God does not need to adjust as though He needed to change standard. The reconciliation (katallage) initiated by God in Christ to which we must adjust removes God wrath from us. By this, we adjust from a position of enmity towards God to one of favour with Him; and God, while remaining ever the same in standard, now looks upon the reconciled with favour hitherto unknown. In this case, katallasso means a reconciling of the sinner back to God and the removal of wrath over the reconciled sinner by God (Romans 5. 10;   2^nd Corinthians 5. 18 – 21). In all cases of katallasso, there is a positive change from the parties involved, for the mutual good.

The second verb apokatallasso means a complete or perfect work of reconciliation. It is used in the following ways:

1.       Of the bringing together of Jews and Gentiles in the body of Christ, the Church (Ephesians 2. 14 – 16). Until the Cross, there was a gulf between Jews and non-Jews (usually referred to in the Bible as Gentiles). The Jews, also known as the Hebrews or Israelites were chosen by God through Abraham as His special people (Genesis 12. 1 – 3). Paul, a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, referred to them as “my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah…” (Romans 9. 3 – 5). The rest of the world were called Gentiles, and did not, before Christ died on the Cross, share in the fullness of Abraham’s blessing. So an actual gulf existed between Jews and Gentiles by divine design, just as it exists between God and humans by sin. For this reason there was need to bring the two together. This was accomplished through Christ’s death by crucifixion on the Cross. The Cross reconciled Jews and Gentiles. The removal of enmity between the two groups and the unity of the Church is therefore a complete and perfect work.

  

2.       Of God restoring fallen creation back to Himself (Colossians 1. 20 – 21). At the end of God’s six-day work of creation, God saw that His work was very good (Genesis 1. 31). However, the entrance of sin into the world corrupted the entire creation including Adam and his wife Eve, subjecting all to frailty, death and decay. This made it necessary for a loving God to intervene and redeem fallen creation back to Himself. This, too, is another perfect work of God executed in Christ. Though all things are not presently seen as subject to God, yet they would be when the Lord Jesus returns in glory.

From the foregoing, it may be deduced that reconciliation first shows human failure. We are unable to meet divine standard. This is seen in our enmity towards God and toward our fellow humans. Our inability to attain divine standard or perfection disqualifies us from taking any step that could be acceptable to God. This is why God must initiate the move to bring us back to Himself. We simply do not have the moral fibre to initiate the process. We can only respond to that initiated by God. To that extent, every effort to please God or impress people fails to achieve that goal if independent of God. We must accept God’s hand of love if we desire peace. Our righteousness must be of Him (Isaiah 54. 17).

THE NEED FOR RECONCILIATION

Reconciliation is necessary because the entire human race is sinful and has fallen short of God’s glory (1^st Kings 8. 46;    Proverbs 20. 6, 9;   Isaiah 64. 6;   Jeremiah 17. 9;   Romans 1. 18 – 32;   2. 17 – 27;   3. 10 – 18, 23). Humans are enemies of God. We are all hostile to God. We cannot submit to or worship Him acceptably. It hurts our pride to know that the best of us stink before the incomparably holy God. We are under divine sentence of condemnation. Should we pass through this life unadjusted (or un-reconciled) we would be eternally separated from God. It is this horrible state of affairs that makes the message of reconciliation an emergency. The book of Romans chapters one to three states that both Jews and Gentiles are hostile to God, while Ephesians 2. 11 – 12 talks of the hostility between Jews and Gentiles. All this stems from one fundamental root – the fallen human nature through which sin finds vent. This then is the need for reconciliation: to remove all barriers between people of all races, typified by the barrier between Jews and Gentiles, and save them from eternal doom through the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross of Calvary.

GOD’S WAY OF RECONCILIATION

God’s way of reconciliation is “in Christ” or “through Christ”. This is through:

1.       His person:

God reconciled us to Himself through Christ…                          2^nd Corinthians 5. 18

In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself…               2^nd Corinthians 5. 19

He (Christ) is our peace; in His flesh He has made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.                                                                                                      Ephesians 2. 14

Through Him (Christ) God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things…         

          Colossians 1. 20

2.       His death by crucifixion on the Cross of Calvary:

He (the servant of Jehovah, fulfilled in Christ) was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.                                                            Isaiah 53. 5

We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…         Romans 5. 10

He … reconciled both groups (Jews and Gentiles) to God in one body through the Cross…                                                                                         Ephesians 2. 15 – 16

3.       His blood, shed in His torture and death on the Cross:

In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ                                                                                                 Ephesians 2. 13

 

Through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His Cross.   Colossians 1. 20

  

That God’s way of reconciling the entire human race to Himself is through the person, the death and the blood of Christ means there is no reconciling of anybody back to God outside of Christ. There is no salvation for humans, any human being, anywhere, in all of the created universe, at any time in history, outside of Christ.

 

Jesus said:        I  am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except          through me”                                                                                                                 John 14. 6 

Luke wrote:        There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.                                        Acts 4. 12   

Cultural theories or practices, philosophical reasoning, contemporary thought, religious ideologies and other beliefs may appeal to our senses but they cannot and will never secure salvation for humanity. The appeal in 2^nd Corinthians 5. 20 to get reconciled to God is timely and rightly put as through Christ. It is through Christ that God reconciled us to Himself. It is through Christ that He is reconciling the world to Himself, and it is only in Him that we are to make our appeal that people return to God.

Reconciliation removes the guilt and consequences of sin. It removes the sentence of condemnation. It brings peace and restores us to God and to one another. It secures our eternal well being. Believe in Christ as your Saviour and Lord today and God will reconcile you to Himself for all eternity.