The Meaning of Reconciliation

In the Bible, reconciliation is a change of personal relations between human beings (1 Sam. 29:4; Matt. 5:24; 1 Cor. 7:11) or between God and man (Rom. 5:1–11; 2 Cor. 5:18 f.; Col. 1:20; Eph. 2:16). By this change a state of enmity and estrangement is replaced by one of peace and fellowship.

The change between man and man is a twofold or mutual matter. When David is spoken of as reconciling himself with Saul, what is primarily meant is the change in Saul’s attitude and relation to David. Again, when separation between a man and his wife occurs, a change in both parties to the marriage relationship is envisioned.

God The Reconciler

In making peace between God and man, it is not a case of equal adversaries reconciling one another. Rather in the whole work of restoring the ruptured relationship between himself and rebellious man, “all things are of God” (2 Cor. 5:18, cf. Eph. 2:4; John 3:16). And while God’s wrath is called forth by man’s sin, his reconciling grace wells up spontaneously from his own great heart of love. In the miracle of grace, his everlasting love reaches out even for his enemies. Men do not reconcile God, but he so changes the situation between himself and man that he reconciles the world unto himself. God is the subject of the whole reconciling process. He sent forth his Son for this cause, he acted in him to remove the obstructions to peace, he established the ministry of reconciliation, he places men before the decision as to reconciliation, and he sheds abroad his love in our hearts that we may receive his reconciliation.

God wrought this reconciliation for us in Christ, so that apart from the Prince of Peace and his passion, God would not be to us what he is. We were “reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:22), “through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20; Eph. 2:16). Moreover, in Romans 5:1–11 reconciliation so strictly parallels justification that they seem to be different expressions of the same event. As Christ died for the ungodly so are we justified by his blood and reconciled by his death. Likewise in Second Corinthians five, reconciliation means that instead of imputing to the world its sins, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Thus reconciliation primarily signifies the removal of guilt, the pardon of sins.

Man’S Enmity And God’S Wrath

Sinful man is full of enmity against God (Col. 1:21; Rom. 8:7 f.). Our rebellious opposition to God has, moreover, called forth his holy enmity against man (1 Cor. 15:25 f.; Rom. 11:28; Jas. 4:4), his wrath (Rom. 1:18; 2:5, 8; 3:5; 5:9; Eph. 2:3; 5:6; Col. 3:6), his judgments (Rom. 1:24–32; 2:3, 16; 3:6, 19; 2 Cor. 5:10), his vengeance (or punishment) (Rom. 12:19; 2 Thess. 2:8), and the curse of the broken law (Gal. 3:10). In Romans 5:9–10, the wrath of the final judgment stands in immediate connection with the enmity which is removed by the reconciliation. Thus reconciliation means God so acted in giving his Son to be made sin that his wrath was averted and his righteousness made manifest in forgiveness (Rom. 3:25–26).

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ averts but it does not destroy the wrath of God (1 Thess. 1:9). Those who continue to smile at the wrath of the Almighty will not praise him eternally for his grace. Those who explain away the wrath of God end in universalism. Only the man who knows the divine wrath seriously grasps the grace of God. The grace of the Lord Jesus gives the believer the assurance that the sentence of condemnation is no longer against him.

The Holy Spirit makes the reconciliation effective by shedding abroad in our hearts God’s love for us revealed in Christ’s reconciling death. Thus reconciliation is perhaps more comprehensive than justification. It brings man back from self-seeking rebellion into grateful, loving obedience. The prodigal is brought back into the family of God to live for him who died for men, and is called to give his life in ministering this word of reconciliation to others.

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William Childs Robinson is Professor of Historical Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He holds the Th.D. degree from Harvard University, has studied at University of Basel, and is the author of several books.

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