This is the second post in a series on reconciliation. In the first post we looked at the Biblical basis of reconciliation and in this post we’ll look at some common misunderstandings of it.

How can reconciliation be misunderstood?

The religious person, like the proud Pharisee in Luke 18, underestimates his sin. He does not consider how Paul describes us as dead, alienated, enemies or hostile. By doing so they think too much of themselves, too little of the cross, and therefore never see the depths from which they needed to be saved or the lengths that God had to go.

The self-pitying person thinks that their sin is too great for Jesus, that His work on the cross wasn’t enough to cover their sin. Ultimately there is an element of wanting to atone for their own sins wrapped up in this. The cross itself and all of the truths of the results of reconciliation – adoption, family, brought near, cleansed, righteous – speak against this directly.

The social justice person preaches mission or calling without the cross, sin, or the need to be eternally reconciled. While they may be fixing temporal problems, ultimately, people are not reconciled from their sin to God and from death to life.

A fundamentalist preaches sin and identity but not calling. “We” might have a new identity, “we” have been saved, but “they” do not and are not. Without an emphasis on the calling, our world becomes two dimensional: us and them.

Why or how can we reconcile?

Our identity is now “in Christ”. We are now counted righteous, brought near to God the Father as close as a son or daughter can be. We are no longer slaves to sin, death, the law, or satan. We are presented holy and blameless before Him because of Christ. Our calling is to be ambassadors of this message – and it is a message that needs to be proclaimed. We are to make disciples (identity) by going to all nations (calling).

How can we do that? Because of what Jesus says just before the Great Commandment in Matthew 28. “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” The One who died for His enemies, who gives life to the dead, who reconciled us to the Father – He is the same One who is Lord over all things.

NB

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The Biblical concept of reconciliation is a word we might skip by or a concept we’ll give lip service to, but do we really understand it?

Paul talks about reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Ephesians 2:11-18, Colossians 1:15-23, and Romans 5:6-11. To better understand the Biblical concept we can learn a lot by simply looking at the language and words Paul uses.

How does he describe us apart from God?

Sinners, enemies, separated, alienated, strangers, having no hope, without God, hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, having no knowledge of Christ, and dead in our sins.

Do you actually grasp that those truths; that apart from an act of God – a miracle – that you are or were dead in your sins? Dead men don’t raise themselves from the dead. Dead men don’t know that they are dead. Dead men certainly don’t have choices.

Apart from an act of God you are or were enemies with hostility. You aren’t or weren’t a passive participant, you sought out ways to disobey God, to usurp His authority. You aren’t the one who brings peace to the situation. As Luther rightly said, the only thing we bring to our salvation is sin and resistance.

How does Paul say that problem was or is solved?

Jesus. More specifically, His blood shed on the cross. He became sin for us, taking the punishment due us for our hostility and our deadness in sin; and in exchange, He gave us His righteousness. In every passage, reconciliation is tied to our sin and the cross.

What results from God’s act of reconciliation?

In Paul’s language: hope, peace, a new identity in Christ, we’re brought near, we have access to the Father, we have unity with the family of believers, our sins are not counted against us, we are presented holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, we can live for Him, and we’re made ambassadors.

There are a lot of fruits that come from reconciliation – such as thankfulness, generosity, and humility – but I want to key in on two major shifts that happen in reconciliation.

1. We are given a new identity.
2. We are given a new calling.

This is the core of the Gospel, substitution and exchange. Old for new, sin for righteousness, law for grace, hostility for peace, alienation to adoption, shame for joy, death for life, hell for heaven.

In the next post we’ll look at some common ways reconciliation is misunderstood.

NB

Interested in a pastor who regularly quotes from the likes of Nietzsche, Jefferson, and CS Lewis in the same sermon? If you’re unfamiliar with Tim Keller here is how Newsweek described him, “Like so many New Yorkers, Keller is a misfit. He’s a megachurch pastor who doesn’t like megachurches. He’s an orthodox Christian who believes in evolution. He emulates the Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards and loves a good restaurant. He’s an evangelist who relishes the power of doubt. New York is the perfect home for such an idiosyncratic Christian: “I’m probably an overeducated guy who makes things too complicated for a lot of people,” he says. As it is for all New Yorkers, the question for Keller is whether he—or his vision—will ever be at home anywhere else.”

You can now download 150 of his sermons for free.

(posted by NB)

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Justin Taylor recently wrote a wonderful recounting of how John Piper became a pastor 30 years ago. It’s a great read and the picture alone is worth it. :)

(Posted by NB via Justin Taylor)

Dr. Bruce Ware is the Professor of Christian Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I recently got to sit down with him for The Resurgence and talk to him about the missional christology class he just taught to our ReTrain students at Mars Hill.

I really liked what he had to say about submission in the Trinity and how that had practical implications.

(posted by NB)

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This is one of those stories that slips under the radar…

“”A thorough examination revealed that the coins bore the year in which they were minted and their value, or effigies of the pharaohs [who ruled] at the time of their minting. Some of the coins are from the time when Joseph lived in Egypt, and bear his name and portrait,” said the report.”

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