RECONCILIATION

[Doug]

Reconcilation is the same greek word as atonement. Christ thru the cross and his blood sacrifice has abolished the animosity and alienation between us and God.
Leviticus 8:14 And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.

8:15 And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it.
These offerings pictured the atonement that Christ accomplished.

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;

5:19 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.
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.

5:21 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.
Christ takes our place and pays the penalty for our sin and gives us His righteousness.
The plea is to be reconciled to God thru faith in Christ Jesus.

 

[Josiah]

Reconcilation is the same greek word as atonement. Christ thru the cross and his blood sacrifice has abolished the animosity and alienation between us and God.
Leviticus 8:14 And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.

8:15 And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it.
These offerings pictured the atonement that Christ accomplished.

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;

5:19 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.
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.

5:21 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.
Christ takes our place and pays the penalty for our sin and gives us His righteousness.
The plea is to be reconciled to God thru faith in Christ Jesus.

Good.


The Protestant view is that Jesus is the Savior. Thus, Jesus does the saving.... if it has to do with saving (and here we mean in the sense of narrow justification, not the entirely of our relationship with God) then the reason is Jesus: His heart, His righteousness, His incarnation, His life, His death, His resurrection, His grace, His mercy, His good works.

Atonement is another word that weaves in and out of this, but often is used in the same way as narrow justification. I believe Jesus does that. Exactly HOW has never been defined, only THAT He does and that it involves His incarnation/life, his death, and above all, His resurrection.

There are several "Atonement Theories" in classic theology, all I think developed a long time ago within the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches. American Evangelicals are particularly fond of the "Vicarious Atonement" view. Luther and Calvin both were fond of the Christus Victor view. There are several. As far as I know, NO major denomination has "endorsed" any ONE of them. IMO, they all tend to be PARTLY true but seem to be incomplete. The Vicarious Atonement view, for example, seems to "explain" the reason for Jesus' righteousness and death (both vicarious, in our place) but really falls on THE most important part - the Resurrection (nothin' more than "God approved" or "Jesus got to go home"). They ALL have a LOT of Scritpure behind them.... but they ALL fail to "explain" the HOW. THAT Jesus saves we stress..... exactly HOW is, at least in part, mystery.


Good post. Thank you!