Jesus did some things for everybody and some things for believers only. It is important to understand this to maintain a consistent theology of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. If we confuse the work done for everyone with the benefits given to believers, then we could mistakenly think that faith alone in Christ alone is unnecessary. Likewise, if we confuse what Jesus did for believers and what Jesus expects from believers, then we could mistake faith alone in Christ alone as insufficient.
Paul’s audience knew theology, so he could bring together several soteriological doctrines under the terminology of reconciliation and they knew precisely what he was talking about. “To reconcile” is essentially to adjust a difference to bring it to a standard. A financial example could be exchanging currency, or an interpersonal example might be a husband and wife reuniting after separating. There are a handful of Greek words that capture the idea, but in the passage that we are considering, Paul uses the verb, katallassō “to reconcile” and the noun, katallagē “reconciliation.”
Let us consider a few verses about reconciliation:
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; 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. 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. (2 Cor. 5:18–20 KJV)
Paul uses reconciliation terminology in a few senses here, so let us consider them chronologically as they occurred in history.
“God… reconciling the world unto himself”
Verse 19 has “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” Universalists will often point to this passage as evidence that everyone will be united with God in the end, after all, He did reconcile the whole world. A clear problem comes up soon, though, because if reconciliation always means salvation, then why does the passage end with the command, “be ye reconciled to God?” We will get to that reconciliation later. For now, let us consider the sense in which the world has been reconciled.
We must understand from the beginning that God is holy (for starters, see Exod. 15:11; 1 Sam. 2:2; Pss. 30:4–5; 33:20–22; 99:1–3; Isaiah 6:3; 57:15). The nature of holiness is separation from that which is unholy, so it is right for God to look at sin with wrath. God cannot have a relationship with that which is unholy (Ps. 24:3–5; Hab. 1:3; Heb. 7:26), so sin could be viewed as a barrier between God and the world. Since the world itself is unholy, it is unable to do anything to remove this barrier or satisfy God.
There is good news that on the cross, God “made [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Four relevant doctrines here are imputation, substitution, propitiation, and expiation. Imputation includes the doctrine that Christ took our sin upon Himself, substitution is the doctrine that He did this in our place, propitiation is the doctrine that God the Father is satisfied with Christ’s sacrifice, and expiation is the doctrine that the sin barrier has been removed. Each of these doctrines has relevance for the entire world and the term, reconciliation, can be applied here as a blanket term for all four.
As a result of this adjustment, there is no longer a sin barrier between God and man. It is unfortunate that the term, “universal reconciliation” has been used to describe some forms of the false doctrine of universalism. In reality, there is indeed a sense of reconciliation that is universal, in that the sin of the whole world was laid on Christ in our place, that this satisfied God the Father, and that sin is now wiped away; however, just because there is not a barrier between God and man does not mean that they have been united.
The sin problem has been resolved, but everyone remains inherently distant from God. The gap is infinite. God is still infinitely holy and man cannot contribute any righteousness that could make him acceptable to God (Isaiah 64:6). This is where the next reconciliation comes in.
“God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ”
Paul is writing to the church at Corinth (2 Cor. 1:1), which consists of believers who have received a second reconciliation. The first reconciliation is for the whole world; every human had his sins laid on Christ at Calvary whether he likes it or not. The second reconciliation is only applicable to believers, including the church in Corinth (who happened to still struggle with sin).
The world is still separated from God even if there is not a sin barrier between the two. For this separation to be overcome, man must be made righteous. Two relevant doctrines here are imputation and justification. Just as “reconciliation” has multiple applications, so does “imputation.” There is a sense of imputation in which Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the believer. Note some distinctions: the first imputation is the world’s unrighteousness laid on Christ and the second is Christ’s righteousness laid on the believer. The only condition for the first imputation is Christ’s willingness to go to the cross and the only condition for the second imputation is the believer’s faith in Christ. Got it? Good. The term, “justification” refers to the fact that the believer has been made righteous through this imputation. You could say that imputation is what happens to sin and righteousness whereas justification is what happens to the believer. Imputation and justification are closely related, but still distinct. This justification and second imputation could also be spoken of in terms of reconciliation.
Recall that a reconciliation is an adjustment to a standard. The first reconciliation is an adjustment of sin to the standard of God’s wrath (propitiation) and the second reconciliation is an adjustment of the believer to the standard of God’s acceptance (justification). This is the best news ever. This is such good news that we should want to tell others and indeed, God wants us to tell others. This is what I believe it means when it says that God “hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19), though others who are smarter than me would say that this ministry is related to reconciliation between believers. We agree that we should share the Gospel with unbelievers and reconcile with believers, but there is a little debate about which command is in reference here.
“be ye reconciled to God”
Now, having been justified, the believer is called to be reconciled to God in a third sense. Everyone has been reconciled in the sense of having his sin barrier removed and every believer has been reconciled further through justification. The one who has believed in Christ cannot lose his eternal life. This should be somewhat obvious, since eternal life is eternal, meaning that it cannot end and it is a present possession to anyone who believes in Christ for it (John 5:24). The believer cannot lose his salvation and be separated from God in a ‘vertical’ sense on our chart, but he can grow closer to God or drift away from Him in a ‘horizontal’ sense. We will call the vertical sense, “justification reconciliation” and the horizontal sense, “sanctification reconciliation.”
Sanctification looks different from believer to believer. Some people have received the justification reconciliation but have a terrible experience with sanctification reconciliation. It is a grave error to appraise someone’s justification by looking at his sanctification. Several forms of works-assisted soteriology have come from judging believers’ works. It is also an error to look at an unsaved person, see that he is doing good deeds (by human standards, anyway), and conclude that he is already justified and being sanctified. Some forms of pluralism have come from this error. These two errors may sound extreme, but you would be surprised how often they occur.
The failing Christian can go as far as to reject Christ entirely (I have been there before), but the normal Christian life is marked by constant reconciliation to God. We are commanded to be reconciled, so we are left with a choice to obey or disobey. There are several motivations to obey, but one motivation is the promise of rewards. Paul reminds his audience in the same chapter that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). Obedience now will result in abundance later.
Conclusion
The message of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone is the most important thing that someone can believe in his lifetime. It is important to get it right! Common objections to this message accuse faith alone in Christ alone of being either insufficient or unnecessary. Objections can be sought in 2 Corinthians 5:18–20, but closer examination reveals a much richer doctrine of salvation than the critics tend to offer.
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