Reconciliation
When reading or studying the Bible, it is always helpful to note when God repeats Himself. Look for the same words or phrases that are duplicated over the span of a few verses or a chapter. On a broader scale, a word study throughout the Bible can be very interesting. Pick a word, then look at all the passages that contain that word. This will give you a greater understanding of what God has to say about a particular subject. Nearly every Bible app has this capability, and if you want to go old-school, concordances (books that list every word in the Bible and all the verses where it appears) are still available at Christian bookstores. Similarly, you can learn about the people of the Bible by doing the same thing with a person’s name.
This week’s column isn’t just about one of the many ways to study the Bible. The previous paragraph aims to lead you to recognize the importance of the subject of reconciliation.
In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, there are a lot of repeated words in these three verses. A form of the word reconcile appears five times; God appears four times; Christ appears four times; and the words us and we appear six times combined. It only takes a quick glance to see that some sort of reconciliation is needed between us and God and Christ.
Here is a verse-by-verse breakdown of the three verses.
2 Corinthians 5:18, “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;” To reconcile something is to restore it to harmony or to reach a solution. So if God has reconciled us to himself, then there must have been some discord between God and us. Most people don’t think about God, and even if they do, they rarely think that there is some sort of conflict between them and God.
Isaiah 59:2 tells us that our iniquities have separated us from God. Therein lies the conflict, the thing that causes the need for reconciliation; our sins have separated us from God.
Continuing on with 2 Corinthians 5:18, we read that we are reconciled “by Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ, then, is the tool or means by which this reconciliation is brought about.
The verse ends with the statement that God “hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” Once reconciled to God, we need to spread that reconciliation to others. We do this by telling others about their need for reconciliation and how Christ has accomplished everything needed to eliminate the conflict between God and us.
Now on to verse 19, “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
Verse 19 is somewhat a repeat of verse 18, but with more detail. God’s work through Christ for the purpose of reconciliation is still evident here. With the words “reconciling the world unto himself,” we see an Almighty God doing everything necessary for His wayward creation to come back to His loving arms. By not imputing our trespasses to us, God is no longer laying the responsibility for our sins upon us.
The last phrase of the verse is a bit stronger than the end of verse 18. God moves from giving us the ministry of reconciliation to now committing us to it.
When we get to verse 20, our role and commitment to the ministry and the word of reconciliation are given a more precise definition and a clearer sense of responsibility.
2 Corinthians 5:20, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
If Christians are ambassadors for Christ, then we are His representatives. If ambassadors, then we must do more than tell people of what Christ has done for them; we must be examples of His character and show his attributes everywhere we go.
One may look back at these three verses and think, “Okay, so forms of the word reconcile, and the words God, Christ, us, and we are repeated throughout, but the verses never tell us how God used Christ to eliminate the divide between us.
He tells us that in verse 21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Jesus Christ was killed on our behalf. He was our substitute. The sinless one died in our place; the righteous for the unrighteous. He became sin for us.
Here are a few other verses that explain this in more detail.
Isaiah 53:5, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:.”
1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:.”
Jesus’ final words tell us that He did everything He needed to do to reconcile us to God. John 19:30, “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”
This reconciliation and the restoration of harmony between God and us is applied to us when we trust in the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for our sins. Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:.”
Have you been reconciled to God?
