Reconciliation
Romans 5:9-11 “9 Since
we have now been justified by his blood,how much more shall we be saved
from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while
we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to
him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through
his life!11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Though the story of
mankind has become now, a tragic one, it didn’t begin as one. The story of
mankind began in fellowship; a union with the Triune God. It began in union
with the Creator God of heaven and earth.
Maybe you are
familiar with a method of evangelism popularized over the years that begins
sharing the gospel by stating how mankind is in sin, and progresses in
describing 1) the death of Jesus saving sinners, 2) Jesus washes away sins when
individuals believe in him, 3) growing in fellowship and disciplines and 4)
having hope of eternal life in Christ. As this is a model of
evangelism that many utilize in spreading the gospel, I believe the beginning
of the method neglects the grand story of God’s work.
Something tragic
happened, yes. Sin entered the world, and distorted relationships. Union
between God and mankind; mankind and mankind; mankind and himself; mankind and
creation; creation against creation. Yes, sin is the enemy. But it is not the
beginning of the story. The story of mankind
does not begin in Genesis 3, instead begins when God saw void and empty and
filled it with himself, making something glorious out of it.
Before we meet with
Paul in Romans 5, we must travel back to Eden. We must travel to where mankind
walked with God without the impulse of sin. We must dive into the grand biblical
story of how God has related to his people. If reconciliation is
the “removal of enmity and the restoration of fellowship between two parties,”[1]
we must understand the relationship before the enmity came; we must discover between
who the enmity was; and why the enmity was. We will briefly explore the
beginning of the mankind’s story and come back to understand the significance
of Paul’s words.
Where does our story
begin? Our story begins with the One who is not dependent upon any other being
to exist. He is by himself sufficient. We are the products of his work. God
took what was formless and void and made something good out of it. He took what
was disorder and spoke and made it order. By his word and by his hand he formed
mankind from the elements of the earth, and breathed life into them. You know
the story! He created everything, and after he finished with each one, he
called it good!
The only thing that
was mentioned as not-good was that man was alone; therefore God made for him a
friend and a mate. Man was not good on his own but needed a helper, someone to
help him multiply and fill the earth. The end of Genesis 2 does not give us too
much information about how mankind lived with God before abruptly entering into
chapter 3.
Chapter 2 does end
with something significant. Verse 25 states, “The man and his wife were both
naked, and they felt no shame.” What is significant
about this statement? It isn’t anything other than, that in pure relationship
and union with God, there is nothing shameful about who mankind is and what
they were created to be. One study bible comments, “the unashamed nakedness of
the man and woman indicates their still uncivilized and innocent status.”[2]
Before Genesis 3,
before the fall, mankind was in a relationship with God that was good. Mankind
walked in innocence and integrity with the Lord. As the NET Bible notes,
“Mankind had no sense of vulnerability, shame, exploitation, and exposure (such
as the idea of “uncovering nakedness” either in sexual exploitation or in
captivity in war.)[3]
The story of mankind
began with fellowship with God. There was no sense of corruption.But next in Chapter 3
is the story of our fall. The man and woman sinned against God, and received
the punishment of alienation from God in result. Exploitation had then entered
into the world, and was entering into all spheres of life. Sin brought
separation and enmity between God and mankind. There was a bridge
between mankind and God that needed mending. God was in rightful judgment
against mankind and the world.
Our beginning was in
fellowship, when we sung: “And he walks with me, and He talks with me, And He
tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has
ever known.” But man sinned and
was alienated from God. Instead of the blessing of God’s communion and
friendship, we began to endure the curses brought by our disobedience. Instead
of peace, we were hostile towards God and against his will and purpose. Instead of trusting
in the Lord and having our confidence in him, we turned away from him, each one
of us. We became the bush in the wastelands, dwelling in the parched places of the
dust, in a salt land that no one dwells. We were cursed because we were far
from God. We were in desperate need of God. Without God we were
left dead. Like a tree without the living water of Eden. We gave into our
desires and passions and boasted in ourselves. We trusted in ourselves, and
believed a lie that we were capable of being sufficient without him.
Because of our
fallenness, we were without the ability to please God, with even what we think
is our best thoughts and action. We became subjected to God’s wrath. We earned
death, physically and spiritually because of our acts, and could not receive
salvation because of our actions. Our relationship was
broken with him. We were unfaithful to God. We disobeyed him and will continue
to disobey him. Our marriage with him was broken. God told us that the only way
that our relationship would end was if we died by eating of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. We chose death, and death did us part with Lord. God burned with anger
against us. And we were deserving of his wrath. He was upset with us for not
listening to him.
Who could restore us
in our relationship with God? Could the animals? No. Could the earth itself, as
if it could speak on behalf of mankind? No. Could the celestial bodies? Could
the sun, the moon, and the stars? No. Could we? Certainly not! We are part of
the problem! Who will rescue us from this body of death? Who is the one able to
restore us to our relationship with God? Only God himself, the maker of all
things is able to mend the union between mankind and himself.
How did God do that?
How did God despite the fallenness of man in choosing death choose himself to
make us new and bring them back into fellowship?
To symbolize both the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life, God sent his son
Jesus the Messiah and Savior to earth to die on a tree made in a shape of a
cross to justify mankind before the Father. Jesus Christ died a
bloody death on the cross so that no one in the world may perish, but by
believing may receive eternal life through him.
Here we meet Paul in
Romans 5, as he says that we have been justified by the blood of Christ. We
were enemies of God. We were not his friends because of our sin but Christ came
in as the mediator to reconcile our relationship with God.
The way the enmity
was overcome was through the work of Christ, taking away the cause of our
enmity; sin. Man sinned and therefore became enemies of God but because of
Christ’s death, we can be saved from God’s wrath. Our friendship is reconciled
to God through Christ dying for the ungodly. Though we were undeserving, God
continued to show us he is relentless in his love for his creation because he
died for us even though we were still sinners.
Other passages speak
of the implications of this reconciliation:
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
says, “6From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.
Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus
no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.18All this
is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was
reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them,
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we
are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on
behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him
to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God.”
Meaning: “Christ’s
atonement satisfied God’s anger with the world and, as it were, frees Him to
love the world, to extend His grace and love to all. Man can receive
forgiveness and respond in love to God. Therefore those already reconciled in
Christ become ambassadors to proclaim to all mankind: ‘Be reconciled with God.”[4]
Paul speaking of the
new position for Gentiles included in the promises of God, reminds us in
Ephesians: “13But
now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the
blood of Christ. 14For he himself is our peace, who has made us
both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15by
abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might
create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16and
might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing
the hostility.”
In Colossians, he
writes: “19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to
dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
In other religions,
while most of them realize the presence of sin, salvation is based upon man
reaching to God as if we can attain salvation. While in Christian faith, God is
the one who reaches to mankind to restore fellowship; for us to be reconciled
to him. “The NT affirms that the reconciliation of the world to God is possible
on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ.”[5]
God is the one reaching to mankind, even becoming flesh and making his dwelling
among us. He has made it possible through the cross for us to be in union and
fellowship with him. The curse of our
physical death and spiritual death has been lifted from those who believe upon
his Son. And now instead of curses, blessings flow one after another through
the One who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.
What a wonderful trade! We chose death but because of God’s unconditional, unmerited
love, he still offers us life.
“In the ancient world
the initiative for reconciliation was usually made in one of two ways. A third
party could seek reconciliation, or an alienated party could take the first
step. The latter is what is found in the Bible….The person seeking
reconciliation is said to “be reconciled” to the other person—the effects of
the reconciliation are upon the injured party. In these instances the offenders
can only confess their fault, offer reparation, and seek forgiveness. The final
decision rests with the injured party, who will either grant a reprieve or
continue the estrangement.”[6]
We receive newness of
life and forgiveness upon confessing our sin against God and believing in Jesus.
And God through his Son Jesus has promised that we are his children and we have
new fellowship with him. Reconciliation does
not end with our reception of it from God. But we are instructed by Paul that
we have received reconciliation, and have become ambassadors of Christ, as
though God is making an appeal through us begging others to be reconciled to
God.
We are instructed to
tell others of this wonderful truth, that God made Jesus Christ who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf so that we may become the righteousness of God in Him. The Psalmist reminds
us, that the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it. Jesus tells his
disciples at the end of Matthew to go and make disciples of all nations because
he has authority in all places. In the beginning of Acts, he tells them they
will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria to the ends of the
earth. What are they going
to witness about to all the earth in which God’s authority resides? God and
sinners reconciled. They are to announce God’s triumphant victory over the
powers of darkness and principalities that lock humanity in chains and
oppression of sin. They are to witness to the truth about Jesus that he is all-sufficient
and the One through whom forgiveness, life, and blessings are flowing.
Our story began in
fellowship and in union but resulted in enmity with God. God demanded holiness
in our living with him. We sought after other things, and received the penalty
of death. But God did not leave us. He still pursued us to restore us to him.
We now have the opportunity to be reconciled to God. Though we have
discussed that our story begins in Genesis where there was union between
mankind and God, the goal of our reconciliation is not a repeat of Eden. It is
not to go back as if the old Eden is the conclusion of all things.
But the goal of
reconciliation is towards an even greater future.
It is a future where
mankind will not be made with the products this earth. But our bodies will be
composed of the elements of the new heavens and new earth. We will resurrect
receiving glorified bodies like that of our Lord, Jesus Christ. If God’s grand story
begins in union and fellowship, why then does it enter into a long period of
time of disobedience and then finally redemption? What is the point? It is that
forever and ever, the redeemed will sing the praises God and say there is
nothing like his grace and love. Those who have been made righteous will shout
unto God with a triumphant voice declaring that indeed his power is great and
beyond all; certainly that his grace he expressed in kindness to us in Christ
Jesus is incomparable. God is saying to us, his people, though we have sinned
against him choosing death, he still wants to redeem us. He says, “come to the
well and drink” “ask for the bread of life and eat.” And those who the Spirit
draws near have no choice but to receive his grace and thank him for his love
forever.
[1] Grudem,
Wayne A. Systematic Theology:
An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan,
2000.
[2] The New Oxford Annotated Bible,
NRSV.
[3] The NET Bible, First Edition.
[4] Horrell, J. Scott. “Cross
Notes.” Unpublished Class Notes for ST
104 Dallas Theological Seminary. Spring Semester, 2014.
[5] Manser, Martin H. Dictionary
of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies.
London: Martin Manser, 2009.
[6] Norman, Stan. “Reconciliation.” Edited
by Chad Brand, Charles Draper, Archie England, Steve Bond, E. Ray Clendenen,
and Trent C. Butler. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN:
Holman Bible Publishers, 2003.
