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In this lesson we shall cover the last aspect of redemption, that is, reconciliation to God. Through Christ’s redemption, we not only have been forgiven, freed, washed, sanctified, and justified, but we also have been reconciled to God. The phrase “reconciliation to God” in Greek means to have a thorough change toward God. Because of the fall, man disobeyed God, offended God, and became an enemy of God. Therefore, man needs to have a thorough change toward God through Christ’s redemption. Our having a thorough change toward God is our being reconciled to God. The Bible does not say that God is reconciled to us; it only says that we are reconciled to God. Because He never offended us, God does not need to be reconciled to us. It is we who offended Him; hence, we need to be reconciled to Him.
Man needs to be reconciled to God because man is an enemy of God. Romans 5:10a says, “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” This indicates that before man receives God’s salvation, in God’s eyes he is not only a sinner but also an enemy of God. Through the fall, man not only has fallen into sin, but he also has fallen under the authority of Satan (1 John 5:19). Hence, he has become a child of the devil (1 John 3:8a, 10), obeying the ruler of the authority of the air (Eph. 2:2). Being hostile to God, he has also become an enemy of God. Therefore, man needs not only to be forgiven by God but also to be reconciled to God.
Man needs to be reconciled to God also because he is at enmity with God in his mind. Colossians 1:21 says, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by evil works.” Because of the fall, man not only is far off and alienated from God, but he also is at enmity with God in his mind by evil works. Furthermore, the mind of fallen man is set on the evil flesh. Such a mind is hated by God and it is enmity against God (Rom. 8:5, 7). Hence, man needs not only to repent unto God and be forgiven, but also to be reconciled to God.
Man needs to be reconciled to God because he disapproves of holding God in his knowledge. Romans 1:28a says, “And as they...did not approve of holding God in their full knowledge.” Man is alienated from God to the extent that he disapproves of holding God in his knowledge. In Greek, this means that man does not think it good to have God in his knowledge. Therefore, it is not that man cannot know God; rather, it is that man disapproves of holding God in his knowledge—he does not think it good to have God in his knowledge. Man intentionally refuses to know God, purposely puts God aside, and deliberately rejects God. Therefore, man needs to be reconciled to God.
Man needs to be reconciled to God because he hates God and blasphemes God. Romans 1:30 shows us that fallen man hates God. In 1 Timothy 1:13 Paul tells us that before he believed in the Lord he was one who blasphemed God. Hatred is the inward intention; blasphemy is the outward word and conduct. Man hates God in his inward mind and intent, and he blasphemes God in his outward words and behavior. First, man is at enmity with God in his heart, and, disapproving of God, he does not think it good to have God in his knowledge. Then he hates God in his heart and thus blasphemes God outwardly. Man therefore truly needs to be reconciled to God.
Man needs to be reconciled to God because he is a son of disobedience and a child of wrath. Ephesians 2:2-3 shows us that before God fallen men are sons of disobedience and children of wrath. Because of their rebellion against God and their resistance to God, fallen men are sons of disobedience. Hence, they have incurred God’s righteous anger and are children of wrath who are under God’s wrath. Since man’s relationship with God has fallen to such a state, he truly needs to be redeemed and reconciled to God that he may have a thorough change toward God.
Although man rejects God, hates God, and is at enmity with God, God loves man and delights in man. Man does not want God, yet God wants man. Man has offended God and needs to be reconciled to God, yet man does not have the thought of being reconciled to God, much less has he found a way to be reconciled to God. Although God has never offended man and does not need to be reconciled to man, He desires that man would be reconciled to Him, and He even accomplished a way of propitiation that man may be reconciled to Himself. This is because He loves man and delights in man.
God has reconciled us to Himself in Christ, that is, through Christ. Second Corinthians 5:18-19 says, “God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ...; how that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” This clearly indicates that God accomplished reconciliation in Christ, that is, through Christ. “In Christ” indicates that Christ is the instrument and the sphere in which God has reconciled us. Although God loves us and desires that we would be reconciled to Him, it is only in the sphere of Christ and through Christ that we can be reconciled to God. Therefore, it is in Christ, that is, through Christ, that God has reconciled us to Himself.
Moreover, God has reconciled us to Himself through the death of Christ with the shedding of His blood. Colossians 1:20 and 22 say, “And through Him to reconcile all things to Him, having made peace through the blood of His cross...yet now has He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death.” In order that we might be reconciled to Him, God accomplished a propitiatory way for us, which is the redemption of Christ. Christ died for our sins and shed His blood on the cross to accomplish redemption that we might be reconciled to God. Because the redemption of Christ has solved all the problems and removed all the barriers between us and God, and because it has satisfied the demand of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, we can turn back to God and be reconciled to Him, and God can also receive us and be pleased with us.
Second Corinthians 5:18 says, “...and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” In order that the world might be reconciled to Himself, God accomplished all the necessary steps of reconciliation through Christ. Not only so, He also has given to men the ministry of reconciliation, so that they may become ambassadors of Christ, commissioned to represent Him for reconciling people to God. God is anxiously hoping that we may be reconciled to Him. So urgent is this matter to Him that He sends men to us, entreating and beseeching us to be reconciled to Him. Hence, if we still are not reconciled to God, the problem is not with Him but with us. The problem is that we would not accept God’s love or listen to His entreating, nor would we respond to His beseeching and be reconciled to Him.
The first result of our reconciliation to God is that we have peace toward God (Rom. 5:1); that is, we are walking toward God on the way of peace. Formerly, as sinners we had no peace; neither did we know the way of peace (Rom. 3:17). Since we have been reconciled to God and have peace toward God, we are walking on the way of peace. This is an issue of our reconciliation to God.
As a result of our reconciliation to God, we can boast in God. Romans 5:11 says, “We also are boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” The word boast in Greek also means exult and glory. Since we have been reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, we boast, exult, and glory in God. Because we have been reconciled to God and have received God, God Himself has become our eternal portion. We enjoy Him, and we boast, exult, and glory in Him, even in tribulations (Rom. 5:3). We also boast in hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:2). This also is an issue of our reconciliation to God.
As a result of our reconciliation to God, we are being saved in life (Rom. 5:10). When we are reconciled to God, have peace toward Him, enjoy Him, and boast in Him, we are being saved in His life. We are being saved from so many negative things and freed from besetting sins, from the world and its usurpation, from our temper, disposition, self, and natural being, and from being individualistic. This salvation in life also is an issue of our reconciliation to God.
The Greek word for propitiation means to conciliate two parties and make them one. Suppose you have a problem with another person. You have either offended him or else you owe him something. Because of this problem or debt, he has a demand upon you, and unless his demand is satisfied, the problem between you and him cannot be resolved, nor can reconciliation be achieved. Thus, there is the need for propitiation. The problem that kept us from God, that made it impossible for us to fellowship with Him, was our sins. Our sins kept us away from God’s presence and hindered God from coming to us. Therefore, we needed propitiation to appease God’s demands.
In 1 John 2:2 and 4:10 we are told that Christ, the Son of God, is Himself the propitiation concerning our sins. In both places the word propitiation in Greek is hilasmos, which means “that which propitiates,” that is, a propitiatory sacrifice. Romans 3:25 says that God set forth Christ Jesus as a propitiation-cover. The word translated “propitiation-cover” is another Greek word regarding propitiation, hilasterion, which means the place where propitiation was made. In the Septuagint, hilasterion is used in Exodus 25 and Leviticus 16 for the cover of the ark, the place where God granted mercy to man; hence, it is called the mercy seat (Exo. 25:17; Lev. 16:2). Furthermore, Hebrews 2:17 says that the Lord Jesus became the High Priest to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Here, “make propitiation for” in Greek is hilaskomai, the verbal form of the noun hilasmos, meaning the action of propitiation. The foregoing verses clearly tell us that the Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself to God as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. He Himself is also the place of propitiation where we are brought back to God and are reconciled to Him.
Propitiation deals with sins (1 John 2:2; 4:10); reconciliation deals with enmity (2 Cor. 5:19; Rom. 5:10) as well as sins. Therefore, reconciliation includes propitiation. Sinners need propitiation; enemies need reconciliation. Enmity is the greatest problem between man and God. The problem of man being an enemy of God and therefore needing reconciliation is even more serious than the problem of man having sins and therefore needing propitiation. When we were enemies of God, we needed not only propitiation but also reconciliation. Romans 5:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:19 show us that we were not only sinners but also enemies of God. Hence, we needed to be reconciled to God through Christ, through His death with the shedding of His blood, that we might have peace toward God, boast in God, and be saved in life.
Because of the fall, man is at enmity with God in his mind, disapproves of holding God in his knowledge, hates God, and blasphemes God; he is also a son of disobedience, a child of wrath, and an enemy of God. Therefore, man needs to have a thorough change toward God and be reconciled to Him. However, man does not have the thought of being reconciled to God. Rather, it is God who loves man, delights in man, and desires that man would be reconciled to Him, and who also accomplished a way of propitiation for man. God accomplished reconciliation in Christ, that is, through Christ, and through the death of Christ with the shedding of His blood, which accomplished redemption, that man may be reconciled to Him. God not only accomplished all the necessary steps of reconciliation through Christ, but He also has given to men the ministry of reconciling people to Him, so that they may become ambassadors of Christ, commissioned to represent Him and to beseech people to be reconciled to God. As a result of our reconciliation to God, we have peace with God and walk toward God on the way of peace; we boast, exult, and glory in God; and we are being saved in life, freed from sins, from the world, from our natural being, from being individualistic, and from other negative things. Reconciliation also includes propitiation. Propitiation deals with sins; reconciliation deals with enmity as well as sins. Formerly, we were not only sinners but also enemies of God. Hence, we needed propitiation and also reconciliation to God.
