Download Pauline Theology Lesson 19 Teacher

Lesson Nineteen
Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth
A Lesson In Pauline Theology
Paul’s Distinctive Doctrine of Reconciliation
Introduction
Among the various forms under which the Apostle Paul sets forth
the objective saving work of God centering in the cross of Christ,
that of reconciliation occupies a prominent place. Along with the
concept of justification whereby we are declared righteous, the
new relationship to God accomplished in Christ’s death and
resurrection is expressed in another way. The concept of
reconciliation also plays an important part in Paul’s epistles. It
appears in more than one place as the parallel and partner of
justification.
It could be said that reconciliation as peace with God is the
consequence of justification (Rom. 5:1) Reconciliation originates
from the social sphere, and speaks in general of the restoration of
the right relationship between two parties. In the
pronouncements of Paul it is often placed over against “enmity,”
and “alienation”.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through Him. Rom 5:10 For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Col 1:21 And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by
wicked works, yet now He has reconciled Col 1:22 in the body of His
flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish, and
without charge in His sight,
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GOD’S RECONCILING ACTIVITY IN CHRIST
2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself
through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19 whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
imputing their trespasses to them, and putting the word of reconciliation
in us. 2Co 5:20 Then we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as God
exhorting through us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to
God. 2Co 5:21 For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
I. God the Author and Initiator of reconciliation.
2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself
through Jesus Christ,…
God’s love (Joh_3:16) provided the means and basis for man’s
reconciliation to God against whom he had sinned. It is all God’s
plan because of his love, but God’s own sense of justice had to be
satisfied (Rom_3:26) and so God gave his Son as a propitiation
for our sins (Rom_3:25; Col_1:20; 1Jo_2:2; 1Jo_4:10). The point
made by Paul here is that God needs no reconciliation, but is
engaged in the great business of reconciling us to himself. This
has to be done on God’s terms and is made possible through
Christ.
2Co 5:19 whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,
not imputing their trespasses to them,…
A. God’s love was the Motivation of reconciliation
God’s love (Joh_3:16) provided the motivation and basis for man’s
reconciliation to God against whom he had sinned. It is all God’s plan
because of his love, but God’s own sense of justice had to be satisfied
(Rom_3:26) and so God gave his Son as a propitiation for our sins
(Rom_3:25; Col_1:20; 1Jo_2:2; 1Jo_4:10). The point made by Paul here is
that God needs no reconciliation, but is engaged in the great business of
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reconciling us to himself. This has to be done on God’s terms and is made
possible through Christ.
B. Christ’s death was the Means of reconciliation
2Co 5:19 whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
imputing their trespasses to them,…
1. The Cross was the instrument of death
2. The blood was the agent of satisfaction/atonement
Rom 3:25 whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
(hilastarion-mercy seat) through faith in His blood,
That God was by means of Christ; by the agency, or mediatorship of Christ.
Or it may mean that God was united to Christ, and manifested himself by
him.
The world here evidently means the human race generally, without
distinction of nation, age, or rank. The whole world was alienated from him,
and he sought to have it reconciled.
This is one incidental proof that God designed that the plan of
salvation should be adapted to all people. It may be observed further, that
God sought that the world should be reconciled. Man did not seek it. He had
no plan for it, he did not desire it. He had no way to effect it. It was the
offended party, not the offending, that sought to be reconciled; and this
shows the strength of his love.
C. The slaying of Enmity was the objective of reconciliation
1. There are two enmities in the bible.
a. The enmity of man’s hostility against God
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for
it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
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As it is not subject, and cannot be subject, to the law of God, it must be
destroyed, else it will continue to rebel against God. It cannot be mended, or
rendered less offensive in its nature, even by the operations of God; it is ever
sin, and sin is ever enmity; and enmity, wherever it has power, will
invariably show itself in acts of hostility and rebellion.
It was love for enemies and alienated beings, and love evinced to them by a
most earnest desire to become their friend, and to be at agreement with
them.
Not reckoning their transgressions to them; that is, forgiving them,
pardoning them. On the meaning of the word impute, see the note,
Rom_4:3. The idea here is, that God did not charge on them with inexorable
severity and stern justice their offences, but graciously provided a plan of
pardon, and offered to remit their sins on the conditions of the gospel. The
plan of reconciliation demonstrated that he was not disposed to impute their
sins to them, as he might have done, and to punish them with unmitigated
severity for their crimes, but was more disposed to pardon and forgive. And
it may be here asked, if God was not disposed to charge with unrelenting
severity their own sins to their account, but was rather disposed to pardon
them, can we believe that he is disposed to charge on them the sin of
another? If he does not charge on them with inexorable and unmitigated
severity their own transgressions, will he charge on them with unrelenting
severity - or at all - the sin of Adam? see the note on Rom_5:19. The
sentiment here is, that God is not disposed or inclined to charge the
transgressions of people upon them; he has no pleasure in doing it; and
therefore he has provided a plan by which they may be pardoned. At the
same time it is true that unless their sins are pardoned, justice will charge or
impute their sins to them, and will exact punishment to the uttermost.
b. The enmity of the law that is Contrary to man.
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the
law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make
in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; Eph 2:16
and so that He might reconcile both to God in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity in Himself.
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Col 2:14 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was
against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of
the way, nailing it to the cross.
2Co 5:21 For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin
for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.
II. The Apostles were the ministers and messengers of
reconciliation
5:18… and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
5:19…and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
The meaning is, that the office of making known the nature of God’s plan,
and the conditions on which God was willing to be reconciled to man, had
been committed to the ministers of the gospel by the foolishness of
preaching. (see I Cor. 1:21)
The point made by Paul here is that God needs no reconciliation, but is
engaged in the great business of reconciling us to himself. This has to be
done on God’s terms and is made possible through Christ.
The task of winning the un-reconciled to God is committed to us. It is a
high and holy one, but supremely difficult, because the offending party (the
guilty) is the hardest to win over. We must be loyal to God and yet win sinful
men to him.
Once reconciled, all Christians are to play a role in reconciliation by
proclaiming the message of reconciliation, which is the gospel of Jesus
Christ. However, there are those that God specifically calls as full time
ministers, who have been set aside for a work to which the Holy Spirit has
specifically called them.
III. Men have Responsibility in reconciliation..
2Co 5:20 Then we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as God exhorting
through us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
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(katallagēte tōi theōi). Second aorist passive imperative of katallassō and
used with the dative case. “Get reconciled to God,” and do it now. This is the
ambassador’s message as he bears it to men from God.
Mention is made of the church’s being reconciled (Rom. 5:10), and
believers are admonished by the word of reconciliation to let themselves be
reconciled to God.
It implies that man has something to do in this work. He is to be reconciled
to God. He is to give up his opposition. He is to submit to the terms of
mercy. All the change in the case is to be in him, for God cannot change. God
has removed all the obstacles to reconciliation which existed on his part. He
has done all that he will do, all that needed to be done, in order to render
reconciliation easy as possible.
And now it remains that man should lay aside his hostility, abandon his
sins, embrace the terms of mercy, and become in fact reconciled to God. And
the great object of the ministers of reconciliation is to urge this duty on their
fellow-men. They are to do it in the name of Christ. They are to do it as if
Christ were himself present, and were himself urging the message. They are
to use the arguments which he would use; evince the zeal which he would
show; and present the motives which he would present to induce a dying
world to become in fact reconciled to God.
You, who are new creatures, for whom Christ has died, and peace is
made; you, the members of the church at Corinth, who upon a profession of
faith have been taken into such a relation; be ye reconciled to all the
dispensations of divine Providence towards you; let your wills bow, and be
resigned to his, since he is the God of peace to you; and as you are reconciled
by Christ as a priest, be reconciled to him as your King, and your God; to all
his ordinances and appointments; to all the orders and laws of his house;
conform in all things to his will and pleasure, which we, as his ambassadors,
in his name and stead, have made known unto you. You ought to be all
obedience to him, and never dispute anything he says or orders. (Gill)
IV. The Motivation for reconciliation.
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2Co 5:21 For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Paul might have urged other arguments, and presented other strong
considerations. But he chooses to present this fact, that Christ has been
made sin for us, as embodying and concentrating all. It is the most affecting
of all arguments; it is the one that is likely to prove most effectual. It is not
indeed improper to urge on people every other consideration to induce them
to be reconciled to God. It is not improper to appeal to them by the
conviction of duty; to appeal to their reason and conscience; to remind them
of the claims, the power, the goodness, and the fear of the Creator; to
remind them of the awful consequences of a continued hostility to God; to
persuade them by the hope of heaven, and by the fear of hell 2Co_5:1 l to
become his friends: but, after all, the strongest argument, and that which is
most adapted to melt the soul, is the fact that the Son of God has become
incarnate for our sins, and has suffered and died in our stead. When all
other appeals fail this is effectual; and this is in fact the strong argument by
which the mass of those who become Christians are induced to abandon
their opposition and to become reconciled to God.
To be sin - The words ‘to be’ are not in the original. Literally, it is, ‘he has
made him sin, or a sin-offering’ ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν hamartian epoiēsen .
But what is meant by this? What is the exact idea which the apostle intended
to convey? I answer, it cannot be:
(1) That he was literally sin in the abstract, or sin as such. No one can
pretend this. The expression must be, therefore, in some sense,
figurative. Nor,
(2) Can it mean that he was a sinner, for it is said in immediate connection
that he “knew no sin,” and it is everywhere said that he was holy,
harmless, undefiled. Nor,
(3) Can it mean that he was, in any proper sense of the word, guilty, for no
one is truly guilty who is not personally a transgressor of the Law; and if
he was, in any proper sense, guilty, then he deserved to die, and his
death could have no more merit than that of any other guilty being; and
if he was properly guilty it would make no difference in this respect
whether it was by his own fault or by imputation: a guilty being deserves
to be punished; and where there is desert of punishment there can be no
merit in sufferings.
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But all such views as go to make the Holy Redeemer a sinner, or guilty, or
deserving of the sufferings which he endured, border on blasphemy, and are
abhorrent to the whole strain of the Scriptures. In no form, in no sense
possible, is it to be maintained that the Lord Jesus was sinful or guilty. It is a
corner stone of the whole system of religion, that in all conceivable senses of
the expression he was holy, and pure, and the object of the divine
approbation. And every view which fairly leads to the statement that he was
in any sense guilty, or which implies that he deserved to die, is “prima facie”
a false view, and should be at once abandoned. But,
(4) If the declaration that he was made “sin” (hamartian) does not mean
that he was sin itself, or a sinner, or guilty, then it must mean that he was a
sin-offering - an offering or a sacrifice for sin; and this is the interpretation
which is now generally adopted by expositors; or it must be taken as an
abstract for the concrete, and mean that God treated him as if he were a
sinner
V. The scope of Reconciliation
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who were once afar off are made
near by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14 For He is our peace, He making us both one, and He has broken
down the middle wall of partition between us,
Eph 2:15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity (the Law of
commandments contained in ordinances) so that in Himself He might
make the two into one new man, making peace between them;
Eph 2:16 and so that He might reconcile both to God in one body by the
cross, having slain the enmity in Himself.
A. Reconciliation reaches out to all mankind
1. God reconciles Jews and Gentiles
The pronouncements in Colossians and Ephesians say essentially the same
thing.3 Here Christ appears as the Reconciler, who reconciles Jews and gentiles, indeed
through whom God reconciles “all things” to himself (Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20, 22).
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2. Both are reconciled to God creating spiritual unity in
one body
This was another of the effects of the work of redemption, and indeed
the main effect. It was not merely to make them harmonious, but it was that
both, who had been alienated from God and one another, should be
reconciled to “Him”. They who are reconciled to God will be at peace with
each other. They will feel that they are of the same family, and are all
brethren
Conclusion
In his unique teaching of reconciliation Paul goes beyond judicial
claims made by God concerning us through justification. Paul also declares
God’s longing to be reconciled with us. God, Who was never our enemy,
initiated the first steps to reconciliation by sending us His very own Son as a
sin-offering for all humanity. Having met every judicial requirement of the
law (the very same law that condemned all men). God nailed that law with
Jesus on the cross. Every thing that separated men from God was
propitiated through the blood of Jesus. The righteous requirements for
heaven were met by the obedience of Jesus. The justifying blood has been
shed. The ransom has been paid. All that is needed for reconciliation has
been realized.
As reconciled ones through faith in Christ, let us not forget that God
has given us all the message of reconciliation to tell the world. They must
know that God is not their enemy and has done all He can do to bring men
into peace with Himself.
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