These are the four truths that must be foundational to the church, the highlighted one indicates the one we are currently looking at:
1. What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ?
2. What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of the living God?
3. What does it mean that this is Jesus' church?
4. What does it mean that Jesus is the one building the church?In the last post, we looked at the Greek definition of the word Christ: anointed, Messiah (which means one who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a savior or liberator). When Peter professed Jesus to be 'the Christ', he was regarding Jesus as the Anointed One that the Old Testament points to so many times.
We also saw that acknowledging Jesus 'the Christ' refers to the work that He accomplished as Savior of our souls. The power of this work is proclaimed throughout the Word of God, and can be described in this way: Jesus redeemed and reconciled us through His atonement for our sins.
----------- Reconciliation -----------
The last post was spent digging in to Jesus the Christ, Redeemer. In this post we will look at Jesus the Christ, and what it means to be reconciled through Him.
Let's start by looking at the English definition of reconcile: to cause people or groups to become friendly again after an argument or disagreement, to restore to friendship or harmony.
- there are two words used to define reconcile that I also want to look at a little closer:
restore: to put or bring back into existence or use, to bring back to or put back into a former or original state, to put again in possession of something
harmony: a pleasing combination or arrangement of different things, described by correspondence: a direct relationship to or with something or between two things. also described by accord: to bring into agreement, to reconcile.
We can see that the word 'reconcile' carries quite a bit of depth on it's own. Understanding that God does all of this for us, through His Son, is crucial to acknowledging Jesus as the Christ. Through Jesus, we are reconciled to God, our relationship with God is restored, back to it's original state before the fall, a state in which we can live in harmony with God, not in opposition to Him! This Truth must be foundational to the church.
Let's see what God has said about reconciliation in His Word.
----------- Earthly Examples -----------
To begin, I would like to look at some places that God talks about reconciliation as it applies to everyday living. I think this will help us continue to build an understanding of what it means for something or someone to be 'reconciled'.
But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, "Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? 1 Sam 29:4
- In this passage, David has escaped King Saul by fleeing to the land of the Philistines, specifically the city of Gath, and living in agreement there with Achish, the son of the King of Gath. After David has been in Gath for a little over a year, the Philistines gathered for war against Saul and Israel. Achish told David, since he had been living in his land, David was expected to go to war with the Philistines against Israel. The commanders of the Philistine army however, did not approve of this, and made their complaint in 1 Samuel 29:4.
- These commanders were aware that King Saul and David did not get along, their relationship was one of conflict and dissension. The commanders recognized that it would be a perfect opportunity for David to seek reconciliation to King Saul by turning against the Philistine army in battle.
- In this context, 'to reconcile' is being used to portray the idea of a relationship between two people being repaired or restored...a person to his earthly authority figure.
And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?' Acts 7:26
- This verse is in the midst of Stephen's speech, as he works his way through explaining the true meaning of many things that happened in the Old Testament. This particular verse refers to when Moses came upon to two of his fellow men arguing, and he tried to reconcile them...he made the attempt to stop the arguing, in hopes that they would get along. Moses was trying to remove the conflict from the relationship.
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Mathew 5:23,24
- The context here is recognizing an issue that has not been dealt with, that may come between a person and his brother. This is dangerous, as it can lead to fractured relationships, sinful thoughts, anger, jealousy, and much more, that Jesus commands us to seek reconciliation immediately, to seek to be in harmony with our brothers and sisters.
To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. 1 Corinthians 7:11
- Here we see reconciled being used in the context of a husband and wife that have experienced a divorce. For a wife to be reconciled to her husband after divorce would be to seek him as her husband again, to dissolve the conflict, forgiveness to take place, and for two people to enter back into a relationship that has been restored.
So, we have seen several examples of how the Bible portrays this idea of reconciliation in everyday life - the overarching idea is a relationship being repaired. This is important to recognize - in these examples, reconciliation does not take place between two people or two parties who do not know each other. We see reconciliation taking place between two people or two parties who used to know each other and used to get along, but have allowed conflict and dissension to fracture their relationship in some way. Reconciliation is about removing the conflict and dissension in an attempt to again live in agreement with each other, to live in harmony.
- we have seen restoration used to define reconciliation. This also gives the sense that something is being repaired. Restoration does not happen to something that did not previously exist. Just as one cannot restore a brand new house, a new relationship has nothing to restore...restoration is all about bringing something back to it's former state.
----------- Spiritually Complete -----------
Now that we have looked at the biblical idea of reconciliation between people, let's look at how God describes spiritual reconciliation in His Word!
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:10
- We were in opposition to God, our relationship with Him was one of conflict - we despised Him...but we were reconciled to Him, the relationship was restored, through the death of Christ!
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
- Reconciliation is not simply a side note of salvation...reconciliation is at the center of the Gospel! The fact that we are sinful creatures who somehow can come into reconciliation with a perfectly Holy God cannot be true without God's amazing grace and mercy!
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by 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, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Ephesians 2:14-16
- Both Jews and Gentiles, Paul says, are reconciled to God, brought into a restored relationship with Him. This reconciliation takes place between us and God as an act of grace by God, and should extend from us to those around us.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him Col 1:19-22
- Again we see, in our former state, we were alienated from God by our hostile mind and evil deeds...but by the death of Christ the debt was paid! We are reconciled to God - the relationship is one of harmony not conflict!
We have looked at several verses in which God displays the power of spiritual reconciliation. In these verses, there are few different Greek words that are used to describe reconciliation. I want to look at them in order to get the full depth of reconciliation.
apokatallassō - reconcile fully - from the word 'apo' (separation, departure, cessation, completion,
reversal) and the word katallassō, which is one of the words translated 'to reconcile'
katallassō - to change mutually, that is, to compound a difference, reconcile.
katallagē - exchange, that is, restoration to (the divine) favor: - atonement, reconciliation
As we can see from these definitions, and from the English definition we looked at earlier, the idea of reconciliation is the idea of being fully restored, to have the state of a relationship completely changed. What our relationship with God is (love and harmony) will look completely different than what it was (hostile, fully of conflict and enmity).
Earlier, we saw that restoration is used to define reconciliation, and that restoration can only take place in a relationship that previously existed. This is important both as a warning and an encouragement.
Warning...if you are not a child of God, if you are not yet reconciled to God, don't attempt to convince yourself that your refusal to acknowledge God will cause Him not to exist. God is the center of everything, and our existence is defined by our relationship with God - either one of reconciliation or one of conflict - there are no other options. If you die today, your relationship with God will determine your eternity.
Encouragement...if you are a child of God, how great is our Father's faithfulness! In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were in the original relationship with God - the relationship of love and harmony. When they ate the fruit and sinned, perfectly representing what each of us would have done, that relationship was fractured...it became one of hostility and conflict. Yet God did not turn His back, but in His perfect plan, had put in place a path of reconciliation, and brought it to completion through His Son - His love is so GREAT!
We can also be encouraged that when God does things, they are done perfectly. When we are redeemed, we are fully redeemed! When we are reconciled and restored, these are done fully and completely. As His children, our relationship with Him is one of full reconciliation and perfect harmony. This doesn't mean that we don't sin, that we don't hinder this relationship - but from God's perspective these divine acts are complete and perfect! We will experience them in their fulness when we shed this earthly body!
Understanding our reconciliation to God is foundational to the church. Becoming a child of God is more than making a decision to include God in our life, it's a powerful transformation of both an individual and a relationship! If, as individuals and as the church, we attempt to paint who we were before Christ in a light that doesn't seem so hostile to God, or if we live out the idea that accepting Christ is merely an addition to our life that doesn't completely change our inner being, then we totally destroy the power of this spiritual reconciliation that is a crucial part of the Gospel!
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