Be Reconciled To God

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

The verb “reconciled” here is imperative. Paul is commanding the Corinthians to be reconciled. They are to be reconciled, not only to each other but also to God. Once reconciliation with God has taken place, then reconciliation will occur among others. Unless there is reconciliation with God there can be no reconciliation with others. This is obvious in the Corinthian context where each one seemed to value himself above others. Even in their cliques in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, they set themselves apart from each other.

Paul told the Galatians that if they bite and devour each other they would be consumed by one another (Gal. 5:15). They were to guard against that happening. How would they do that? They must sort out the differences between them. They must pay attention to relationships. They must seek the best interests of others in order to avoid elevating self-interest (Phil. 2:3, 4). This takes humility.

In order to avoid rivalries, jealousies, and bitterness from springing up, we must always take and maintain the lesser place. Always count others more significant than yourself. We always think we are better than others. Jesus said that we were to be servants of each other as he was a servant to us (Mark 10:43-45; John 13:15, 16). We all want to be first. Jesus says we must be last. In order to truly worship we must be at peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus said, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mat 5:23-24).

It is interesting in these verses that Jesus lays the burden of reconciliation upon the offended and not the offender. So when Paul speaks to the Corinthians about being reconciled, he implies that there is a problem. Since the Corinthians must be reconciled to God, they have a problem with God.

Paul uses the same word in 1 Corinthians 7:11 about a wife not separating from her husband. This is in the context of divorce. If she does separate (divorce) then she is to remain unmarried. If she is not divorced, she must be reconciled to her husband. The word “reconciled” is also imperative. Paul uses the same word in verse 18 of our chapter in speaking of himself. It was through Christ that God reconciled Paul to himself and the apostles. As a result of this reconciliation, Paul has a ministry to fulfill (i.e. the ministry of reconciliation).

Paul uses the same word in referring to believers in Colossians 1:21, 22, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” The noun form (reconciliation) is used in Romans 5:11 to describe what has happened to us, “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (see also 2 Cor. 5:18, 19).

Reconciliation is simply an expression of the great saving work in Christ. In fact, the KJV translates the word as “atonement” in Romans 5:11. This is the only occurrence of “reconciliation” being translated as “atonement” in the KJV. In every other use, it always translates as “reconciliation.” Reconciliation is a better translation than atonement.

So what does reconciliation mean? It has the basic idea of change and exchange. In reconciliation, the state of enmity is exchanged for the state of peace. The enemy is changed into a friend. It appears that some work is done to bring this state about. In being reconciled to God, it is the work of Christ that brings this change about. Paul will call the preaching of this work of Jesus “the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19), and in our verse, he refers to himself as an “ambassador of Christ.” Paul proclaims the message of reconciliation, which is a message of peace. To be reconciled is to be at peace. It is the re-establishment of disrupted relations.

We send out ambassadors to other countries to represent our interests. They carry messages with them. They represent us in those foreign countries. Their work is diplomatic. They seek to maintain cordial relationships with others. Unlike God, our ambassadors have to make compromises just as we sometimes do in our relationships with each other.

The Apostle Paul views himself in this way. His ministry is grounded in the new covenant work of Jesus. As a result, he has a message for the world. The content of his message is that Christ died to bring us peace with God through the forgiveness of our sins, and since Paul has this responsibility laid upon him, he is an ambassador for Jesus. He reveals God’s “peace treaty” to God’s enemies. The Servant of Yahweh has brought us peace through his chastisement (Isa. 53:5). He is our peace (Eph. 2:14). Jesus has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles by abolishing the enmity through his death. There is peace with God but this peace goes into other relationships as well.

The foundation for this message of peace is 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Being right with God is by substitutionary atonement. Jesus the sinless one took our place. God the Father laid on him all our sins and iniquities (Isa. 53:5, 6, 10). It was “for our sake.” God treated our sin as if it did not belong to us, but belonged to Christ. God has imputed the guilt of our sins to Jesus at the Cross (“he made him to be sin”) and has imputed the righteousness of Christ to us (Isa. 53:11). This righteousness is not our own. It is Christ’s.

Since Paul had experienced this himself, he is under obligation to proclaim this message of reconciliation. It is his ministry of reconciliation. He is an ambassador. He represents Christ. Being a Christian brings responsibilities. We all have responsibilities to God, to Christ, to the church, to each other, and especially to unbelievers. This is because we are new creations in Christ (vs. 17). We are not what we once were. We are “in Christ.”

I think it’s true to say that we probably try to make right with God far more often than we do with each other. We harbor anger and resentment. We carry bitter feelings around with us. We criticize others when the opportunity is right. We say things with hidden motives. This is deceptive and manipulative. We don’t like being crossed. Sin has this remarkable ability to hide from us, but show itself in everyone else. We see it in everyone else, but God forbid that it is in me. Jesus praised the “peacemakers” as those who would be called the sons of God (Matt. 5:9). Peacemaking is never for the sake of peace only. It always recognizes and deals firmly with the problems at hand. It does not shove it under the carpet and then believes it has gone away. God did not shove our sins under the carpet and forget about them. No, he dealt with them in Christ. We must deal with each other as in Christ. How’s your ministry of reconciliation going? Be at peace for Jesus’ sake!