An understanding of the cross
Reconciliation, Brought Back to God
Paul writes that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us. Reconciliation puts the cross in the language of a broken relationship made whole. Sin had estranged us from God; the cross ends the estrangement. This understanding sees the heart of atonement as friendship restored, enemies made near, a family brought back home.
“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.”2 Corinthians 5:19
What this understanding says
Reconciliation claims that the cross mends a ruptured relationship. Sin is not only a debt or a defeat, it is estrangement between persons, and God's aim is not merely to settle accounts but to have us back. Paul says God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and no longer counting our trespasses against us. Notice the direction: God is the one who reconciles, taking the initiative while we were still his enemies. The barrier is removed from his side and ours, and peace is made. What the cross accomplishes here is nearness, the end of hostility, adoption into a family. And it does not stop with God and us; Paul says the same Christ makes peace between divided peoples, so reconciliation with God flows into reconciliation with one another.
Its Scripture and its history
Reconciliation is one of Paul's favorite words for what the cross does. He tells the Romans we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son while we were enemies, and the Corinthians that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Ephesians says Christ is our peace, breaking down the wall that divided Jew and Gentile and making one new humanity. Colossians speaks of God reconciling all things through the blood of the cross. Because it is so plainly biblical, this theme has been carried in every era of the church rather than tied to one school. In recent times it has come to fresh prominence as Christians see how personal reconciliation with God is meant to bear fruit in reconciliation between estranged people.
One cross, many facets
Reconciliation is one facet of the one cross, and it tells us what all the others are finally for. The ransom, the victory, the substitution, the exchange, each serves this end, that persons long estranged are brought back into friendship with God. It keeps atonement personal and warm, guarding against a picture of the cross as only a cold legal event. Yet it needs the others to explain how the estrangement is actually overcome, why nearness required a death. Reconciliation names the goal, and the other facets name the means. Christians of every tradition can meet here, since Scripture makes this theme so central. And its final note is beautiful: the God who reconciles us to himself sends us to be reconcilers, mending what sin has torn between us.
Questions people ask
What does reconciliation mean in the Bible?
Reconciliation means a broken relationship restored. In Paul's letters it describes what God does at the cross: he ends the estrangement between himself and us that sin caused, no longer counting our trespasses against us, and brings us near as friends and family. It also reaches outward, making peace between divided people, so that those reconciled to God become reconcilers with one another.
Who reconciles whom, God to us or us to God?
Scripture says God reconciles the world to himself. He takes the initiative while we are still his enemies, removing the barrier from his side and inviting us to be reconciled to him. So it is God's action, received by us. We do not win God over; he has already moved toward us in Christ, and we respond by coming home.