The Christian Doctrine of Reconciliation

Satan knows that, but such knowledge affords him no peace! But the Divine assurance " I will show mercy " Ex.

Reconciliation (theology)

Suppose that Christ had died and there had been no Gospel revelation and proclamation of the Divine purpose of His death. The will of God is not only the foundation of the mystery or plan of redemption, but it is also its blessedness. This is the very pith and preciousness of the Gospel. That it is the revealed will of God to save and accept every sinner who puts his or her trust in the atoning blood of Christ. A few may be surprised that we should distinguish between the will and love of God, but probably a far greater number will wonder why any explanation should be required from us for so doing.

He " ran , and fell on his neck , and kissed him " Luke When the voice of the Father audibly declared " this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ," He gave expression to the language of deep and warm affection. All things issue from the will of God Ephesians 1: The non-elect are the subjects of His will, but they are not the objects of His love.

Thus there is a clear. We greatly prefer the statement of Thomas. Near the beginning of his massive work on " Christ the Mediator ," he shows what was done by God the Father from all eternity in connection with our salvation. First, He points out His eternal purpose and grace, and then inquires " If you would further know , What should be the reason of this strange affection in our God that is, exercised unto those who had rebelled against Him: Our God being love , even love itself.

It is an act of His will, yet not of His will absolutely considered but of " the good pleasure of His will " toward them. All the acts of God unto His people in Christ; all the blessings which He has bestowed upon them in Christ, all His thoughts concerning them, all the operations of His grace in them, and the workings of His providence for them, all the manifestations of His kindness and mercy unto them, proceed from His love for them.

Love is the fountain from which flows every. The wondrous love of God for His people can only be known by its blessed manifestations toward them. As the effects which it produces discovers to us the nature of the cause which produces them, so the love which God bears unto His elect is revealed by His acts unto them and bestowments upon them. Therefore it was in love that He " predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself " Ephesians 1: In a word, the Law of God with its inexorable demand for satisfaction, seemed to effectually prevent the operation and manifestation of His love toward its transgressors.

Consider carefully an example on the human plane. Darius was induced to sign a decree, that if any person asked a petition during the next thirty days from any save himself, he should forfeit his life Daniel 6. Daniel himself defied that decree, making supplication of his God as before. His watchful enemies promptly reported this to the king and demanded that Daniel should be cast into the den of lions. Darius was displeased with himself " and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him , and labored until the going down of the sun to deliver him " v.

The honor of his law barred the outflow of his love; justice triumphed over. Consider still another case. Absalom committed a grievous offence against his father, for he sought to rob him of his scepter and wrest the kingdom from his hands, and furthermore, murdered another of his sons. His attempt to gain the kingdom failed, and he fled the country, and remained an exile for three years. David mourned for his son every day and " longed to go forth unto him " 2 Samuel Strangely enough she reminded the king that God " does devise means whereby His banished be not expelled from Him " v.

But such a task of restoring his son without sullying his own honor was quite beyond David. The best he could devise was " Let him turn to his own house ; and let him not see my face " v. Where the wit of Darius completely failed before the requirements of human law, the wisdom of God gloriously triumphed over the obstacles interposed by the Divine Law. Where the wit of David could contrive nothing better than a wretched compromise, for which he later paid dearly, the omniscience of Deity found a way whereby His banished sons are restored and which redounds unto His everlasting honor.

In pursuance of His gracious design to recover and reconcile His elect from their fall and alienation, the love of God set His consummate wisdom to work in contriving the fittest means for accomplishing the same. In our last we were only able to barely mention that the wisdom of God was engaged in the salvation of His people. Before we attempt to illustrate this particular aspect let us point out that it was in His character of Judge that the Father then acted. It is most important that this should be recognized, yea, essential if we are to view our subject from the correct angle, for reconciliation was entirely a judicial procedure.

He it was who passed sentence upon sinning Adam and all whom he represented as a federal head. None but " the Judge of all ," could have " made Christ to be sin " for His people, or them to be " the righteousness of God in Him " 2 Cor. That is, it is the Father as the Judge who actually and formally pronounces righteous in His sight the sinner who believes on Christ. It is on this two-fold ground that the apostle there argues the irreversibility of our justification: We closed our last by calling attention to the fact that the determination of the Father to recover His lapsed people is described as the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will which signifies there was an exercise of His infinite understanding in devising how that resolve should be made good to His own glory.

To speak after the manner of men, the Father consulted with Himself, called His omniscience into play, and drew up a plan in which His " manifold wisdom " Eph. That many sided plan is termed the mystery because it has to do with the deep things of God 1 Cor. It was not one single act, but a variety of counsels met in it: What those excellent ends and means were we shall now try to set forth, yet knowing full well that our utmost efforts can convey only a most inadequate and fragmentary idea of what will be our wonderment and admiration for all eternity.

We begin here because it the better links up with the closing paragraph of our last and the opening one of this. Continuing that line of thought, be it said, the solution to the problems raised by sin and the harmonization of Love and Law is termed a " mystery " because it transcends human reason and can only be known by Divine revelation.

No discovery of it was made in creation. Though " the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork " yet they gave no indication it is His will to show mercy unto rebels: If a devoted mother gives her child medicine from the wrong bottle, the result would be the same as if an enemy poured poison down its throat. Divine Love has triumphed over the Law not by trampling upon it, but by fully meeting its demands and rendering it honorable. Divine wisdom contrived a way in which there was no compromise between Love and Law, but. The way in which God has dealt with what to human wit appears insolvable, both manifests His perfect wisdom and greatly redounds to His glory.

He has dealt with the problem raised by sin by taking it into the court of His Law and settling it on a righteous basis.

The needs-be for that is evident. Sin is far too great an evil for man to meddle with and every attempt he assays in that direction only makes bad matters worse—as appears in both the social and international spheres. Still more is this the case when man attempts to treat with God. His very efforts to remove sin do but aggravate it, and any attempt to approach God in spite of it only serves to increase his guilt.

None but God is capable of dealing with sin, either as a crime or as pollution, as that which is a dishonor to Him or as it is a barrier to our access to Him. Moreover as sin is too great an evil for us to deal with, so righteousness is too high for the fallen creature to reach unto, yea too high for holy creatures to bring down to us. Only God Himself can bring near. Yes, God has dealt with the momentous issue raised by sin by taking it into the court of His Law.

For fallen man to have taken it there would have inevitably meant the losing of his case, for he is a transgressor of the Divine statute and a moral bankrupt utterly unable to make any reparation for his offence. But His consummate wisdom enabled the Judge of all to deal with it in such a manner that the honor of His Law has been maintained unimpeached, and yet the case has been settled on a basis equally favorable to God and the sinner! Settled in such a way that the wondrous love of God is free to flow forth unto His elect, children of disobedience though they be in themselves, without ignoring or condoning their disobedience, and so that His love remains a holy love.

Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? In exercising two Contrary principles in Redemption. This is an achievement worthy of Omniscience. God is love, nevertheless, He is " light " 1 John 1: Not only is He full of kindness and benevolence, but He is immaculately pure and holy. God is abundant in mercy, but He is also just and " will by no means clear the guilty. How can such contraries be reconciled? Love goes out unto the prodigal, but Light cannot look upon iniquity Hab.

Mercy would fain spare the offender, but justice demands his punishment. Grace is ready to bestow a gratuitous salvation, but righteousness insists that the defaulter cannot be released until he has " paid the uttermost farthing " Matthew 5: Shall then the tenderness of the Father yield to the severity of the Judge? Or shall the rights of the Judge give place to the desires of the Father? Each must be satisfied. Admire and adore that wondrous wisdom which devised a means whereby " Mercy and Truth have met together , Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other".

It is said God loves the sinner, but hates his sin. Yet that provides no solution to the problem. For the question still returns, Will God sink His love to the sinner in His hatred of his sin or allow His love for the sinner to override His hatred for sin? God has sworn " The soul that sins it shall die " Ezek. But He has also sworn " I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked , but that the wicked turn from his way and live " Ezek.

The oath of justice and the oath of pity appear irreconcilable. Must then one yield to the other?

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No, both must stand. In redemption God has manifested two opposite perfections at the same time, and in one action, in which there is shown supreme hatred of sin and superlative love of the sinner. Justice and mercy are alike maintained its ground without compromise, yea, has issued from the conflict honorable and glorious. Divine wisdom contrived a plan whereby God has punished transgression without scourging the transgressors, and has repaired the ruin.

In appointing a suitable Mediator. Clearly this was the first step necessary in order to a solution of the intricate problems to which we have alluded. The fall of man placed him at an immeasurable distance from God—" your iniquities have separated between you and your God " Isa. Not only so but the fall produced an infinite moral difference, man becoming polluted and a hater of God, God Himself ineffably holy and at legal enmity with man.

Such a breach appeared unbridgeable, for on the one hand it became not the glory of His nature nor the honor of His government for God to make any direct advance towards rebellious subjects; and on the other hand, man had no desire to be restored to His image of favor, and even if he had, was barred from any, access to Him. Thus all intercourse between God and men was at an end, an impasse was created, an utterly hopeless situation seemed to exist. But Divine wisdom provided a means and remedy, decreeing there should be a Mediator who would bridge the distance and heal the difference between them, affecting a mutual.

But where was such an one to be found? One capable of laying his hand upon both Job 9: He must be entirely clear of any participation in the offence. He must, on account of his personal excellence, stand high in the esteem of the injured One. He must be a person of exalted dignity if the weight of his mediation was to bear any proportion to the magnitude of the crime and the value of the favor he would confer. He must be able to fully maintain the interests and subserve the honor of God. He must also possess a tender compassion towards the wretched offenders or he would not cordially interest himself on their behalf.

And to give greater fitness to such a procedure it would be eminently proper that he should be intimately related to each of the parties. But where was one with so many and so necessary qualifications to be found? There was no creature worthy of so high office and so honorable an undertaking, no, not " in heaven , nor in earth , neither under the earth " Rev. In the union of such diverse natures in the person of Christ.

It was necessary that the Mediator should be a Divine person in order that He might be independent and not the mere creature of either party; in order that He might reveal the Father John 1: And in order that He might be capacitated to administer the realms of providence and grace, which are committed to Him as Mediatorial Prince Matthew None other than God can forgive sins, impart eternal life, restore the fallen creature to true liberty, or bestow. Yet it was equally necessary that the Mediator should be Man.

In order that He might truly represent men as " the last Adam ," in order that He might be " made under the law " to obey it, in order that He could suffer its death-penalty, and in order that, in His glorified humanity, He might be Head of the Church. But how furnish the Son for His office? How become partaker of human nature without contracting its corruption? How unite Godhood and manhood, the Infinite with the finite, Immortality with mortality, Almightiness with weakness? How produce such a union that the two natures were perfectly wedded in one Person and yet preserve their distinctness, conjoined yet not confounded?

So that the Deity was not changed into flesh nor flesh transformed into God? By that unique and wondrous union Christ was fitted to be " the Mediator of a better covenant " Heb. There was nothing that belonged to Deity which He did not possess, and nothing that pertained to humanity but He was clothed with Heb.

He had the nature of Him that was offended by sin, and of him that offended. In constituting Christ the federal Head of His people. To satisfy both the requirements of His justice and the abundance of His mercy, God determined that a full satisfaction should be made unto His Law, and such a satisfaction that it was thereby more honored than if it had never been broken, or the whole race damned.

He must stand as their Representative and both fulfill all righteousness for them and endure the curse in their stead, so that they might be legally reckoned to have obeyed and suffered in Him. By transferring their guilt to the Surety, God both punishes sin and pardons the sinner. Christ then was made the " Surety of a better covenant " Heb. There could be no thought of reconciliation between a holy God and polluted rebels until sin had been put away and everlasting righteousness brought in, and as our Surety the Lord Jesus accomplished both. But O my reader, marvel at and stand in awe before what that involved.

It involved that He who was in the form of God should take upon Him the form of a Servant. That the Lord of angels should be laid in a manger. That the Maker of the universe should not have anywhere to lay His head. That He should be constantly engaged in doing good and injuring none, yet be cast out by the world and deserted by His own followers. That the Lord of glory should be condemned as a malefactor, His own holy face fouled by the vile spittle of men and His back scourged by them. That the Beloved of the Father should be smitten and forsaken for Him.

Such contrasts transcend the wit of man and could never have been invented by him. Must we not exclaim " O Lord , how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep " Ps.

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In overruling sin to our gain. What a marvel of Divine wisdom is this: God would have His people not only saved from Hell, but also brought into Heaven, yet in such a way as should be to the most honor of Himself and of His Son. The apostle speaks of " the salvation which is in Christ with eternal glory " 2 Tim. Not only salvation, but a glorious one: If they had only been restored to their forfeited estate and the enjoyment of that happiness which they had lost, it had been a remarkable triumph of grace, but to make them " joint-heirs with Christ " Rom.

It is a mystery of nature that the corruption of one thing is made to minister to the generation of another as the bones of animals fertilize vegetation , but it is a grander mystery of grace that our fall in Adam should occasion a nobler restitution. Innocence was not our last end. A superior felicity awaits us on High.

Human nature is raised to a far higher degree of honor than had man retained his innocency, for through redemption and regeneration the elect are vitally united to the God-man Mediator and made members of His Body. In winning rebels unto Himself.

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Having contemplated something of the wisdom and love of the Father, the willingness and work of the Son, here we are to behold more distinctively the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. When He first draws near to the elect in their unregenerate state He finds them in a most deplorable condition. Their understandings are darkened by sin, their hearts are filled with enmity toward God, their wills are steeled against Him. Not only have they no regard for His glory, but they are without any desire for His so-great salvation, yea positively and strongly averse to it.

Here too are obstacles which need removing, obstacles so formidable that nothing short of omniscience and omnipotence could overcome the same. How shall captives be delivered who are thoroughly satisfied with their prison? How shall slaves be freed who are in love with their bonds? Particularly, how shall that be effected while treating them as rational and responsible beings, without offering violence to their wills and reducing them to mere.

Some may regard the above as a very exaggerated statement of the case, supposing that a complete solution is found by presenting the Gospel to them. But Scripture teaches, and experience and observation verifies it, that the natural man has no eyes capable of beholding the beauty of the Gospel, and that his heart is so desperately wicked he will not receive the Savior that it offers him. How then are such creatures to be saved from themselves?

How shall those who detest holiness be brought to desire it? The dead in sins made to walk in newness of life? That such a miracle is performed we know, but how it is wrought we know not. Christ Himself declares it is a mystery as inscrutable to man as the workings of the wind John 3: All we know is that life, light, love and supernaturally communicated, by which the unwilling are made willing. Not by compelling them to do what they abhor, but by sweetly overcoming their aversion.

In making our holiness and happiness conserve each other. The sanctity of God Is not comprised by His clemency to sinners, for the Redeemer is Himself both the principle and pattern of holiness unto all who are saved by Him. Moreover, the same grace to send His Son to die for us gives the Holy Spirit to renew us according to the Divine image and thereby make us meet for communion with Him. The Gospel does not permit its beneficiaries to return hatred for love nor contempt for benefit, but lays them under deeper obligations of gratitude to obedience.

His love originating, His will determining, and His wisdom planning the outworking of the same. In illustrating how the Divine wisdom found a solution to all the formidable problems which stood in the way, we unavoidably anticipated somewhat the ground which we hoped to cover in future articles. That purpose respected not simply the exercise of mercy unto His lapsed people, but also the exercise of it in such a way that His Law was honored.

Yet it must not be supposed that God was under any moral necessity of saving His people, or that redemption was an expedient to deliver the Divine character from reproach on account of the strictness of the Law in condemning all transgressors—no atonement was provided for the fallen angels!

Rather has redemption vindicated the Law, and that in such a way that no transgressor is exempted from suffering its curse, either in. Reconciliation has been procured by the incarnate Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the grand and all-sufficient Provision of God for the accomplishing of His purpose. But it was effected by the Lord Jesus in fulfillment of a Covenant agreement. Unless that be clearly perceived we are without the principal key to the understanding of this stupendous undertaking. There was a time when Christians generally were well instructed in Covenant truth, but alas, a generation has grown up the great majority of which have heard nothing or next to nothing on it.

A few of our readers are more or less familiar with what we shall advance, yet it will do them no harm to have brought before them again the foundation on which faith should rest and to ponder the proofs which we now bring forward. The great majority of our readers know that " it is the blood and that alone, plus nothing from us that makes an atonement for the soul " Leviticus We cannot dwell upon these points but would request a careful weighing of them as.

Three things are necessary in order to a " covenant " the parties, the terms, the agreement. A " covenant " is a solemn pact or contract in which there are certain " articles " or conditions to be performed, in return for which performance an agreed award is promised and assured. It is an agreement entered into voluntarily by both parties see Matthew The two parties in " the everlasting covenant " were the Father and the Son—the Holy Spirit concurring therein, being the Witness, and agreeing to co-operate in the same.

In Scripture the Father is represented as taking the initiative in this matter, proposing to His Son the terms of the covenant. The Father proposed a federal transaction in which the Son should take upon Him the Mediatorial office and serve as the Head of His people, thereby assuming and discharging their liabilities and bringing in an everlasting righteousness for them.

The Son is represented as. It needs to be pointed out and emphatically insisted upon that the Son was not so circumstanced antecedently to His susception of the Mediatorial office that He could not have avoided the humiliation and sufferings which He endured. The Son might have resigned the whole human race to the dire consequences of their apostasy and have remained Himself everlastingly blessed and glorious. It was by His own voluntary consent that He entered into covenant engagement with the Father. In that free consent lay the excellency of it. It was His willing obedience and personal merits which gave infinite value to His oblation.

Behind that willingness lay His. The Father too must consent to such an undertaking. Thus, there must be a mutual agreement between Them. This was for the glory of the whole Godhead and the salvation of His people. After He became incarnate He was still in possession of His essential glory, though He was pleased to veil it in large measure from men and make Himself of " no reputation ". Before adducing proof-texts of the covenant made between the Father and the Son, let us call attention to a number of passages which clearly imply it and which otherwise are not fully intelligible.

Did not that intimate He had entered this world with a clearly defined and Divinely designed task before Him? Such subordination of one Divine person to another argues a mutual agreement between Them, and that, for some unique end. Observe carefully the order of the two verbs: Christ was " sanctified " by the Father—that is, set apart and consecrated to His mediatorial office—before He was " sent " into the world! That Christ went to the cross in fulfillment of a covenant-agreement may be gathered from His own words: When you stand before the cross and gaze by faith upon its august Sufferer recognize that He was there fulfilling the compact into which He entered with the Father before the world was.

His blood shedding was necessary—" ought not Christ to have suffered these things! He asked—because of the relation He sustained to His people as their Surety. He was pledged to secure their salvation in such a way as glorified God and magnified His Law, for that had been Divinely " determined " and mutually agreed upon in the everlasting Covenant.

Had not Christ died there had been no atonement, no reconciliation to God; equally true is. Every passage where Christ own the Father as His God witnesses to the same truth. This is My covenant title and the guarantee of My covenant faithfulness. So too the grand promise of the new covenant is " I. And this is exactly what we do find. So also after His ascension.

Even at that time, if time it may be called, there was a federal relationship subsisting between Christ and the Church, though it was not made fully manifest until He became incarnate. That subsisting relationship formed the basis of the whole economy of Divine grace toward them after the fall, as it was the ground on which God pardoned the O. Does not that " promised " imply an agreement that God made promise to Christ as the Covenant Head and to His people in Him? Christ was faithful to Him that appointed Him Hebrews 3: As " obedience " implies a precept, so " faithfulness " connotes a trust, and a trust wherein one has engaged himself to perform that trust according to directions given.

Passing now from indirect allusions to what is more specific, we begin with Psalm This is clear from many considerations. First, the striking and lofty manner in which this Psalm opens intimates that its leading theme must be one of great weight and value. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever, Your faithfulness shall You establish in the very heavens " verses 1, 2.

Such language denotes that no ordinary or common " mercies " are in view, but those which when apprehended fill the hearts of the redeemed with holy songs and cause them to magnify the fidelity of Jehovah as nothing else does. Thus, such an introduction should prepare us to expect Divine revelation of. I have sworn unto David which means Beloved My Servant. In the following passages it may be seen that Christ is expressly referred to as "David" by the prophets Jeremiah I have laid help upon One that is mighty, I have exalted One chosen out of the people Deuteronomy Who can doubt that a greater than the son of Jesse is here before us?

God goes on to say " I will make Him My Firstborn higher than the kings of the earth.. My covenant shall stand fast with Him " verses 27, 28 —does not that establish beyond a doubt the identity of the One with whom Jehovah made the covenant! Third, the covenant promises here made establish the same fact. That this promise was to be fulfilled in Christ is clear from Luke 1: You " shall call His name Jesus.

He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest ; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Had it been the successor of Saul who was the subject of this Psalm it had said " If he shall break My Law. Fourth, in Acts I will give you the sure mercies of David. By the resurrection of Christ the " sure mercies of David " are confirmed unto His children. If they are in possession of them, then Christ must have risen!

Your seed will I establish forever, and build up Your throne for all generations " verses 3, 4. Here then are " the sure mercies of David: He would raise up Christ to sit on His throne " Acts 2: No, indeed; but to David as the type, figure, and forerunner of Jesus Christ.

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A solemn covenant was entered into between the Father and the Son before ever the world was. A compact was made in which the Father assigned the Son to be the Head and Savior of His elect, and in which the Son consented to act as the Surety and Sponsor of His people. There was a mutual agreement between Them, of which the Holy Spirit was both the Witness and Recorder. It was in there that the Son was appointed unto the Mediatorial office, when He was " set up " or anointed as the Hebrew signifies , when He was " brought forth " from the eternal decree Proverbs 8: It was then that Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot " truly was foreordained before the foundation of the world " 1 Peter 1: It was then that everything was arranged between the Father and, the Son, concerning the redemption of the Church.

It is this which throws such a flood of light upon many passages in the N. As the One more especially offended 1 John 2: Before the covenant was settled there was a conference between Them. As there was a conferring together of the Divine Persons concerning our creation Genesis 1: The terms which the Father proposed unto the Son may be gathered from the office He assumed and the work He performed, for the relation into which He entered and the task He discharged were but the actual fulfilling of the conditions of the covenant.

This covenant was made by the Father with Christ on behalf of His people: So again " My covenant shall stand fast With Him: His seed also will I make to endure forever " verses 28, In the next verses His seed are termed " His children " and should they be unruly God says " I will visit their transgression with the rod, nevertheless My loving-kindness will I not take from Him " — showing their covenant oneness with Him.

The elect were committed to Christ as a charge or trust so that He is held accountable for their eternal felicity: Since the covenant was made with Christ as the Head of the elect it was virtually made with them in Him, they having a representative concurrence therein. The terms of the covenant may be summed up thus. First, it was required that Christ should take upon Him the form of a Servant, be made in the likeness of men, and act as the Surety of His people. Second, it was required of Him that He should render a full and perfect obedience to the Law and thereby provide the meritorious means of their justification.

Third, it was required of Him that He should make full satisfaction for their sins, by serving as their Substitute and having visited upon Him the entire curse of the Law. In consideration of His acceptance of those terms the Father promised Him adequate supports; and on fulfillment of the task prescribed, specified rewards were promised Him. Let us briefly amplify these points. Little needs to be said on the first, for it should be clear to the reader that in order for the Son to render obedience to the Law He must become a subject of it and be under its authority.

Equally evident is it that to be the Substitute of His people and suffer the penalty of their sins. He must become partaker of their nature—yet without sharing its defilement. It was required from our Surety that He should comply in every respect with the precepts of the Divine Law. Such obedience was required of man originally under the Adamic covenant, and since the nature of God and His relation to the creature changes not, that requirement holds good forever.

It is evident the same obedience was required from our Savior when acting as our federal Head" J. The Father required from our Surety full satisfaction for the sins of His people.

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Since they had broken the Divine Law its penalty must be inflicted, either on them or on One who was prepared to suffer in their room. But before the penalty could be inflicted the guilt of the transgressors must be transferred to Him. That is to say, their sins must be judicially imputed to Him. To that arrangement the Holy One willingly consented, so that He who " knew no sin " was legally " made sin " for His people. God laid on Him the iniquities of them all, and therefore the sword of Divine justice smote Him and exacted satisfaction.

Without the shedding of blood there was no remission of sins. The blotting out of transgressions, procuring for us the favor of God, the purchase of the heavenly inheritance, required the death of Christ. Its opening verses contain His personal thanksgiving for deliverance from death and the grave, but in His new song He makes mention of " our God " v. But it is in verses we have that which is most germane to our present subject—a passage quoted in Hebrews 10, and which looks back to the far distant past.

The force of " sacrifice and offering You did not desire " v. Those words signified His cheerful acceptance of the terms of the covenant. Thus it was registered by the Holy Spirit who witnessed My solemn engagement with the Father so to do. Thus it was formally and officially inscribed that in the fullness of time I should become incarnate and accomplish a purpose which lay beyond the capacity of all the holy angels.

Not withstanding unparalleled sorrows and measureless griefs our Lord found delight on His work. No mere outward and formal subjection to the Divine will was His. That Law which is " holy, just and good " Romans 7: The Law did not have to be written on His heart, as it has on ours Hebrews 8: Then what a horrible crime for any to speak disparagingly of or want to be delivered from that Law which Christ loved! That is one of the great Messianic prophecies, and it is closely parallel with Psalm The Son is to become incarnate, for He was to " proceed from the midst of " the people of Israel.

For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email.



Revelation 11 part 1 Revelation 11 part 2 Revelation 11 part 3. Believers are recipients of a relationship of peace and harmony brought about by God, who through Christ, reconciles the world to Himself; 2 Cor 5: Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Here, the brother who has done the injury is the one who is to make up the difference. He is to propitiate or reconcile his brother to himself, by a compensation of some kind. Reconciliation, here, does not denote a process in the mind of the offender, but of the offended. The meaning is not: Yet this does not mean the subjective reconciliation of God towards the sinner.

Though the presentation of Shedd may seem to be a reasonable understanding of the doctrine, a close study will reveal a number of fallacies. Grammatically, God is the subject and man is the object. Never does the Bible say that God is reconciled. It is significant that Shedd avoids comment on 2 Corinthians 5: The New Testament, however, does not use reconciliation in the sense of propitiation, and the two words must not be exchanged.

Catalog Record: The Christian doctrine of reconciliation | Hathi Trust Digital Library

This is accomplished, however, not by reconciliation, but by propitiation and the fault lies with what man is rather than what God is. On a human plane often apology and restitution will affect a reconciliation, but in the relationship between man and God this is an impossibility for man. His illustration of rebelling subjects effecting reconciliation toward their sovereign ruler is a human illustration of human relationships quite different from the relationship of man to God.

While evangelical scholarship is in agreement that propitiation is essential to reconciliation, it does not follow that propitiation is included in the New Testament concept of reconciliation. Charles Hodge represents a mediate position which has attracted many scholars. His point of view is represented in the following quotation: The Greek word used to express this idea in Romans v.

When two parties are at enmity a reconciliation may be effected by a change in either or in both. When, therefore, it is said that we are reconciled to God, it only means that peace is restored between Him and us. Whether this is effected by our enmity towards Him being removed, or by his justice in regard to us being satisfied, or whether both ideas are in any case included, depends on the context where the word occurs, and on the analogy of Scripture. In the chief passage, Romans v. The reconciliation of God with man is effected by the cross or death of Christ, which, removing the necessity for the punishment of sinners, renders it possible for God to manifest towards them his love.

The change is not in man, but, humanly speaking, in God; a change from the purpose to punish to a purpose to pardon and save. His extended discussion is based upon two main arguments: He therefore concludes that reconciliation cannot be said to be the change of the sinner himself and deals primarily with God rather than man. All agree that the death of Christ does not in itself effect a subjective change in the sinner, but the provisional reconciliation effected by Christ is made actual at the time the individual believes, and the change at that time is not a change in God but a change in man.

The unsaved are at enmity toward God not because they feel at enmity, but because they are in Adam who sinned. The child of God who is saved in Christ is reconciled, not because he feels differently, but because he is now in Christ. Even the death of Christ does not change their ultimate judgment as long as they remain in Adam. It is when one believes in Christ that one becomes actually reconciled to God.

Both propitiation and reconciliation are in some sense inoperative until accepted by faith. Strong in his discussion of reconciliation does not consider in a formal way the arguments for the objective nature of reconciliation. He rather presents an exposition of his own point of view that the work of God in reconciliation includes His total work for man. Reconciliation therefore is viewed as the application of the work of Christ to man.